Top off water question

[ParanoidAndroid]

Ive searched but cant seem to find the exact answer. Most top off water questions are about the temp of the water.

I have a 4 gallon brewpot and usually do a 2.5 or 3 gallon boil. Then I will top off with the remaining water. I buy 2-2 gallon springwater containers and a 1 gallon jug. I have really hard water in my area.

1. I know that the more water you boil with the better. Some batches boil off a little more or less. Some batches have more hops so some more water will be absorbed in them leaving less water in the fermenter. By the time I add my top off water its usually around 4.5 gallons. Whats the difference in me adding another half gallon of top off water to the fermenter? Will it be more watered down, or will the fermentation process take care of any watering down?

2. Ive been adding my top off water to the boil pot after everything is finished, then filtering it with a funnel into the fermenter. Can I just add the top off water to the fermenter after the wort is strained?

 

[STEVESKI]

I'm a newbie as well, so maybe an expert can chime in and tell me if I'm wrong. I've been looking a lot into this as well and from what I've read, your goal should be topping off to 5 gallons. The ingredients that came in your kit are made for a 5 gallon batch. Less than 5 gallons and it maybe be stronger tasting and more than 5 gallons and it may be a little watered down tasting. You shouldn't purposely do less than the 5 gallons in hopes of making your beer stronger, because it's not just higher ABV, it's a different taste altogether.

 

[Balue]

It is all about reaching your target SG not volume. If all grain you can boil down to it if efficiency was low or even top with some added extract to get target volume and SG if needed. Or for unexpected boil off or a big jump in efficiency. To me it's all about hitting the final numbers.

If doing all extract stick to the final volume of the recipe as you will have all the sugars needed for that volume and SG.

Ultimately once you get familiar with your brewing process and equipment you will make adjustments from the beginning to achieve consistent results.

 

[TopherM]

Some batches boil off a little more or less.

Boiloff is a function of surface area and time, so if you are using the same pot and boiling for the same amount of time, your boiloff will be the same. The boiloff RATE will be the same in the same pot, so you can easily calculate boiloff for shorter or longer boils as long as you are using the same pot.

Some batches have more hops so some more water will be absorbed in them leaving less water in the fermenter.

Hops don't absorb much water at all, relatively speaking. If you lose 0.5 gallons to trub on a typical batch with about 10 lbs grain and about 3 oz of hops, that's a pretty safe number to enter for all batches that are within 20-30% of that grain/hops bill.

By the time I add my top off water its usually around 4.5 gallons. Whats the difference in me adding another half gallon of top off water to the fermenter? Will it be more watered down, or will the fermentation process take care of any watering down?

If your recipe is calculated to 5.0 gallons, and you end up with 4.5 gallons and top off, it isn't really the end of the world. Your grain and hop balance remains in proportion, so there won't be a big difference to the overall character of the final beer. What will change is your OG, FG, and ABV. Gravity is a measurement of DENSITY compared to water. So 1.00 is the density of water, 1.05 is 5% more dense than water. If you have the same amount of sugar in 4.5 gallons as you would have had in 5.0 gallons, then it is more dense with sugar, so gravity #s go up and your final alcohol content goes up.

All in all, you really want to have the policy that post cooldown, you add top off water and mix the crap out of it until you reach your recipe's target OG. The amount of water is unimportant, but you are not following the recipe if you don't hit the numbers. In the grand scheme of things, it's pretty unimportant for extract batches, as long as you get close, but becomes more important when you move to all-grain brewing, so it's better to get into good habits now!

Hope that helps!

 

[unionrdr]

With my PM beers I've been brewing lately,I've raised my boil volume to 3.5 gallons in my 5 gallon SS BK/MT. I chill the wort down to 70-75F. then use the jugs of spring water I keep chilled from the day before to top off in the fermenter to final volume & get the temp down to 64F.

 

[WoodlandBrew]

Agreed with the other posts. Just want to add that it is not going to make a difference if the water is added to the brew kettle post boil or directly to the fermentor. Where it could make a difference is if you were talking about adding water pre or post boil, but that doesn't seem to be the question. If the top off water has free chlorine you may want to boil it a day ahead to remove the unwanted flavors.

 

[whoaru99]

I add water during the boil to keep the level relatively high and usually end up with about 4.5 gallons. I cool that then rack it into the fermenter and take a gravity reading. Knowing the SG post boil, the volume of wort post boil, and desired OG, you can use a calculator to figure how much water to add.

As others have mentioned though, if you're going a 5gal extract kit then what ever you end up with after the boil you just top up to 5-5.25 gal and you'll be at OG.