Quick question about secondary fermentation

DO NOT ADD WATER ! too risky

 

It will probably turn out with a higher ABV then you expected and most likely taste as good if not better. It will be a stronger version of your original recipe. You will probably lose even more when you rack it off the trub to the secondary.

The most important adjustment you need to make is the amount of priming sugar you add at bottling. Do not use the same amount as recommended in original recipe. Use a priming sugar calculator to determine how much to use based on the new volume and style of beer.

What style of beer is it anyway?

 

Instead of an IPA around 5% ABV you'll probably end up with one between 6-7% ABV. It will be more bitter as well.

If you post the recipe others will be more inclined to reply with advice.

Four gallons of good beer is preferable to four gallons of good beer that has been diluted with water.

 

What is the risk?

Cheers!

 

In my eyes, here are the risks:
1. It won't be well mixed, unless you mix it well. Unfortunately, that would probably lead to bad oxidation. An IPA with lots of hop character wouldn't like that.
2. Bugs in water- you could boil it though.

 

If I wanted to add some water I would do so at bottling. I would place the 1 gallon of water at the bottom of the bottling bucket (along with the priming sugar) and siphon the beer on top of the 1 gallon of water. The siphoning action should adequately mix the water with the beer. The worst case would be a mixture of stronger and less strong beers in the bottle which is no big deal.

I personally would not be concerned about "bugs in the water" since my source of water is public water; I filter the public water with a dual stage block carbon filter to remove the chloramine. If I was very concerned I would boil and cool the water.

It is up to @Goodfriendsbrewingco but to my mind I don't see any risk about adding 1 gallon of water.

Cheers!

 

It would be a big deal from a consistency standpoint, but whatever if that doesn't bug you then cool.
You would be happy giving a bottle to a relative or friend with the disclaimer, "This may be either really strong or watered down, good luck"?

 

His original batch was not as he expected (4 gallons vs. 5 gallons). It already is not consistent as per the original recipe. By adding 1 gallon of water at bottling the beer will be closer to the original recipe. You understand that, right?

 

Most extract batches get diluted at a point anyway. Adding water will dilute it out to the desired volume. Keep practicing the same recipe a few times and and play around with volume and flavor. Best of luck and happy brewing!

 

There's a HUGE risk of adding ANYTHING that is not sanitized. If you add water, BOIL first, then cool quickly (ice bath), then add to your corn (priming) sugar.

Personally I would just leave it strong. Like the post said before, you'll probably enjoy it a lot more, anyway.

There is one more concern. Secondary fermenters should always be topped up. Meaning, the beer must be as close to the
bottom of the stopper as possible. About an inch or two is recommended.

Also, are you dry-hopping? Every respecting IPA should be dry-hopped.

Cheers!

 

When it looks like fermentation is done, take a hydrometer reading. This will help you to know why your volume is less than expected. More than likely, your FG will be higher than expected. This would indicate that you had a higher rate of boil off than you anticipated. If it is not higher than expected... that's good. But it means you probably had more beer lost to hop absorption or trub than expected. (If your FG is lower than expected... that would be really unexpected and would probably mean your yeast over attenuated to a huge degree.)

The beer's not ruined. I personally would not add water because it will dilute the flavor, but you might consider it if the FG is considerably higher than expected. (If it's within 5 points or so, don't bother.) If you do add water, boil it for ten minutes or so, cool it down to the same temp as your beer, and add it, being careful not to splash or introduce oxygen.

 

I was talking about consistency within the batch. If the water wasn't mixed well some would be extra watery and some strong, and then maybe some at what the recipe was supposed to be. The thing is, in order for it to be well mixed, you have to mix it well which will add unnecessary oxygen. A consistently stronger beer is better than both those things in my opinion.

 

Even so, wouldn't you agree that adding unboiled water full of dissolved oxygen to an ipa post fermentation would oxidize the beer?

 

Yes, but in general they are diluted before fermentation so oxidizing is not a problem. I do partial boils all the time and from experience I can tell you that if you don't mix the shit out of it after diluting, it is going to stratify into layers of increasing concentration as you go down.

 

OP, if you are going to bottle the beer then this is a good time to add your priming sugar. I'd have no problem adding a gallon of water at this point as long as it gets gently mixed in the bottling bucket, which you have to do for the sugar anyway.

 

DON'T ADD THE WATER. Your beer will be okay.

 

Dennis, I have no idea what the DO level of tap water is and what 1 gallon added to 4 gallons would do relative to oxidation.

It would appear that boiled and cooled water would be the safest bet then?

Cheers!