foreigngreg

Recipes 

Hi people,

Have any of you ever tried to dilute your brew after the boil to get greater volumes for a given boil size?

I ask this as I would like to make 50l batches, my mash tun could take it for say a 1060 or less OG beer, but my kettle is only good for up to 25l batches. Seen this my plan would be to boil, cool of, and then dilute with some bottled water (no nasties there to spoil the beer, as opposed to tap water).

What do you think? Will this make a good beer? Or does a high gravity boil (OGx2) change something in the final product?

Cheers

Greg

ScrewyBrewer

Recipes 

I've added filtered water to the cooled wort in my fermenters many, many times and haven't had any problems with the finished beer directly related to doing so. Most extract beer recipe kits actually include this step in their brewing directions.

Of course the final gravity of the finished beer will be diluted and you can expect a lower ABV%, but you still end up with a good session beer.

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redman67

Recipes 

With the help of beersmith I make 15 gallon batches using my keggel system with no problems so far
The program can be adjusted to accomodate the additional top off water while still hitting your gravities

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foreigngreg

Recipes 

I have no problem actually diluting and hitting the right targets and all, my question was more along the lines of; does it affect the produced beer to do higher concentration boils and then dilute, and if it does how so?

I mean, if no differenct can be seen between a high concentration boil and a full volume boil, there is no reason to boil full volume! (less volume to boil= less energy = less cost).

broadbill

Recipes 

There are other issues/problems with doing a partial boil vs. a full boil:

A more concentrated boil decreases your hop utilization.

A more concentrated boil has increased Maillard reaction going on, darkening the wort and producing a different flavor profile.

foreigngreg

Recipes 

Ok I figured there should be a reason, thanks for the info!

m1k3

Recipes 

I agree with the "hop utilization" and "Maillard reaction" answer. I take that into account in my process.

Many large scale breweries use dilution at bottling time (to increase production above fermenter and brewhouse space), my question is:

Is there any difference between pre and post-fermentation dilution?

Revvy

Recipes 

I show here, how I do 5 gallon ag batches on my stovetop doing high gravity a 3.5 gallon boil down to a 2.5gallon boil and topping off in the fermenter, just like in an extract batch, to 5 gallons.

I've medalled for some of those beers, so I fart in the general direction of those who say it CAN'T be done....

I've done it with everything from pale ales to Ipas to stouts, and they've all turned out. Dark beers, lighter beers, whatever.

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Revvy's one of the cool reverends. He has a Harley and a t-shirt that says on the back "If you can read this, the bitch was Raptured. - Madman

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Revvy

Recipes 

So you over compensate by using more hops, around 18% tends to cover it.

I call shennagins on this one....never had any issues with that....any darkenning of wort is dilluted back to it's "intended" flavor profile....If that were truly the case we wouldn't have extract beers with a 2.5 gallon topped off to 5 gallons would we?

When we do this ourselves we're really doing nothing more than a maltser does making for example a cooper's kit. They mash the grain, and boil it like we do, adding their hops in, and then concentrating the wort down to a thick syrup.

In our case were only boiling it down a little bit...but if we can make beer from an extract kit that is not a full boil, we can do it for ag beers as well.

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The Open Heart Surgery Recovery "Dramedy" continues!

Revvy's one of the cool reverends. He has a Harley and a t-shirt that says on the back "If you can read this, the bitch was Raptured. - Madman

I gotta tell ya, just between us girls, that Revvy is HOT. Very tall, gorgeous grey hair and a terrific smile. He's very good looking in person, with a charismatic personality... he drives like a ****ing maniac! - YooperBrew

C-Rider

Recipes 

I gotta try this one of these days.

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