too much water

[setanta59]

I am new to home brewing. I added to much water, it was meant to be a 5 gallon batch, but i reckon I added about an extra half gallon by mistake. Now the beer has just finished fermenting, and indeed it tastes watery, any way at this stage i can give it a bit more body, or will i keg it and see how it tastes in a few weeks?

 

[homebrewer_99]

If your beer is watery at only 5 gals then I would say you didn't use enough malt in your brew and you didn't say what kind of beer it is.

At this point I would just let it go and leave it as is. You could call it a light or ultra-light beer.

Have you bottled yet?

If you want to get adventurous you could always take about a quart of your beer and mix it with 4 oz of malto dextrin and boil for about 5-10 mins and stir it into your bottling bucket with the rest of the batch prior to bottling.

Malto Dextrin (for adding body) is not fermentable so it would not contribute to any carbonation after bottling.

As far as your confidence level on the outcome, I would go for it myself or just live with the thin flavor.

Good luck and keep us informed as to your choice and outcome.

 

[El Pistolero]

I am new to home brewing. I added to much water, it was meant to be a 5 gallon batch, but i reckon I added about an extra half gallon by mistake. Now the beer has just finished fermenting, and indeed it tastes watery, any way at this stage i can give it a bit more body, or will i keg it and see how it tastes in a few weeks?

It always tastes watered down before it's carbonated...go ahead and keg it, then relax for a few days.

 

[david_42]

An extra half gallon shouldn't make too much difference. EP's right, wait until it's carbonated to make your final judgement.

 

[setanta59]

will proceed with carbonating and see what happens, and put it all down to experience either way.
Thanks