Well, almost newbie. I did a few 1-gal kits about two years ago, then had to take a little hiatus for various reasons and promptly forgot everything I’d learned. Now, my buddy (a true newbie) and I are brewing the 1-gal Dead Ringer IPA, and I have a few questions:
For my earlier batches, I kept finding that I had to suck up a fair proportion of the trub from the brew pot in order to fill the carboy to the 1-gal level. This time, I made a concerted effort to avoid as much trub as possible, and I came up a little short in volume. On a whim, I decided to top off the carboy with (boiled) water. Was that a bad choice? Will the beer taste diluted? It was probably a cup or two at most. Next time, I’ll probably just add a bit more water to the boil.
Obviously, in my earlier batches, my carboy would have a pretty thick trub layer at the bottom after the primary. This time, I don’t (yay!), but I do have about an inch of what looks like really hazy brew just above the yeast layer on the bottom. It almost looks like condensation, if I had to describe it, but it’s definitely on the inside of the carboy. Is that just yeast slowly settling, or what?
Thanks for the help - obviously there’s no end to the questions one can have about brewing…
[quote=“LemonParade4”]Well, almost newbie. I did a few 1-gal kits about two years ago, then had to take a little hiatus for various reasons and promptly forgot everything I’d learned. Now, my buddy (a true newbie) and I are brewing the 1-gal Dead Ringer IPA, and I have a few questions:
For my earlier batches, I kept finding that I had to suck up a fair proportion of the trub from the brew pot in order to fill the carboy to the 1-gal level. This time, I made a concerted effort to avoid as much trub as possible, and I came up a little short in volume. On a whim, I decided to top off the carboy with (boiled) water. Was that a bad choice? Will the beer taste diluted? It was probably a cup or two at most. Next time, I’ll probably just add a bit more water to the boil.
Obviously, in my earlier batches, my carboy would have a pretty thick trub layer at the bottom after the primary. This time, I don’t (yay!), but I do have about an inch of what looks like really hazy brew just above the yeast layer on the bottom. It almost looks like condensation, if I had to describe it, but it’s definitely on the inside of the carboy. Is that just yeast slowly settling, or what?
Thanks for the help - obviously there’s no end to the questions one can have about brewing…[/quote]
Yes, you diluted your beer a sixteenth from the undiluted version or an eighth if you used 2 cups. Adding additional water to the boil would also dilute your beer, unless you are adding additional ingredients. Whether or not it was a bad choice is ultimately up to the taster.
I only made a one gallon batch once and it wasn’t from a kit so I don’t know what volume of water they suggest you start pre boil. Maybe you are boiling to vigorously. If you are your FG would be higher than predicted and maybe a little boiled water would bring it down to what was predicted.
