I was making a 1 ga. batch of basic ale BIAB. It said mash with 3.5 quarts,sparge with 1.5 ga.
But it didnt seem right so I mashed with a gallon and sparged in a separate bowl with some additional crystal with 1/2 gallon 180 heated water and then was short of my 1.9 gallon pre boil so I just added a quart of tap water. Does this sound ok??? Not exactly by the rules.
Adding tap water to get your volume right should work fine as long as your gravity is in the ballpark after you add the water. I had to do this a few times when I started doing all grain until I started to get my methodology sorted out. It’ll take some trial and error for you to figure out the proper volumes to use for your particular system.
if I had a very active ferment for the first 30 hrs ,that should mean my number was good,no??
The only way to tell numbers is to actually measure them with a hydrometer or a refractometer. Active fermentation just means you had healthy yeast, or a very active strain of yeast and there are sugars present for them to eat. Whether or not the amount needed for the beer you tried to make would be based on the readings.
