Adding Water to Hit Gravity Target

Nothing else I think, it's called "liquoring back" and plenty of breweries will do it.

 

I usually keep a couple gallons of water from the HLT for just such an occasion.

 

Pre-boil dilution is fine. Post-boil is not. (all volume dependent as well. 3% post-boil doesn't really matter)

 

Why isn't it okay to dilute post-boil? Plenty of people (mostly extract brewers) do partial boils and top up with ice/water to reach their target gravities/volumes. I recently brewed a half batch and ended up with 2 gallons of high gravity wort instead of 3 at my target gravity. I topped up to 3 gallons with boiled and cooled water and my gravity was about right. No issues with that batch so far.

 

Extract brewers do this all the time with no ill effects.

 

Huh? If you boil off more than expected, post-boil "dilution" will bring the gravity right back to where it would have been with the expected boil-off.

 

I do this a lot. Probably 1 out of every 3 or 4 batches. Go for it.

 

Used to do it when extract brewing with no problems so rock on.

 

If your boil kettle was large enough, you would've had no reason to do a partial boil and top off. It's a good way to get into brewing without having to buy as much expensive specialty equipment. It also makes things a little easier, since you top off to your final volume and don't need to worry about predicting and hitting it. Also, adding ice or cold water reduces or eliminates the need to chill your wort, reducing the required equipment even further.

I don't make it a habit, since I think it's optimal to hit your volume/OG naturally, but it's a nice tool to have in your arsenal in case you miss.

 

Every so often the humidity changes or my efficiency goes up or my boil is more rapid or whatever and I end up over my target gravity. I simply run water into the kettle to get my gravity on spot, then move forward. We don't have issues with chlorine or chloramines so I don't boil it. I fill from my drinking water hose. Never had an issue in 6 years of brewing award winning beers.

 

I get it when your boil off increases; you're just adding more water to replace what you lost. If your efficiency increases, though, adding water to reach your target gravity would increase your volume beyond the intended batch size, correct? Do you have a larger than necessary fermenter to account for this, or are we talking about a relatively small amount of water, and only a couple of OG points?

 

I purposefully over shoot my intended volume. I also ferment in a 1/2 barrel keg. I can go up to 14 gallons if I wanted, but usually only 12 so I can sample along the way and fill 2 kegs after. I am okay with wasting a 1/2 gallon of wort here and beer there as long as my kegs get filled. That being said, if you have 5 gallons of stronger wort and dilute it to 6 gallons of spot on OG, there is nothing that says your a bad brewer if you have 6 gallons of usable wort and only ferment 5.5. There is also no reason you can't run off the extra 1/2 gallon into a second vessel and ferment it with another yeast or add something unique to it.

 

Got it. I'll dilute if I undershoot my target volume, as I'm more concerned about volume than gravity, usually. You make some great points about making sure you hit your OG, even if you end up with extra wort. If you bottle, it's especially easy, since it would only be a matter of a little extra priming sugar and a few more bottles.

 

Yup. If I get extra wort I can always can it for starters, or pitch it with bugs. If I have extra beer I run it off into a 2L and put a carb cap on it then force carb in 20 minutes, or I run it off flat into another container and use it for cooking.