Add too much water

[jmarubicon555]

Beginner and I added way too much water to my wort. Mis read directions. Should have been 9L total in fermentation tank ended up around 17L. Added about 8L too much water. Started brew 3 days ago and just realized mistake. It is Brewferm Grand Cru extract. Toss and start over or can it be saved? Is it worth continuing. Thanks

 

[eastoak]

toss it and start over.

 

[jmarubicon555]

That's what I was afraid of. Thanks for the reply.

 

[periwinkle1239]

I don't mean to sound harsh but you severely watered it down by adding that much water to the recipe if that's what you really did. Watered down beer is hard to drink. Hopefully you didn't spend much on the kit and don't mind trying it again. Good luck!

 

[Polboy]

i wouldnt toss it, from what i found original gravity for this kit should be 1.075 in your case it should be around 1.040, its not a lot but it could be "nice" session beer, i would boil 0.5oz of hops in a cup of water for 15-30min and add this hop tea to the fermenter to add some ibu or you could just leave it as it is and bottle in a week or two, you dont have much to lose if you let it ride

 

[gypsyhead]

Definitely dont toss it.

How does it taste? Definitely agree with cciszew about the late flavor hop addition, a similar method just rescued my latest English PA, and you can always add a little LME or DME to bolster the gravity/maltiness (you dont necessarily need to boil extracts if you're incorporating the hops in other ways).

 

[jmarubicon555]

I do have some DME. Do you recommend I also add more sugar? Thanks everyone for you help.

 

[Polboy]

i think more important is to add more hops, if you going to add some hop tea then you can throw some dme in there as well but if not adding hops dont do anything, you already diluted your wort a lot, adding more fermentables will surprisingly "dilute beer-hop flavors" even more. By no means you are making the beer you planed to but you can make something drinkable or even something you may like, either way taking it to the end its a good way to learn, dumping it will leave you with sad empty fermenter and nothing else

 

[eastoak]

i think more important is to add more hops, if you going to add some hop tea then you can throw some dme in there as well but if not adding hops dont do anything, you already diluted your wort a lot, adding more fermentables will surprisingly "dilute beer-hop flavors" even more. By no means you are making the beer you planed to but you can make something drinkable or even something you may like, either way taking it to the end its a good way to learn, dumping it will leave you with sad empty fermenter and nothing else

making something drinkable? you mean like coors or schlitz? if the beer you were making is gone what are you salvaging? what is the point in pulling a mediocre beer out of this?

 

[Polboy]

making something drinkable? you mean like coors or schlitz? if the beer you were making is gone what are you salvaging? what is the point in pulling a mediocre beer out of this?

this:
either way taking it to the end its a good way to learn (the process, botteling, sanitization, off flavors of watered down beer, carbonation and bottle conditions ect, there is a lot to learn from screwed up batch, probably more than from good one and as a bonus you may have beer to drink at the end)

 

[pyr0man1ac]

I would have to agree. Learning from mistakes is much more valuable than learning from a perfect brew. Close to perfection can give you pride but not much else except theory.

 

[BrewMU]

Add more extract, leave it as is, just don't throw it out. That would be a waste, and despite what one poster said, it won't be Coors or Schlitz. Is it a lager brewed with corn? Scratch Coors. When you took your gravity, did you taste it? If it didn't taste like something that rhymes with Schlitz, sans z, than it ain't Schlitz. The hop-tea idea isn't bad, or you could dry-hop it.
Believe it or not, people do INTENTIONALLY brew 1.040 beer - you did it accidentally. Order a new kit, brew that at the intended gravity and let it finish at a leisurely pace, meanwhile be glad you've got a beer that will be ready in a month to enjoy in the meantime. Good luck and hoppy brew year!

 

[jmarubicon555]

Added the DEM this morning. Had to travel for a couple of days so wanted to get it taken care of before I left. Figured I already had the investment so I might as well see it through.

Good point in this being a good learning experience. This is my first brew and I don't think I will ever make this mistake again. Also this will be a good opportunity to go through all the steps of the process and figure things out. Thanks to all for the help. I'll update with results in a few weeks. I am a big fan of beer and brewing is something I've always wanted to do.

 

[jmarubicon555]

Added the DEM this morning. Had to travel for a couple of days so wanted to get it taken care of before I left. Figured I already had the investment so I might as well see it through.

Good point in this being a good learning experience. This is my first brew and I don't think I will ever make this mistake again. Also this will be a good opportunity to go through all the steps of the process and figure things out. Thanks to all for the help. I'll update with results in a few weeks. I am a big fan of beer and brewing is something I've always wanted to do.

I mean DME. Told you I am new at this.

 

[jmarubicon555]

Bottled tonight. Didn't taste too bad. Glad I stuck with it. Let u know how it tastes in a few weeks.

 

[Kate00]

Bottled tonight. Didn't taste too bad. Glad I stuck with it. Let u know how it tastes in a few weeks.

Cool. One of the nice things about brewing is even if you make a mistake you still have beer. (as long as it isn't a contamination issue)

 

[jmarubicon555]

Been drinking the water batch. Me and my buddy had a couple last night and will be hitting them during the game. Tastes good. Don't think I will make batch like this again on purpose but will have no problem finishing off 2 cases of it. Thanks to all that gave advice. Have another batch bottled and it's going to be good. Can't wait.