b0ne head needs help... adding water after primary?

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williec30

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so i got a recipe from a friend of mine, it's basically hoegarden with apple cider added to it. goes something like:

- 3 gallons of hoegarden (brew as per the usual)
- 2 gallons of apple cider (added after primary)

my hoegarden is ready to be mixed with the cider, kegged and cooled quickly to prevent the cider from fermenting. i tasted the hoegarden today... it was good but something was off. i realized then that i actually used enough grain and extract for 5 gallons not thinking about the lack of water that would be added after the boil.

the 3 gallons of beer has been in primary for 10 days... can i add 2 gallons of water at this point to dilute the now 3 gallons of super strong hoegarden?
 
if you have the fermenters available you could dilute your strong 3-gallons to 5 gallons and pull off the 2 extra gallons so you could ferment that as straight hoegarden
 
Make sure to use distilled water and rack it in without disturbing the wort. Adding oxygen at this point will probably lead to some off flavors.

EDIT - Probably a good idea to boil it for 15 minutes as well, it is hard to infect a beer once it has been fermented but no sense in taking any chance.
 
so i took the top off today and used the thief to take a gravity reading. to my surprise i opened the keg to find foam up to the top of the lid. i stuck the thief through the foam to get beer for the reading... the beer was bubbling like champagne. this can't be right can it?

i sampled it after taking the reading (1.030), first it smelled like it was skunked. second, the taste was ok, but nothing like i had imagined. i looked down to put the cap back on and the foam started coming out the top, and was continuing to do so. i quickly placed the cap on.

does it need more time, or did my cider ferment and kill what i was going after?
 
Someone has a beer called Apple Buzz that tastes like what I imagine this would taste like. I think it might be Oaken Barrel here in Indiana. That's one interesting beer. :mug:
 
so i took the top off today and used the thief to take a gravity reading. to my surprise i opened the keg to find foam up to the top of the lid. i stuck the thief through the foam to get beer for the reading... the beer was bubbling like champagne. this can't be right can it?

i sampled it after taking the reading (1.030), first it smelled like it was skunked. second, the taste was ok, but nothing like i had imagined. i looked down to put the cap back on and the foam started coming out the top, and was continuing to do so. i quickly placed the cap on.

does it need more time, or did my cider ferment and kill what i was going after?

bump on this... any thoughts?
 
If you added your cider to the batch without either killing off the yeast or chilling it immediately then you are now fermenting apple cider.
 
If you added your cider to the batch without either killing off the yeast or chilling it immediately then you are now fermenting apple cider.

it was definitely chilled immediately. i am guessing there was yeast that wasn't killed off before adding the cider. knowing nothing about fermented cider, i am guessing it doesn't have a nice taste?
 
Fermented cider is tasty, though I'm not sure how it will work mixed with beer.

Cooling off the fermenter does not kill the yeast, just makes the dormant. So once you cool it off and add the cider you must keep it cool (below 40 degrees). This is assuming you used an ale yeast, a lager yeast will still ferment that low.

The way to kill the yeast would have been to add potassium sorbate and potassium metisulfate (available at wine shops).

If you are kegging what I'd suggest is let this ferment out, then put it in a keg and get it cold, after it is cold add 2 cans of frozen apple juice concentrate. That should get you your sweetness and apple flavor. Apple juice will ferment out fairly dry even with an ale yeast.

It won't be exactly what you wanted in the first place (more alcohol) but it may get you close.

Edit: Apple Juice and Apple cider are pretty much the same, except apple cider will be cloudy and won't easily clear after fermentation either.
 
Fermented cider is tasty, though I'm not sure how it will work mixed with beer.

If you are kegging what I'd suggest is let this ferment out, then put it in a keg and get it cold, after it is cold add 2 cans of frozen apple juice concentrate. .

thanks for the info conpewter... i am still learning as you can see ;)

when you say ferment out, what do you mean? i moved the brew to the keg immediately after primary. how do i know when the fermentation is done?
 
Well if it is currently fermenting in the keg I'm not sure of a great way to know when fermentation is done. You could just do as normal and check on it and when the kruasen has fallen you can do hydrometer readings for 3 days in a row and if they stay the same then you are done.

I'd say you could just cold crash it right now for a few days to halt fermentation, but I'd be worried about off-flavors the yeast were producing during fermentation and then wouldn't have a chance to clean up, it is such an off the wall brew though that I don't know if that would matter.

Why did you want to do this mix in the first place? I'd think it would be easier to just pour half a glass of hoegarden and add some apple cider to it right before drinking, even then I'm not sure what flavor you are going after.
 
Why did you want to do this mix in the first place? I'd think it would be easier to just pour half a glass of hoegarden and add some apple cider to it right before drinking, even then I'm not sure what flavor you are going after.

again, it was a recipe that a friend gave me... he had brewed it a while back and i liked it, hence me *trying* to brew it.:drunk:

i will just let it sit and see what happens. thanks for the recommendations!
 
Glad to help, it's not a bad idea to experiment, I've just not done this sort of brew before. You'll get something good out of it, just may need to tweak it after it is done.
 
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