Make-up Water?
Moderator: slothrob
Make-up Water?
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?
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- Light Lager
- Posts: 37
- Joined: Sat Jul 31, 2004 11:26 am
- Location: WestCentral Ohio
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-
Hope That Helps!
-DreamWeaver-
Four More Beers!... Four More Beers!... Four More Beers! ...
Re: Make-up Water?
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.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.
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"
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"
Re: Make-up Water
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
Bo