Can I add body simply by reducing water?

[miner33]

This may be dumb question. My 1st homebrew batch has been in bottles now for almost 5 weeks. Its not bad, but it is very light-bodied. It was an American Amber kit from Brewers Best. I'm doing batch #2 tomorrow which is a Brewer's Best English Pale Ale. Comparing the 2 recipes, the AMerican Amber had 3.3 lbs of Amber Liquid Extract and 2 lbs of Amber DME. Also, I steeped 8oz of Crushed Crystal Malt. If I add less water (less than the 5 gallons total for the recipe) will this improve the body? If I do this, will the balance with the hops be off?

I forgot to mention that EPA I'm going to brew only calls for 3.3lbs of LME and 2lbs of DME, that's why I ask.

 

[The Pol]

What are the OGs and the FGs? By reducing water... well... try increasing your unfermentables, or using a yeast that does not attenuate so much. You are looking to add sugar (gravity) to the final brew, if you reduce the water, making a higher OG you will accomplish this in a backward sort of way. Buuuut you will also be increasing your alcohol content and reducing your volume, neither of which need to happen to get the outcome you are looking for.
Yes, you will upset the balance... #1 your decreased boil volume will affect the hop utilization to a degree, and you will have a higher OG, higher FG... this reducing your IBU/SG ratio... making for a sweeter beer.

 

[miner33]

Well, I screwed up the gravity readings so I'm not sure what they were.

 

[The Pol]

Id get more unfermentables in there and maybe re-balance the hops

 

[impatient]

No, with an extract, reducing water would only up the alcohol.

If you are using a kit and want to increase unfermentables, then you could add 1lb of Crystal 60 and steep the grains at 153 or above. The more you go above 153, the more body you will get. But, don't go over 170 which would release tanins.

Read more here How to Brew - By John Palmer - How the Mash Works.