I boiled 10 mins longer than normal and was also slightly shy of my preboil mark. As a result my work which was supposed to be 1.056 is 1.068 and as I cool it, looks about 1/2 gal shy. So do you guys add water to top off or just coll and pitch?
Slainthe!
I top off if needed.
[quote=“dforlow”]I boiled 10 mins longer than normal and was also slightly shy of my preboil mark. As a result my work which was supposed to be 1.056 is 1.068 and as I cool it, looks about 1/2 gal shy. So do you guys add water to top off or just coll and pitch?
Slainthe![/quote]
depends what you want, to many factors come into play…either will work.
You are way off on predicted gravity boiling 10 minutes longer does not give that much evaporation so that wouldnt change much.
If I’m that far off the mark I definately would top up. But for me, I usually prefer to be a little lower in gravity if anything. If you don’t mind the higher gravity or the lower volume there is no reason why you would have to top up.
Really a personal choice here. Either way is fine.
If you’re concerned about conforming to a style guide, you’re probably going to want to shoot for a certain gravity range. That means you may need to top off with water to lower the specific gravity or boil longer to raise the specific gravity and hit within that range. If you don’t care about the style guidelines, take what comes out of the mash tun and kettle and see what you get.
