Diluting high ABV beer post fermentation HELP?

[darylwoodman]

Good morning,

The past few brews have dropped to a very low final gravity--always 1.004 (ever since I went from a brew bucket to a SS fermentation vessel). I'm a sterility expert, and I'm sure that this is not an infection (but I might be wrong), although the last three batches terminating at 1.004 is not the problem I need addressed.

I have been mashing at a lower temp. In fact, this batch had a problem with maintaining mash temp. I went from 153 to 147 over and hour or so. I also had a stuck sparge of sorts (never happened before), and I had to dump it twice (back and forth between kettles) to lauter it. This may have extracted more sugars than usual.

I am having a Nueve de Mayo party this coming weekend, and my party brew went from 1.066 to 1.004. 8.14% ABV is too much for an easy drinking beer, and so I need to dilute it--or at least some of it.

Since the final gravity is 1.004, can I still dilute this and make it enjoyable?

I know that I should dilute it with boiled water to reduce the dissolved O2. Any thoughts on this?

a) Can it be done with an already very low gravity reading?
b) How much would you dilute it?
c) dilute with boiled tap or spring or distilled?

Any help would be very appreciated. I'm in new territory here ;-)

Thanks in advance-

 

[ArcLight]

>>I have been mashing at a lower temp.

That result sin a more fermentable wort and a lower final gravity


>>Since the final gravity is 1.004, can I still dilute this and make it enjoyable?

Probably it's already thin because of that low gravity.
If you want to add water, you also want to increase body.
Try using a few ounces of Maltodextrine for 5 gallons to your preference.


When diluting, take a known quantity, say four ounces of beer, and add a known quantity of water, say 1/4 an ounce. Taste it. Add annother 1/4 ounce, taste it. Repeat.

Then step back, cleanse your pallet, and draw another 4 ounce sample and add the same amount of water (ex: 3/4 ounce).
taste it.

But I'd also add the Malto dextrine.

And yes I'd use boiled and cooled water so you don't add O2 or any microbes/mold/yeast..

 

[PoppinCaps]

Never done it before, but I'm interested in how it turns out. Just a couple of probably crappy ideas, but if it's in the keg already, you could do a couple tests.

If you dilute with water, your gravity will go even lower, and probably taste pretty thin. You could try diluting with an amount of water you steeped with high dextrin malt, as not to restart fermentation but to add a little body to the dilution water. Also could add potassium sorbate to accomplish the same thing.

I would just do it on a small scale and mix in a glass to see how it blends.

I guess that's just one idea. Be sure to let us know how it goes, might be helpful to others who also over attenuated.

 

[darylwoodman]

>>I have been mashing at a lower temp.

That result sin a more fermentable wort and a lower final gravity


>>Since the final gravity is 1.004, can I still dilute this and make it enjoyable?

Probably it's already thin because of that low gravity.
If you want to add water, you also want to increase body.
Try using a few ounces of Maltodextrine for 5 gallons to your preference.


When diluting, take a known quantity, say four ounces of beer, and add a known quantity of water, say 1/4 an ounce. Taste it. Add annother 1/4 ounce, taste it. Repeat.

Then step back, cleanse your pallet, and draw another 4 ounce sample and add the same amount of water (ex: 3/4 ounce).
taste it.

But I'd also add the Malto dextrine.

And yes I'd use boiled and cooled water so you don't add O2 or any microbes/mold/yeast..

Thank you for the reply. I'm a little on the fence with the malto dextrine. I'm not sure if they sell it at the beer store. Is that a normal off-the-shelf thing?

I will call them when they open. Thanks for the reply.

If you take an 8% ABV beer, and you dilute it by 25% (3 beer: 1 water), does that make a 6% beer, or is it more complicated than that?

 

[darylwoodman]

Never done it before, but I'm interested in how it turns out. Just a couple of probably crappy ideas, but if it's in the keg already, you could do a couple tests.

If you dilute with water, your gravity will go even lower, and probably taste pretty thin. You could try diluting with an amount of water you steeped with high dextrin malt, as not to restart fermentation but to add a little body to the dilution water. Also could add potassium sorbate to accomplish the same thing.

I would just do it on a small scale and mix in a glass to see how it blends.

I guess that's just one idea. Be sure to let us know how it goes, might be helpful to others who also over attenuated.

I'm going to check with my home brew store too. I'll let you know how it turns out--and whatever I do.

Cheers-

 

[botigol]

If you take an 8% ABV beer, and you dilute it by 25% (3 beer: 1 water), does that make a 6% beer, or is it more complicated than that?

It is more complicated than that:

http://winemakersacademy.com/blending-wine-pearsons-square/

There was a really great online calculator, but it has been offline for at least several weeks and I didn't notice another, so you'd have to do the math longhand.

 

[darylwoodman]

It is more complicated than that:

http://winemakersacademy.com/blending-wine-pearsons-square/

There was a really great online calculator, but it has been offline for at least several weeks and I didn't notice another, so you'd have to do the math longhand.

Looks like I'll have to take the beaker out and step it up as you suggested. The good news is that no-one is driving, they all live on the street, so it's more about taste than anything.

I don't mind it being thin--it is an outside summery event. The interesting thing is, that it doesn't feel all that thin. It has a syrupy taste like an imperial IPA. The other odd thing is that all these three brews were measured with a new hydrometer. I though that could be off, but it does measure zero with DI water.

Thanks again.

 

[Opiate42]

8.14% ABV

Sounds like you have the opposite of a problem

 

[darylwoodman]

Thank you to all of you.

I ended up diluting it Beer 3: Water 1 (slightly heavier on the 3). I added 35g Maltodextrine in 0.75G boiled water.

I filled my stainless growler with full strength and loaded it with CO2.

The remaining 1.3G's are in two 1 gallon glass carboys (and crap, I just realized there is no CO2 on them). I'll fix that at lunchtime.

We are drinking the beers on Saturday. I will post my findings.

Once again, thank you.