Wort boil

[DNDbrewing]

longtime lurker, first time poster.

So, I was supposed to do a 2.5gallon wort boil and realized once i was finished I only added 1.5 gallons. This was a 5 gallon batch so i topped off with about 3 gallons of water. Question is, what do you think this may do to my end product? Not sure if a missing gallon at the beginning would make a huge difference, thanks.

 

[tgolanos]

Your OG, and thus your ABV, could be affected, which isn't necessarily the worst thing that could happen. If this is an extract batch, your OG might be what you expected so long as you used the correct amount of extract. What was your recipe?

 

[DNDbrewing]

I did the Irish Red from Northern Brewer, which is my usual go to for a quick easy batch for a party. Everything was done per recipe, just forgot to add a gallon to the original boil. As far as OG, I made life a bit harder and broke my hydrometer the other day so I was never able to check it.

 

[Jayjay1976]

I did the Irish Red from Northern Brewer, which is my usual go to for a quick easy batch for a party. Everything was done per recipe, just forgot to add a gallon to the original boil. As far as OG, I made life a bit harder and broke my hydrometer the other day so I was never able to check it.

You can still salvage this batch. Do you bottle? Get another hydrometer asap and stay on top of the fermentation; as soon as it levels out bottle it. Although the final ABV might be a bit higher than expected, you've still made a gorgeous beer. Welcome to HBT!

 

[DNDbrewing]

I do bottle, higher abv does not sound terrible haha! New hydrometer is due any day. I just assumed it was no big deal with how many times I’ve done this recipe but I guess I needed throw myself a curveball.

 

[RM-MN]

I do bottle, higher abv does not sound terrible haha! New hydrometer is due any day. I just assumed it was no big deal with how many times I’ve done this recipe but I guess I needed throw myself a curveball.

With an extract batch you can calculate the OG as the extract will have a known amount of sugars in it. The OG predicted by the recipe will be based on a 5 gallon batch so if you have a different amount of wort you will calculate based on that amount as a ratio.

Where the hydrometer becomes important in brewing with extract is in the FG as sometimes the yeast will stall out, then restart later. You do not want the beer in bottles if it does. Use the hydrometer to compare the FG to the expected and if it isn't close, you have a stuck ferment and will have to restart it and wait until it completes to bottle or else you will have a whole batch become bottle bombs.