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I've just had a brown chicken stock on the simmer for the last 8 hours, not planning for that long but got called out. Nonetheless, the liquid has reduced by about 1/2 - 2/3.

Would taking it off the heat now and adding cold water to both bring the liquid quantity back up and cool the stock for refrigerating be an appropriate rescue?

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For storage purposes, you don't want to bring the liquid quantity back up now. You want to bring it up later when you use it, or even use it in its concentrated form (demiglace). Even as stock, it is supposed to lose lots of liquid by evaporation, you shouldn't get 1l of stock out of 1 l of water+flavor ingredients. I can tell you the exact amount later when I'm at home where my books are. For cooling, just use shallow containers. – rumtscho♦ Jul 20 '12 at 13:28
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Also, if you were going to cool + dilute in one step, ice is a far better option. – derobert Jul 20 '12 at 14:34
You shouldn't cool+dilute as you're adding bacteria to your broth. That's a big no-no. Leave it concentrated, and dilute when used, as rumtscho suggests. – BaffledCook Jul 21 '12 at 0:20

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I have to ask, why would you want to add water? Chicken stock should simmer 8 hours. That is the optimal time to extract all flavours. What you have there is (probably) perfect. However, if you don't want as much flavour, add the water later, not now. Also, to cool, the best way to do it is in an ice bath or a cold water bath (one where there is a constant slow source of running cold water).

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I purely wanted to add water as when I came home, there was hardly any liquid left. But after straining through cloth, I got about 500mL (1/2 quart) from the remains of a small roast chicken, so I'm thinking all is good. – jontyc Jul 21 '12 at 0:52
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Nice.... I wasn't trying to be a dick or seem 'elitist', I was just curious... I usually make 8 or 10 + litres of stock at a time... Your reason makes perfect sense... – mrwienerdog Jul 21 '12 at 16:19
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You didn't come across as a dick or elitist, at least to me anyway. I appreciated your response. – jontyc Jul 22 '12 at 0:56

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