Diluting a high gravity brew - Best approach?

[secondratemime]

Hi all,

I'm not sure where to post this, so bear with me!

I'm getting married in a year and am keen to brew as much of the beer as possible. I'm a pretty confident all-grain homebrewer these days, but my setup is geared up for standard 5-6 gallon batches and these aren't going to go very far with getting 150-odd people half-cut. I'm the only brewer I know, so borrowing gear isn't really an option, but I wondered whether brewing a high OG batch and diluting it would be a worthy option to double my capacity? I'm only after a session-able IPA of 4-4.5% or so.

I've read bits and bobs about the best way, but they seemed to involve diluting at the bottling stage. I'm worried about 'watery' beer and I was hoping to dry hop the thing, so wouldn't it be better to split the batch at the primary fermentation stage?

I could do a super high OG all grain batch, but then I'd have to use a ton of hops to get the same bitterness. As hop usage goes down as a function of gravity, so thought I could brew a moderately strong batch with grain and then add a bunch of DME in the last 10 minutes to get the best of both worlds. Then siphon into two vessels and add an equal amount of boiled and cooled water and dry hop as normal when the time comes.

What do we think? This ties up two fermenters, but would allow more efficient dry hopping and is less hassle at bottling.

Also, how far is it practical to push this? If I could get 10 gallons instead of 5, that would save me a massive amount of time.

The other option is to do it as all-extract and squeeze out a couple of batches a day, but where's the fun in that?

Other suggestions welcome!

Thanks


James

 

[z-bob]

Congratulations. Are you sure you wanna do this? (brewing for the wedding, not the wedding itself ) Seems like a lot of responsibility when you'll have plenty of other things to be doing. Maybe brew for the rehearsal dinner?

Your idea about adding DME near the end of the boil, and then watering it down in the fermenter is a good one. Or you can do the same thing with a style of beer that has sugar in it (English or Belgian)

 

[secondratemime]

Cheers dude! I'm a glutton for punishment - it'll be the final year of my PhD when it kicks off too! I've always done stuff for other peoples weddings (cooking/catering and playing with my band), so it annoys me I won't be able to do anything for the one that really matters. Literally the only reason we're not having a hog-roast is because I'm told that's not an appropriate use of my my wedding day and I don't trust anyone else to do it.

I'm based in the UK, so we're spoilt for local breweries and I'll be encouraging people to contribute a pin from their local (25-30 litres) to the party. In an ideal world, I'd do it all, but I'd be happy to make a few hundred bottles to throw into the mix.

If brewing a high OG batch and watering it down is a go-er then, I should be able to get 40-50 litres out of a single brew.

I'm one for aiming high and seeing what happens!

 

[JohnSand]

You can follow your plan. Many extract brewers boil only half, then top up. I've had success topping up all grain in the kettle (5 gallons in a 5 gallon kettle, 3.5 boil, top up), the fermenter, the bottle, the keg. I've made two different brews from one mash and boil by adding water, dry hops or candy syrup. You can also find threads about short mashes and short boils. All of these techniques can make more beer in less time.
Have fun at your wedding.