Watering down beer

Glitchy · May 14, 2019

I brewed myself a California common, the dry hop was supposed to be 7 days but for a number of reasons ended up being about 35 days. I was hoping this would end up around 5% tops but ideally 4-4.5% but has come out around 6.5% and tastes like a strong lager. My question is can I water this down? If so what would be the best method? If I do water it down do I risk losing the body and flavour? Cheers for your help!

Drunkula · May 14, 2019

You'll lose body, flavour and bitterness but that doesn't mean you shouldn't do it. So you'd be adding about 30% more water. Do a little test and taste it.

I'd campden the water you'd add if you have chlorine tastes. When I read up on doing this ages ago some people said boil the water first to get rid of the oxygen that might stale it faster, others said basically add a huge batch priming solution and let the yeast have the oxygen for din-dins.

Why the extra alcohol? Crazy efficiency or did it attenuate much further than you expected in that time?

Glitchy · May 15, 2019

Drunkula said:
You'll lose body, flavour and bitterness but that doesn't mean you shouldn't do it. So you'd be adding about 30% more water. Do a little test and taste it.

I'd campden the water you'd add if you have chlorine tastes. When I read up on doing this ages ago some people said boil the water first to get rid of the oxygen that might stale it faster, others said basically add a huge batch priming solution and let the yeast have the oxygen for din-dins.

Why the extra alcohol? Crazy efficiency or did it attenuate much further than you expected in that time?

Thanks for the reply, could possibly do with losing a little bitterness to be fair, but body and flavour is what I was worrying about. In honesty I dont really know too much about calculating efficiency and understand too much on attenuation (possibly a reason for getting a higher abv than I wanted!) Recipe suggested 5.2 but it was sat on the yeast for a fair while longer than anticipated, dont know if that had anything to do with it?

Hoppyland · May 23, 2019

Exactly how do you know it is 6.5% - what measurements suggest this? As Drunkula says, it's a big difference from 4 -4.5% ABV.
Diluting it will obviously reduce the percentage alcohol, but it will certainly also reduce the body, and the flavour as well. Sitting on the yeast for a long time after the fermentation is pretty much complete will definitely not have made much difference to the attenuation. But, it could lead to unwanted, unpleasant flavours in the beer: as yeast cells die & break down they will release substances back into the liquid beer above them. This can result in off-flavours in the beer known as "yeast bitten".

Glitchy · May 24, 2019

The OG was 1.058 and the FG was 1.008 did have the formula but used an abv calculator on my brew diary. Temp was 20 degrees when measured for both with standard hydro meter. I wouldnt say there were off flavours as such, just that strong special brew type taste which I thought could just be from the hops being in there for such a long time maybe? I am hoping it will mellow over time

An Ankoù · May 24, 2019

It would have been better to dilute at the beginning of the fermentation. What OG were you expecting, by the way?
But it's not too late now, by any means. From what you say, it sounds as if the beer is just too "full on". Of the options Drunkula suggests, above, I'd boil the water first and let it cool before adding it to the beer. Even chill it a little. Again, testing a sample to see how it tastes would be a good idea.

Tony Palmer · May 24, 2019

Ideally you need DAL (the proper name for Deoxygenated water). Boiled and cooled will do especially if you add a smidgeon of yeast. The flavour is not particularly from hops but byproducts of fermentation at higher gravity. In addition sitting on yeast too long should be avoided. Once "liquored" down the beer will not age well given the lack of proper equipment. Good luck.

Glitchy · May 24, 2019

An Ankoù said:
It would have been better to dilute at the beginning of the fermentation. What OG were you expecting, by the way?
But it's not too late now, by any means. From what you say, it sounds as if the beer is just too "full on". Of the options Drunkula suggests, above, I'd boil the water first and let it cool before adding it to the beer. Even chill it a little. Again, testing a sample to see how it tastes would be a good idea.

I adapted a cali common recipe from James Morton and reduced the grain bill by 0.5 kilos, his expected OG was 1.056-58, I am gonna make an assumption that my efficiency is not likely to be as good as his though, did have less wort at the end so actually diluting it from 16 up to 20 litres is something I really should have done before the fermentation (hindsight is bloody wonderful!!) Think you are right with taste, full on is the phrase that definitely describes it! Have watered down to 20 litres following Drunkula's advice, will bottle and leave for a month or so I think and see how it tastes then

Glitchy · May 24, 2019

Tony Palmer said:
Ideally you need DAL (the proper name for Deoxygenated water). Boiled and cooled will do especially if you add a smidgeon of yeast. The flavour is not particularly from hops but byproducts of fermentation at higher gravity. In addition sitting on yeast too long should be avoided. Once "liquored" down the beer will not age well given the lack of proper equipment. Good luck.

Do you not think the dry hop will affect it being stuck in there for so long? Or is there only so much flavour you can pull from the hops? Didnt add any yeast but will remember that for next time I mess up ( and I will have another time) cheers! Do you think the flavour will mellow over time or is it a lost cause?

An Ankoù · May 24, 2019

Glitchy said:
I adapted a cali common recipe from James Morton and reduced the grain bill by 0.5 kilos, his expected OG was 1.056-58, I am gonna make an assumption that my efficiency is not likely to be as good as his though, did have less wort at the end so actually diluting it from 16 up to 20 litres is something I really should have done before the fermentation (hindsight is bloody wonderful!!) Think you are right with taste, full on is the phrase that definitely describes it! Have watered down to 20 litres following Drunkula's advice, will bottle and leave for a month or so I think and see how it tastes then

James Morton is a full-volume, no-sparge, BIAB brewer (at least that's what his photos indicate) and his efficiency will necessarily be at least a bit less than yours if you did anything like a half-decent sparge. If you followed his method, too, then look at the stage he refers to as "liquor back" to target volume.

Glitchy · May 24, 2019

An Ankoù said:
James Morton is a full-volume, no-sparge, BIAB brewer (at least that's what his photos indicate) and his efficiency will necessarily be at least a bit less than yours if you did anything like a half-decent sparge. If you followed his method, too, then look at the stage he refers to as "liquor back" to target volume.

I do BIAB also, I did liquor back to get the OG if I recall, think I just went with his OG without thinking about the reduced grain bill, rookie error!!

An Ankoù · May 24, 2019

Glitchy said:
I do BIAB also, I did liquor back to get the OG if I recall, think I just went with his OG without thinking about the reduced grain bill, rookie error!!

We live and learn. Get another one on. Enjoy the first one. Life's too short. If it tastes good it is good.

Glitchy · May 24, 2019

An Ankoù said:
We live and learn. Get another one on. Enjoy the first one. Life's too short. If it tastes good it is good.

Very true, the fun part of experimenting is coming up with something that tastes good, you just gotta put with the times when you just produce expensive drain cleaner as well!

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