I brewed an extract Pliny recipe that called for 6 gallons. My carboy is 5 gallons, I almost filled it to the top to leave a bit of head room I didnt fully fill the carboy. My guess is ive got 5.2 gallons for a recipe that called for 6 gallons. Is this going to make the beer too consentrated?
Unless you boiled it down to 5.2 gallons, it sounds like you just made an extra 0.8 of wort that you can't use. Did you adjust the parameters for six gallons? I assume so but then assume=ass-u-me so gotta check. Also it sounds like you're gonna need a blowoff tube. Pliny wort ain't no punk and if you pitch plenty of yeast you could be in for a messy surprise without the tube. Oh and you'll theoretically need to adjust the dry hops from 6 to 5.2 gallons (tho I'd probably just toss 'em in there if you already have them measured. I usually measure all the hops for a batch at once and put them in labeled sandwich bags to minimize the time the 1 lb bag is open).
If you had 6 gallons of beer but only put 5.2 into the carboy, you wont have a concentrated beer. For future I would split 6 gallons into a 5 gallon carboy and 5 gallon bucket (Albertson's bakery give them away here, just clean them to make sure you don't have icing in your beer). If the carboy is full right now, once fermentation kicks off you are looking at even more loss on a beer that big. I would go buy a bucket and rack half the beer from the carboy with the active yeast into the bucket (split it all evenly) and then let them both go. Dry hop them both in primary, then combine them at bottling.
@jbakajust1 I have only 5.2 Gallons of liquid in my carboy. I couldnt fill the carboy with water to bring the mixture to 6 Gallons. Therefore I ask if my beer is going to be too concentrated.
Okay. So you did a concentrated boil, cooled in the kettle, and when topping off with water you couldn't get to the full 6 gallons called for. Then yes, your beer is concentrated. I would get that bucket, rack half out of the carboy into the bucket, add .4 gallons water to the carboy, and .4 gallons to the bucket, and let them go from there. Your higher OG (concentrated wort) could stress your yeast out and cause some undesired flavors.
Yeah, I would get a larger than 6 gallon bucket, mark off the gallons if they aren't already, do your boil, pour contents into the bucket, fill with water to the recipe size, then rack to primary carboy. If you have to throw wort out, so be it, but I'd get a bigger carboy/fermenter.
Or just ferment it in that bucket. Nothing wrong with using a bucket as a primary, lots of good brewers on this forum do it.
Thanks for the advice. So let me get this plan of action I should take clear. Currently in my carboy is 5.2 gallons of beer. Its been 4 weeks this friday and I expect to bottle on saturday. Im going to rack to my bottling bucket and add my priming solution. Should I also add enough water to bring the mixture to 6 gallons before I bottle?
Okay, new info, 4 weeks old. At this point are you happy with the beer's flavor? What was the OG of the beer topped up to 5.2 gallons? What is the FG of the same 5.2 gallons?
I would pull a sample, get the FG, calculate for ABV, taste it and see what you think. If OG was 1.070 it won't be as strong as Pliny for sure, watering it down will take to mid-range IPA strength.
No, don't add water after its finished fermenting. Technically its possible, but you have to be extra careful of adding things like water to beer before bottling. The above suggestion was to add water after the boil, before pitching the yeast. When you add water to concentrated wort, you have to mix it well, otherwise it won't be well mixed (duh). The problem with mixing something well after fermentation is complete is that you will almost definitely add way too much harmful oxygen into the system, which will make you beer stale more quickly.
The Pliny recipe that is currently out there says 6 gallons, 5 gallon yield after loss to trub and hops.
I think you meant your carboy is 6 gallons, but so you know, 5 gallons would be too small for a primary for a 5 gallon batch. You need headspace. Headspace is important for two main reasons. The first is that a vigorous fermentation will clog up the airlock on a small fermenter if it gets the chance. When extract brewing I never really have super strong fermenting though. The second reason is that in the primary fermentation stage, you need oxygen. The oxygen in the headspace will help the yeast grow so that they can do their thing.
Whoa, I sure have! Assume all fermentations will be vigorous. Otherwise you might want to refer to this video:
Well, of course YMMV. Granted its been a while since I brewed extract only and I may have been underpitching back then but I never had krausen exceed about 2-3inches. Unless I added fruit. And I generally ferment hotter than most of you guys would. I still leave plenty of headspace just in case!
