Quick First Batch Question

[montanafos]

I appreciate the information I am finding on this forum. Very helpful for a new guy. I have 2 batches in the works currently and want to determine whether or not I've made a mistake that will prove to be a big deal. The first batch is an English Brown Ale and it is now in a carboy for the last 5 days. All seems to be going well, however, I just read something that tells me I should have filled the carboy to with an inch or so of the top. I did not do that. I transferred from the primary to the carboy and did not add anything as I thought I recalled reading that from the time it leaves the primary you want to do everything with as little agitation as possible. Will this end up being a problem for me? There's probably 6 inches from the beer to the top of the carboy. I did fill the primary to the 5 gallon level when I trensferred the wort in to it. My next batch is Kolsch and will be going in to a carboy this weekend. Should I be filling the carboy to the top with water as what I read was suggesting? Thanks for your input.

 

[Beer_Guy]

No.

You would be deluting the beer.

 

[frazier]

Add water to your beer? NO. I mean really - when you pour a beer into a mug, do you top it off with water?

And why are you moving your beer around? Best to just leave it be for three weeks, then think about bottling.

But you haven't done anything to actually damage your beer yet, so no worries!

 

[Dwain]

Whichever way you go, you'll be fine. Just remember, when you add water, you"re "watering it down". However, you'll have more beer! What was your S.G. when you transferred it from primary? Can it stand a little water? Personally, I would go with the less volume. Luck - Dwain

 

[montanafos]

I did not check SG when I transferred it from the primary...can already hear folks telling me there's no way I can guarantee that fermentation was done. I'm going off of the advice of my local supplier. His comment was that it's fine if there is a bit of fermentation left as the secondary will allow it and not inhibit it. This allowed me to empty my primary for the second batch of Kolsch. I did check it when put in to the primary and added water at that point to the 5 gal level and was at 1.040. Glad I'm not doing any harm to my beer. I wasn't too keen on diluting it...hence the posting on here. What I am reading is a basic overview of the brewing process and it's telling me that after fermentation in the primary to siphon the wort in to the secondary (carboy) and add water if necessary to bring the level of liquid to within 1" of the fermentation lock. That's the part I did not do as nothing else, including the directions with the kit, advised this. I'm going to keep it the way it is.

 

[AmandaK]

Good practice is to let the beer tell you when it's ready, not tell the beer when it should be ready. Do all your transfers, volumes and decisions off of your gravity readings and sometimes taste.

You do not need to have liquid within 1" of the fermentation lock. I'm not sure where you read/heard that... I have a Belgian Tripel fermenting in a 6 gallon carboy right now and there is probably only 4 gallons in there. Far from being 1" from the lock.

Not sure why you would need to get it that close. Perphaps if you were terrified of oxidation??? Or liked to use blow off tubes???

 

[jkreuze]

It's probably a concern about oxidation.

I would not worry about it. CO2 from residual fermentation or CO2 leaving solution should fill the headspace over time.