I brewed a decocted Altbier a couple of days ago. In my water calcs I overlooked the evaporation that took place during the decoctions, and ended up with less wort (and a higher gravity) than I’d intended for.
I didn’t think to top it up with water prior to fermentation, which is already well under way. Does anyone have any light to shed as far as topping up (with boiled water) post fermentation?
There should be no problem with that, as long as you know how much to add. I would consider adding a little at a time and tasting as you go…
Great! That’s kind of what I figured. I’ll likely just rack to secondary, and top up to 5 gallons, hitting my intended volume. I’m probably only 3/4 of a gallon short.
Thanks!
Why top off? You brewed A “sticke” alt!
+1,worth considering.
It could be better to go with 4.25 gallons of good beer
rather than 5 gallons of “watered up” beer.
Thanks for the suggestion - I appreciate it. But I guess I have a personal complex with intention. I knew of the sticke variation, but wasn’t shooting for that. I don’t think I bittered it enough, and since this my first Alt, I’m not sure I want to dry hop it either. I’d just like to compensate for my oversight and see how close I can get to my intentions, you know?
I will most certainly consider it for round 2, though, once this one is done in primary. Good times.
The history of the sticke alt is an altbier that the brewmaster muffed up. You really can’t shoot for a sticke 
Where did you hear that? Everything I’ve ever read about the variation is pretty specific.
You have to be very careful not to add oxigen. The big brewers do this with carbonated water.
It’s secret.
Yeah - I plan on boiling the water, which should devoid it of oxygen.
And, yes, precisely - A “secret.” But from what I understand it usually just means a scaled up Alt, as opposed to a mistake. Please correct me if I’m wrong.
The history of the sticke is that it was a mistake. Nowadays brewers recreate that mistake, as you said, with a specific recipe. I just wanted to give some back story with a little humor. You are exactly right the sticke is a scaled up alt. But, if you happen to screw up an alt in some way, you would be technically correct to call it a sticke alt! 
