Too much water added to wort

[Casur]

Hi guys,

You’re help would be greatly appreciated here. I made my 2nd batch of home brew last night but made a silly mistake. I made “Coopers Brewmaster India Pale Ale 1.7kg”. It states in the instructions to have a final volume of 23L but I topped the fermenting bucket up to 25L so I have an extra 2L of water. I was looking at the “Common Faults” section on the instructions and it says that too much water added can cause a “Lack of head”. Can someone confirm if the extra 2L of water will cause any major problems? And would extra sugar when priming help?


Just to note that the instructions stated to add 500g of Light Dry Malt and 300g of Dextrose when mixing the ingredients, which I did but I deliberately added 400g of Dextrose for extra strength. Would this extra 100g of Dextrose help in the fact that I added the extra 2L of water?


Cheers & Thanks
Casur

 

[s1080]

I dont think an extra 2 liters of water is gonna make any crazy changes.

I think what your "common faults" is referring too is that by adding to much water (1+ gallons(3.79+ L)) to the solution you've made (wort) will be too thin thereby effecting head retention.

By adding water to any amount of wort the result is a drop in gravity which can effect mouth feel, head retention, and alcohol.

Adding more sugar will add more carbonation but will probably not effect head retention. I would use the recommended amount of sugar.

The extra 100g of dextrose helps your original gravity. The beer will turn out fine

Hope this helps!

Steve

 

[Doc Robinson]

An extra 2L isn't going to do anything but decrease OG thereby decreasing ABV. This is your second batch. Don't worry about anything other than producing a drinkable product...which is exactly what you will do with this one if your sanitation and process is legit.

 

[Casur]

That’s good to hear. Thanks very much for the reply lads.

 

[hibernia]

Hi lad's, i've just made my first ever batch of coopers 1.7kg i added 20l so im 3l short.I added yeast at the 20l mark and thought maybe now i shouldnt add anymore.Was this correct guys i know if im missing any questions you'll let me know ....respect...

 

[Dr_Gordon_Freeman]

Hi lad's, i've just made my first ever batch of coopers 1.7kg i added 20l so im 3l short.I added yeast at the 20l mark and thought maybe now i shouldnt add anymore.Was this correct guys i know if im missing any questions you'll let me know ....respect...

If you didn't add the exact amount of water, your beer will be fine, don't sweat it. Relax, don't worry, have a beer.

 

[iron_city_ap]

Like everyone said, you'll be fine. It will be just a bit more of a 'light' beer. Nothing to get too worked up over. One way to look at it is that it will be a hair lower in calories and therefore 'healthier' for you. If you are looking for an excuse to drink it at a quicker pace or make another batch. Not that either is really necessary.

 

[hibernia]

Okay!! im back in buisness thanks dr.gordan.My feet are back solidly on the ground now, good to hear from you

 

[CiscoKid]

Hi guys,

was looking at the “Common Faults” section on the instructions and it says that too much water added can cause a “Lack of head”.

As I'm getting married in a couple of months, I should add that everyone keeps telling me a similar warning message should come with the instructions on buying a wedding ring.

And yes, I can hear all of you groaning at the weak and obvious joke. Thank you.... I'm here all week. Don't forget to tip the waitstaff.

 

[BrewPilot74]

This weekend I brewed up my third all grain batch and I had a minor disaster. It's a peach wheat, so it's already pretty light/low alcohol to begin with. Well, everything was going fine until I left my wort cooling with my brand new, only been used once before wort chiller. During the few minutes I was in the house it somehow managed come loose where the hose connects to the tubing and fill my wort with hose water. I estimate it probably added about an inch of water to the brewpot. To make matters worse, it was already a 6 gallon batch so after the unintentional water addition I had to dump about a gallon just to get it to fit into the carboy. Given all that, the OG wasn't as far off from the target as I would have thought -- 1.036 as opposed to 1.040. It seems to be fermenting but I'm worried about the unsanitary hose water and the "weakness" of the beer. Is there anything I can do at this point?

 

[diS]

I wouldnt do anything than wait. Your only concern now is infection, I hope it will not happen.
If I understood correctly, you filled your carboy to the top? If that is the case blow-off tube would be smart choice because of little space for krausen in carboy.

 

[BrewPilot74]

Thanks for the reply! The carboy is not filled to the top -- I had to dump some of the wort but I just filled it to the 5.5 gallon mark like usual. I did use a blow-off tube just in case anyway. I'll just wait and see what happens!

 

[oklahoma_man777]

Now im stuck with what was suppose to be a 1 gallon batch I've had to turn it into a two gallon batch. It was a black IPA. I added almost 1/3 to much into my wort. Now I ended up dividing up half of both and just added water to both until it reached the gallon mark.