Water down ?

[Pawlo7671]

So lets say I do an all grain brew and aim for 23 litres, the usual grain bill would give me just over 5% abv which is about how I like my brews.
But I boil for too long and only come out with 20 litres, check the OG, and i'm gonna get around 6% - not to my liking.

Can i top up the FV to the 23 litre mark ? I get the immpression that when all grain brewing the volume you end up with is what it is, like its set in stone some kind of rule of thumb ? You would top up a kit with tap water or even an extract brew so why does it seem to be not the done thing when all grain ?
I read threads all the time on this forum from people who have done a batch and gone way over the expected FG and i think to my self 'just water it back'

After all, home brewing is about brewing beer that YOU like, if watering the final volume down to give you a more sessionable beer thats more to your taste then why not ?

 

[BeerCat]

Yes that's what I do if I boil off too much. Had to add 4l last time.

 

[Honk]

not a problem to water back to get your desired gravity, ive done this sometimes, but other times I leave as it is, usually because of lack of space in the fermenting vessel.

( i normally get higher than expected original gravity due to good efficiency rather than boiling too long)

 

[MrN]

I would think this is fine, even if it's not ideal. I've done this before in order to do larger batches than I can manage in my kettle or to correct og when I come in high.

I tend to use quite soft bottled water (the Tesco one) to reduce impacting the water profile too much (my water is petty hard and has to be treated before brewing) but 3L isn't going to make much difference. It also means I can add it straight from the bottle and not worry so much about contamination, I just dip the top in some star san before opening.

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

 

[Cwrw666]

I do this for every single brew as I've only got a 30L boiler and it's the only way to do a full 23L brew from it. Can't see why anyone would imagine there would be a problem. You're boiling off H2O, and that's all you're adding back.

 

[Pawlo7671]

Thanks for the reply's, it just seems that a lot of all grain brewers go with the volume they'v got like it was meant to be, perhaps watering it back is more common than i thought and I shouldn't feel like the brew gods are going to roar and the beer angels will weep as I slosh in cold tap water to bring my volume up to 23l

 

[Leon103]

Never heard it being set in stone that you can't do it.

 

[Robin54]

Thats just about the most sensible and interesting question raised for a while. For instance, I BIAB, and mash in 10 L of fluid. I sparge with 3 to 4 litres which gives a pre boil volume of about 14 litres. With boil evaporation I usually end up with 10 litres. Brilliant, that seems pretty predictable week in week out. HOWEVER, when I bottle I only get 15 half litre bottles filled. The problem area (for me) and one I can't seem to predict is that the trub in the bottom of the FV equates to about 2 litres. Does it bother me. No. But, I can dilute back should I wish, but I tend not to do it if the beer is tasting fine at this stage. I guess to get 10 L of beer each time one would have to use a chill cube and pour the wort off all the debris and the add water to the required volume whilst taking gravity readings. Sorry if that sounds long winded.....phew.

 

[Leon103]

Some people, I believe @MyQuy being one of them, actually make a concentrated wort that they water down in the FV.

 

[simon12]

Likely doesn't matter to much but I suggest adding the water to the hot wort to sterilise it and hopefully get rid of any chloride. I think I read some large breweries even water down after fermentation.