Missed final volume - reboil after fermentation?

Okay... first of all I know it's all my fault for rushing my brew day to have dinner with SWMBO.

So I accidentally added a "little" extra water to the mash. I drained it all to the kettle and began my boil. I just bought a new 60qt pot and haven't marked off the volumes on my spoon, so 2 hours into the boil I think I'm around 5.5 gallons. I chill the wort, toss it in the primary and pitch the yeast...and happen to notice that I'm at the 7 gallon marker on my 7.5 gallon conical. SWEEEEET.

After fermenting for ~5 days, it tastes...very very weak.

My question to you: Should I rack off the yeast and boil down to 5.5g?

Young, or "green" beer is what you have right now, since it hasn't had time to condition. All beers taste like this until they have had a chance to age...typically one month from pitching the yeast, but up to several months for bigger beers. Don't boil your beer after fermentation has happened, just give it at least 2 weeks in the fermenter. At 5 days, it may not even be done fermenting yet, which may also account for the thin taste.

Correct me if I am wrong, but if you boil it after fermenting all you will do is drive off the alcohol and get a non-alcoholic beer....

Correct me if I am wrong, but if you boil it after fermenting all you will do is drive off the alcohol and get a non-alcoholic beer....

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Sorry, I should have clarified. After reboiling, I would either toss it back onto the yeast cake (I'll keep it sanitary, don't worry) or pitch new yeast.


And thanks for the quick replies!

ledonne said:

Sorry, I should have clarified. After reboiling, I would either toss it back onto the yeast cake (I'll keep it sanitary, don't worry) or pitch new yeast.


And thanks for the quick replies!

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Most of the alcohol that will be in the beer has already been produced at five days. There won't be enough sugar in solution to turn it into beer again if you pitch more yeast.

More than driving off any alcohol, you'll also volatilize many flavor components of your beer -- most importantly any aroma/flavor hops.

Instead of boiling, I'd suggest brewing a higher gravity beer next and then blending them.

I think if you do re-boil you will lose whatever alcohol content you have , like Cakehole mentioned, therefore you will need to adjust your OG (maybe add cornsugar). Personally , I would leave it , and if you don't like it, keep it for when the inlaws visit.

Jack said:

Most of the alcohol that will be in the beer has already been produced at five days. There won't be enough sugar in solution to turn it into beer again if you pitch more yeast.

More than driving off any alcohol, you'll also volatilize many flavor components of your beer -- most importantly any aroma/flavor hops.

Instead of boiling, I'd suggest brewing a higher gravity beer next and then blending them.

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Thanks for the suggesion. That's a good idea. I forgot that just boiling it down wouldn't add more fermentables...:cross:

Yeah, I'd say this is a case of RDWHABH.....just let it ride man

Do not re-boil the beer after fermentation. Alcohol boils at a much lower temperature (in the 170F's I believe) so you will end up with an even worse flavour than you have now. Pitching new yeast at that point would also be a waste. Any fermentables would already have been consumed and the yeast would just settle out. There is also the driving off of the volatiles as Jack mentioned.

What was your actual OG? If it's still decent just enjoy the session beer for what it is. Your only other option is blending with another beer as Jack also mentioned. I would definitely not add dextrose (corn sugar) as that will simply thin the beer even more.

What was your OG before pitching?

Why did you collect so much preboil wort anyway? 2 hours of boildown resulting in 7 gallons? Woah.

What was the original recipe? You may be able to revive it by boiling and adding some *ME and potentially some hops to get closer to your target OG and IBU. You may also be able to just ride it out, and end up with a session beer. It depends on what you intended to make.

If it's really too weak (and give it time before making that assessment), boil up a little DME and add that to the fermenter.

Update - I'm letting it sit for a few more days, but samples taste alright. Next time I'm going to be paying WAY more attention to the amount of wort I collect and boil.

Thanks for the advice!

Don't boil after fermenting. Like someone said, alcohol has a much lower boiling temp. So you would boil of all the alcojol and then some water. That's how you make liquor. Boil of the alcohol at around 170 F or whatever the temp is. Alcohol boils off and get's condensed, water stays behind.

What was the OG? If it was over 1.035, I'd just let the beer finish. Small beers are great to have around in hot weather.

What if he DID boil it, then added more malt and doing all the process again?

Would if work in teory? Or off-flavors would come up?

If he did reboil it, bottle it and then cellar it for five years, he'd still have to wait a few more months before you post this ;-)

Talk about a revival from the dead! This might be the oldest one i've seen revived! Sh*t and now I'm a part of it. :smack: