Make-up Water?

What went wrong? Was this supposed to happen? Should I throw it out? What do I do now?

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clinebo
Posts: 6
Joined: Wed Aug 18, 2004 7:02 pm

Make-up Water?

Post by clinebo »

I am a novice brewer, having just brewed my second batch of beer. I chose the "Jason's Extra Special Bitter" recipe at Beer Tools. Everything appeard to be going well, except the original specific gravity. It was 1.070 versus 1.053 predicted. Today I racked the beer and, while transferring from the plastic fermenter to the 5 gallon carboy, I noted that I had only about 4 gallons of liquor. I added about one gallon of water to make-up 5 gallons. The specific gravity was 1.02 before I added the water and remained the same after. How might I have affected the quality of my finished product by adding the make-up water?
DreamWeaver
Light Lager
Light Lager
Posts: 37
Joined: Sat Jul 31, 2004 11:26 am
Location: WestCentral Ohio

Post by DreamWeaver »

Sounds like you are off to a good start. I wonder if your OG reading of 1.070 was adjusted for temperature? Sounds a bit high, especially for an extract kit. Also I find that brewing lingo is sometimes slanged or misinterrpreted to mean something else to someone else. (Confused?... My point) Make-up water when doing partial boil extracts usually refers to the water needed to make the amount you wish to ferment. IE 5 gallons. If you can boil 3.5-4 gallons on your stove, you can cool it and pour it in your fermenter then add make-up water to top off to your 5 gallon goal. I usually don't add any water to the fermented beer. You are probably OK but depending on your make-up water used, I understand that contamination is possible from tap water. I would'nt worry too much. I made many mistakes when I first started Homebrewing but have'nt had one I could'nt drink.

Hope That Helps!

-DreamWeaver-
Four More Beers!... Four More Beers!... Four More Beers! ...
JSGilbert
Posts: 9
Joined: Mon Aug 02, 2004 1:45 pm
Location: Denver, CO

Re: Make-up Water?

Post by JSGilbert »

clinebo wrote:I added about one gallon of water to make-up 5 gallons. The specific gravity was 1.02 before I added the water and remained the same after.
How could the SG be 1.02 before AND after you added 1 gallon of water to 4 gallons of beer? Your hydrometer reading should have gone down for sure. I think that you might be reading or using your hydrometer incorrectly. Adding 1 gal. should have lowered the SG because you effectively diluted the beer. You have the same mass of dissolved components in your beer, now in a greater volume. Since density (SG) equals mass divided by volume, your SG goes down.

Are you spinning the hydrometer to remove bubbles?

Are you correcting for temperature?
Cheers,

Jeremy

"To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,"
Hold a beer in the palm of your hand
And be glad it's happy hour.

Adapted from W. Blake "Auguries of Innocence"
clinebo
Posts: 6
Joined: Wed Aug 18, 2004 7:02 pm

Re: Make-up Water

Post by clinebo »

After bottling my beer and letting it age for more than three weeks, I have finally tasted it. I wish to report that, dispite my concerns, this beer is very drinkable. I have added this recipe to my favorates and will most assuradly make it again. Cheers.

Bo
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