Top up water?

[WilliamMunny]

Brewed a Saison today. Not sure why but I ended up with 4.5 gallons instead of 5. I never miss by that much. Traget OG was 1.049 and I hit ab1.052. so I'm thinking about boiling a half gallon of water, cooling it and adding before primary kicks off. Any objections or advice? Since I'm over my OG to begin with I believe it will be a wise decision.

 

[Fibonacci_01123581321]

You aren't over your OG by that much. My calculations suggest you will fall to 1.046 after adding half gallon of water. One quart of water will get you at your target OG. I don't think it would hurt to add water after boiling and cooling, but I personally wouldn't mess with it (though I haven't done partial boils where I need to top off in a long time).

Any ideas on why you were off more than usual on final volume? Do you typically boil and top off or do a full boil? It's extremely hot where I'm at so I might expect higher than normal evaporation if I were unfortunate enough to brew outside in this heat.

 

[kh54s10]

Is it a kit? If so, go ahead and add the water. If you use all the ingredients and get the proper volume your OG will be right. It is easy to get a gravity reading that is off when using top up water - uneven mix.

I personally wouldn't bother boiling and cooling the top up water. I just use tap water. It is sanitary enough already. You might want to use some Campden tablet or portion of one if your water has chlorine or chloramine.

 

[chickypad]

Yep, I top off with tap water routinely when doing concentrated batches, but I add campden as mentioned.

 

[WilliamMunny]

Is it a kit? If so, go ahead and add the water. If you use all the ingredients and get the proper volume your OG will be right. It is easy to get a gravity reading that is off when using top up water - uneven mix.

I personally wouldn't bother boiling and cooling the top up water. I just use tap water. It is sanitary enough already. You might want to use some Campden tablet or portion of one if your water has chlorine or chloramine.

No, not a kit. All grain.

 

[Yooper]

Sure, that would work fine.

 

[kh54s10]

Might be too late now but you could look up dilution calculators. I know there is one in Beersmith. I don't know about online.

For the future you need to work on your boil off rates, grain absorption, and any equipment losses. After a couple of brews and adjustments, you should get close to volumes and gravities.

 

[WilliamMunny]

Thanks. I've got it down pretty solid. Like I said, I've never been off this much. I usually get a little more than 5 gallons. I'm thinking maybe the heat stole some today. Oh well

 

[kh54s10]

I usually run my boil kettle burner so that it is a steady roar. I then thought I would lower it to a sound like spitting. I boiled off about 1/2 gallon less. I got a weaker beer, more volume than wanted and had to reverse this the next brew. I feel more comfortable that I will be more consistent with the higher boil off. So I increased the gas usage.

 

[WilliamMunny]

Yeah I may have had a more vigorous boil today as well. But I didn't think I would lose a whole half gallon. You live and learn I guess. Anyway, I boiled up a half gallon and dumped it in. I'm sure it will be fine. Even if I end up with a lower OG I don't mind. It's a summer Saison I had set at 5.3 abv so if it's lower it's ok. I would hope I don't lose some of the aroma and flavor of the coriander and orange peel i added tho. I look at it as a good experiment