[jasongael]

This is my very first time homebrewing. I started out with 7.25 gallons between Mash and Sparge (ALL GRAIN IPA), I was at about 6 gallons pre-boil, and I think I got maybe 4 gallons or a little less transferred to the carboy (threw out a lot of sludge after - too hard to filter and funnel), so it's been fermenting well almost 6 days now, and I've just heard someone suggest I add a gallon of distilled water at this late stage? Does that work? Should I even consider doing this? I plan on dry-hopping in a second fermenter (5-gallon carboy) anyway, would I add it then? or.... any/all advice for novice is MUCH APPRECIATED!!

[yso191]

I wouldn't add water at this point.  If you take a gravity reading pre-boil and at the end of the boil you could add water or malt extract then, depending on which direction you were off.  I also don't worry about trub too much.  The yeast don't care.  It will settle out, and you can dump it with the hops and yeast at the end of everything.

There are worse things than ending up with less beer than what you planned for.  I'd rather have 3 gallons of good beer than 5 gallons of bad.

On another side topic, it sure seems like you boiled off a lot of volume.  I usually boil off a gallon per hour.  This will vary based on the kettle one uses, but a gallon an hour is typical.

[morticaixavier]

I wouldn't add water at this point.  If you take a gravity reading pre-boil and at the end of the boil you could add water or malt extract then, depending on which direction you were off.  I also don't worry about trub too much.  The yeast don't care.  It will settle out, and you can dump it with the hops and yeast at the end of everything.

There are worse things than ending up with less beer than what you planned for.  I'd rather have 3 gallons of good beer than 5 gallons of bad.

On another side topic, it sure seems like you boiled off a lot of volume.  I usually boil off a gallon per hour.  This will vary based on the kettle one uses, but a gallon an hour is typical.

+1 to NOT adding water at this point. seems like you were right on on the pre boil volume and left ~1 gallon behind in the kettle. as yso says, you can transfer most/all of that into the fermenter and it won't hurt anything.

[duboman]

Congrats on getting started! The first few times you brew it will take a bit to figure out how your system works and calculating vines and efficiency.

Take good notes on the process and the boil off rate as well as losses so you can make adjustments in both recipe design and volume calculations.

After a few batches you should be able to dial things in and hit everything where you need it

[jasongael]

Thanks everyone!!!! I will hold off and just do the secondary with the dry hop at the volume it's at now. YOU GUYS ROCK! will post results after.