Top it off?

[Oyarsa]

Tomorrow I will bottle my first beer (a Brewer's Best 1 Gallon Chocolate Stout). When I brewed it, the instructions said to mark 1 gallon on the fermenter but did not suggest topping off to the 1 gallon mark if you didn't have 1 gallon, which I didn't. I decided not to top it off, though in hindsight I probably should have.

Once I transfer to my bottling jug should I top it off? I have a 1 gallon glass jug or a 3 gallon bucket. Which should I use to bottle from? Should I perhaps use 4 cups of boiling water to dissolve the priming sugar as opposed to half a cup? I don't know how short of 1 gallon I am. Or should I just go with the flow and maybe be one bottle less beer?

 

[Jag75]

I thought all those kits your supposed to top off the the specified amount. I've only done their 5 gallon kits though not sure . Might want to read over the instructions again to make sure

 

[Mitch S]

I personally would not top off. I just bottled a 1 gallon batch of Festivus Miracle that was substantially less because I decided to transfer to secondary to help clear it (I NOW know secondary is not worth it).

I scaled back my priming sugar stolen from a 5 gallon kit that had been sitting around a little too long, using 1 oz of priming sugar and roughly 4 oz of water. If you are worried about the sugar calculation, just do a sugar cube in each bottle (as many recommended to me by others on this forum).

I've gone to bottles directly from fermenter and I've used a bottling bucket. The bottling bucket will assist with clearing the beer.

I've done a few other 1 gallon batches and getting an exact gallon has not happened for me. I think its just do to evaporation during the boil and losing a bit to the trub. Worst case you have a bottle or two less.

Best advice is to relax, and have a homebrew.

 

[Jag75]

I just read the pdf recipe on that and it doesn't say to add . So I wouldn't. You may have just boiled off a tad bit too much like Mitch said. How much less was it ?

 

[Brewers Hardware]

I probably wouldn't top off as well depending on how short of a gallon you are.

 

[Oyarsa]

It's not short by a lot. I'll take the advice, keep it simple and just follow the instructions (aside from the fact I didn't do a secondary fermentation). I think I'll rack to the 1 gallon jug as opposed to the bucket for ease of cleaning and I think the smaller base will help me get as much as possible out of what I do have.

 

[Smellyglove]

You'd have to boil and cool down your water too, which would make it more work than maybe what would be worth the effort.