Watered Down?

[Schiraboy]

I just racked my beer into the carboy and noticed that there was approx. 2 L of space left in the carboy. I'm not sure why that happened this time.. usually when i transfer, the beer level is pretty close to the top of the carboy. So, i decided to add some water so that the beer would be sitting closer to the bung, but i'm afraid i may have added too much. My original gravity was 1.050, then i let it sit in the primary for 4 days, and the SG was 1.018. But then, when i added the water it brought it down to 1.013. I tasted it, and it was seemed really watered down. just wondering if this will noticeably affect the taste of the finished product? If so, would it have been fine to just leave the liquid level where it was and not add water? Or is it neccessary to have it filled a couple inches from the bottom of the bung?
Thanks!

 

[Steve]

I just racked my beer into the carboy and noticed that there was approx. 2 L of space left in the carboy. I'm not sure why that happened this time.. usually when i transfer, the beer level is pretty close to the top of the carboy. So, i decided to add some water so that the beer would be sitting closer to the bung, but i'm afraid i may have added too much. My original gravity was 1.050, then i let it sit in the primary for 4 days, and the SG was 1.018. But then, when i added the water it brought it down to 1.013. I tasted it, and it was seemed really watered down. just wondering if this will noticeably affect the taste of the finished product? If so, would it have been fine to just leave the liquid level where it was and not add water? Or is it neccessary to have it filled a couple inches from the bottom of the bung?
Thanks!

You let it ferment happily away for 4 days and then added water? It would have been fine without the extra water. If it tastes watery now at 1018/1013 it will taste watery when its done. How much water did you add?

 

[SunDrifter]

Help, I added water to my beer and now my beer is all watery... :lol:

You'll forgive me for having a bit of a laugh at that one.

 

[JestersDarts]

Help, I added water to my beer and now my beer is all watery... :lol:

You'll forgive me for having a bit of a laugh at that one.

yeah I wouldn't have added any extra water. I'd say it would have been fine without adding any more water.

But - its not my beer.

Iguess, analyse your process like this: what are you trying to achieve?

If you are trying to achieve an exact amount of beer - no probs.
If you dont want watery beer - dont add excess water, especially after racking.

 

[Schiraboy]

yea, my bad. i just wasn't sure if it was necessary to have the beer a certain distance from the bung, because on my instructions, it said top up the carboy with water until it's approx. 2 inches from bottom of the bung. So it would have been fine to just leave it 2 liters short?

 

[Steve]

So it would have been fine to just leave it 2 liters short?

If a glass carboy ferments in the same way as a plastic barrel fermenter, which im pretty sure it would, then yes, it would have been fine.

 

[Wolfy]

So it would have been fine to just leave it 2 liters short?

Yes it would have been fine.

Sometimes people leave 5 or more liters 'free space' and the yeast still crawls out the top.
In theory if you were keeping your beer in the fermenter for a long period (weeks or months) having a small amount of space at the top can be a good thing.
But for normal/general fermentation head-room in the fermenter does not really matter.

In the future I'd suggest you make volume adjustments according to the gravity (current compared what the target is) and taste.

 

[dpadden]

I just racked my beer into the carboy and noticed that there was approx. 2 L of space left in the carboy. I'm not sure why that happened this time.. usually when i transfer, the beer level is pretty close to the top of the carboy. So, i decided to add some water so that the beer would be sitting closer to the bung, but i'm afraid i may have added too much. My original gravity was 1.050, then i let it sit in the primary for 4 days, and the SG was 1.018. But then, when i added the water it brought it down to 1.013. I tasted it, and it was seemed really watered down. just wondering if this will noticeably affect the taste of the finished product? If so, would it have been fine to just leave the liquid level where it was and not add water? Or is it neccessary to have it filled a couple inches from the bottom of the bung?
Thanks!

Your beer should be fine Schira, but it's always a good idea to leave some head space in the fermenter (space between the level of wort and the 'bung') This will leave plenty of room for the krausen, especially if you have a nice healthy ferment which ciould end up being 3-4 inches thick.

During ferment the space is filled with CO2 anyway so no danger to the beer