Thinning wort to correct OG

So lately my efficiencies and gravities have been fairly off from my target. That there is a whole 'nother topic, but....


Let's say I collect a sample for the hydro at flameout and stick it in the freezer, and proceed with my chilling and stirring and what not before I pitch the yeast. After I get the wort cooled to room temperature, I take a hydro reading and UH-OH It's too high. I boiled too much water off.

Now I want to dilute the wort to get it to proper OG before I pitch. Should I

a) do a volume-concentration calculation, such as C1V1=C2V2, where V1 is the amout of wort in my carboy, C1 is the measured gravity, C2 is the gravity I am shooting for, and V2 is the volume I need to dilute to.

Now, should I use 1.0xx for the concentration, or xx. Meaning, should I use 1.052 in the calculation, or 52? Obviously 52/40 is going to be a lot higher than 1.052/1.040, and the subsequent dilution will be too much.

b) just pitch yeast and be happy I have a killer beer


Oh ya, I'm mashing right now so I am a little

Happy 4th yall

Wow, that's a lot of math for a brew day. I would just add enough sterilized water to reach your proper volume and not worry about it. You're not going to kill your beer. I don't get to upset if I go a little high on my gravity. If you really want to be spot on, then add enough water to reach you target OG and then remove the excess wort to reach your target volume. In any case ... RDWHAHB.

too high? oh no... the bjcp gods will strike you down for that... go for it, and happy drinking :rockin:

GRHunter said:

Wow, that's a lot of math for a brew day. I would just add enough sterilized water to reach your proper volume and not worry about it. You're not going to kill your beer. I don't get to upset if I go a little high on my gravity. If you really want to be spot on, then add enough water to reach you target OG and then remove the excess wort to reach your target volume. In any case ... RDWHAHB.

Click to expand...

Math is the language of science, and... er... mathematicians. I actually like this technique because I can get fairly accurate volumes from my carboys, and the difference between V2 and V1 would be the volume I would need to add to bring my OG into range, which I can measure quite accurately.....

I just want to know the correct dilution factor based on current OG and target OG.


But believe me, I've brewed some witches brews that should've killed people... but instead of taking lives they fostered praise. It takes a strong, willful man or woman to kill a beer. You almost have to do it on purpose.

I hate doing math unnecessarily, but I almost always want to hit my desired OG. So, I cheat and use some brewing software. Beersmith has a water dilution tool, so I just add the water to get to my OG that Beersmith "tells" me to.

Yes, add water. Boil and cool first. I do this all the time.

C1V1 = C2V2 where the concentrations are, say 46 for 1.046 (get rid of the 1.)

So if you made 5 gallons of beer and your OG was 1.060, and you wanted it to be 1.052,

(5)(60) / (52) = 7.1g you'd need to add 2.1g