added too much water

[eggraid101]

Hi all, I just wanted to thank you, first of all for all the info on here, I've been lurking for a month or so, and learning a ton.

I did my first batch with a kit from Coopers that I got for x-mas, it was a lager and is still in bottles aging, I guess, although I popped one open this weekend and it had a weird taste to it, I'm hoping that's the 'green' beer taste I've been hearing about, otherwise it'll be a disappointment.

But, I did my second batch yesterday. It was a kit from Midwest, the Octane IPA. the general details:

Wyeast British Ale (1054 I think?) starter made 24 hours before.

Specialty grains steeped at 155 deg for 30 mins in 1.5 gal H2O

6 lbs light LME
3.3 lbs amber LME

1 oz cascade hops 60 min
1 oz willamette hops 30 min
1 oz Fuggles hops 2 min

I cooled it to 80 deg in the pot in an ice bath.

Well, I read the directions that came with the kit a little too closely, I think, because the instructions told me to add 3.5-4 gal water to the fermenter first, then add the cooled wort. So I did that, and it was supposed to be a 5 gal batch, but once I did that, it was more like 6.5 gal. My fermenter is big enough to hold all that with a little extra space in there, (the Cooper's fermenter is BIG), but predictably, my OG was lower than expected. According to the instructions it should have been ~ 1.064, but it came in at 1.050.

Will it just be not as intensely flavored as intended? Or will this somehow affect the fermentation? There were no real bubbles in the airlock, but there is a thin Krausen there this morning.

Thanks, and now I know to use my intuition/common sense when faced with something like this - I should have added the water after the wort, not followed the directions so blindingly.

 

[hefeweizen]

I noticed you said this was a lager but it looks like you used an ale yeast. How long and at what temp did you do your fermentation?

 

[Yooper]

It's Midwest's IPA kit, so it's an ale!

Well, all you did when you added too much water was dilute it some. So, I think it'll still taste fine, but be a bit less intense and maybe a bit thinner. Maybe you made an APA, instead of an IPA.

When it's finished, taste it when you take the sg. If it tastes fine, no worries. If it's missing a little something, maybe a little dryhopping could help it out. I think it will be fine, though!

 

[eggraid101]

Yeah, this was supposed to be an IPA, the last batch was a lager.

That's what I thought, I just wanted to make sure I didn't need to do anything else weird. It's in the basement now, where the temp is low 60's. Is this OK for an Ale?

I'm looking at the Dogfish Head clone you wrote about earlier, Yooper, and my mouth is watering! I think their 90 min IPA is my favorite beer right now. Do you have any recommendations to take the extract recipe of the 60 min to the 90 min clone?

 

[captainfindus]

For an ale yeast you should be looking at 20C which is 68F if my maths are correct but i wouldnt worry if its a little lower

 

[Yuri_Rage]

For an ale yeast you should be looking at 20C which is 68F if my maths are correct but i wouldnt worry if its a little lower

That's a little on the high side, anyway. Low 60's F is just fine.

 

[JamesKY]

I've had a few recipes come in under my target gravity and I can say that it's not the end of the world. Your beer will be a little lighter but hey, you learn from your mistakes and your beer gets better each time you brew.

Don't get discouraged if your first batch didn't turn out as you hoped/expected. You'll get better with practice and soon you'll be brewing beer that gets that wonderful look from your friends when they taste it and then tell you they didn't know that homebrew could be this good.

 

[eggraid101]

yeah, it's at 17 C or so, I guess that would put it at about 62-63?