Adjusting after fermentation

[Craig George]

I have brewed this '1 gallon' IPA but a lot of the water boiled off so I didn't quite end up with a gallon. When bottling up, would it be okay to dissolve sugar in something like 1/3 gallon of boiled water and add the wort to this before bottling to bring the volume up and the ABV down?

 

[HB_ATL73]

I have brewed this '1 gallon' IPA but a lot of the water boiled off so I didn't quite end up with a gallon. When bottling up, would it be okay to dissolve sugar in something like 1/3 gallon of boiled water and add the wort to this before bottling to bring the volume up and the ABV down?

I suppose you could- just be wary to mix the priming sugar well into the entire solution or else you might end up with a highly carbonated beer/bottle bomb in some of the bottles. Also, boiling water will reduce the oxygen content in the solution but as you cool it will reabsorb O2 so you risk oxidizing your beer adding that much water during bottling.

 

[Craig George]

Ah, right. I'm probably best just drinking it and making another one. Looks like its going to be around 7.6% instead of 5.7% then.

 

[Punjom]

I’ve had the same thing happen on larger batches and the beer turned out fantastic. I would recommend leaving it alone.

 

[kh54s10]

Lesson to be learned - your boil off rate. Since you ended up with less volume and a higher OG, for the next batch you need to start the boil with more wort, or boil for less time, but that requires that you adjust hop amounts.

If you add sugar and water you will change the OG depending on the amount of sugar. With too much sugar you may actually increase your OG If you just want to get the volume and lower the OG, just add water.

 

[vtipsy]

As I understand, OP wants to dilute with water to achieve his target concentration and add the regular amount of priming sugar. He is simply adding back water that was boiled off (excessively).

Go for it. You are adding sugar solution to a bottling bucket anyway right? Just make the solution a bit more watery. Either that or drink it at 7.6% which is more inline with the style of an American IPA -- rather than a British one.

 

[RPh_Guy]

As I understand, OP wants to dilute with water to achieve his target concentration and add the regular amount of priming sugar. He is simply adding back water that was boiled off (excessively).

Go for it. You are adding sugar solution to a bottling bucket anyway right? Just make the solution a bit more watery. Either that or drink it at 7.6% which is more inline with the style of an American IPA -- rather than a British one.

The problem is the oxygen dissolved in the water. It may oxidize the beer if he doesn't deoxygenate it.

 

[vtipsy]

The problem is the oxygen dissolved in the water. It may oxidize the beer if he doesn't deoxygenate it.

I hear you brother but I doubt that a 1/3 gallon of boiled (and therefore mostly deoxygenated) priming solution added to a bottling bucket will be much different to 8oz of priming solution added to a bottling bucket. Yeast will get to work on the sugar and the dissolved oxygen while carbonating.

Obviously this is not the optimal way to treat beer on the cold side; that rabbit hole is deep! For 1 gallon of an English IPA (to which some oxidation is par for the course), I say do it, get the beer he wanted, then try again next time.

 

[RPh_Guy]

Hm. For a 1 gal batch I would use about 2oz of priming solution; I make a 50% sugar solution.
1/3 gal is 42 oz -- with about 20 times as much potential oxygen content. How much oxygen is dissolved depends on surface area and time spent cooling (and subsequent bottling).

If you want some oxidation in the style, then anything is fair game I suppose. I prefer non-oxidized whenever possible.

Regards

 

[vtipsy]

I'm not saying I like oxidized beer or that it is desired in the style. I'm saying that after you siphon the beer out of the carboy ... and transfer it to a wide open bottling bucket with minimal (some) splashing ... then take your merry time putting it into bottles ... and cap on foam (mostly) ... the extra amount of dissolved oxygen in the larger volume of priming solution will be small in comparison to the pickup from the bottling process.

 

[Qhrumphf]

Even after boiling water contains something like 2-3 ppm DO at 1atm.

The accepted limits for DO in finished beer are ideally below 20 ppb, should be at least below 50 ppb, and more than 100 ppb patently unacceptable.

Even when diluted 1/3 gallon water mixed into a total 1 gal gives you a reasonable 1ppm DO, 10x the accetable upper limit and 50x a target level.

NOW these figures don't factor in that yeast will scavenge oxygen pretty quickly (hence why bottle conditioned beers are, all things equal, more resistant to oxidation than non-bottle conditioned), but as preliminary oxidative reactions occur likely even faster I still would do whatever necessary to minimize the water volume. (If you measure DO at transfer out of fermenter and then again the next day it goes down not because it's improving but because the oxidative reactions have already happened).

Going forward, the best way to fix gravity problems is blending.

Commercial breweries that dilute beer with water use water deaerators to strip all the oxygen out of the water first (far beyond what boiling can do)

 

[jfolks]

Don’t water it down, more likely to make it worse than better. It’s just 1 gal - try try again!

 

[vtipsy]

Even after boiling water contains something like 2-3 ppm DO at 1atm.

I thought that boiling gets you < 0.5 ppm and that the uptake was then around 2-3 ppm per hour at 1 atm.

The accepted limits for DO in finished beer are ideally below 20 ppb, should be at least below 50 ppb, and more than 100 ppb patently unacceptable.

Those are some pretty high standards! Especially for a gallon of home brew.

Even when diluted 1/3 gallon water mixed into a total 1 gal gives you a reasonable 1ppm DO, 10x the accetable upper limit and 50x a target level.

We are not taking about finished beer here.

NOW these figures don't factor in that yeast will scavenge oxygen pretty quickly (hence why bottle conditioned beers are, all things equal, more resistant to oxidation than non-bottle conditioned), but as preliminary oxidative reactions occur likely even faster I still would do whatever necessary to minimize the water volume. (If you measure DO at transfer out of fermenter and then again the next day it goes down not because it's improving but because the oxidative reactions have already happened).

The figures are pointless without factoring in the yeast scavenging.

Going forward, the best way to fix gravity problems is blending.

Commercial breweries that dilute beer with water use water deaerators to strip all the oxygen out of the water first (far beyond what boiling can do)

Cheers.

 

[Qhrumphf]

Cheers.

I would have to check resources for the immediately post-boil DO levels of water. That was my *recollection* of books I've read. So I am open to correction. Even id it's 0.5 ppm, that's still too high at the ratio the OP is talking about (a couple cups in 5 gals less an issue).

With proper procedure, those DO figures I listed are easily attainable, perhaps even moreso with homebrew where filling a vessel with sani and pushing out with CO2 to create a truly purged vessel is practical.

And the OP is talking about diluting post-fermentation. This is finished beer.

The malt/alcohol reactions with oxygen are very fast (though the downstream flavor impacts take longer, the actual oxygen uptake is FAST)- when measuring these things it's imperative they're done immediately after transfer if not during for this very reason.

 

[Craig George]

I think the general consensus is that adding water might work or it might not. Right now the beer is completely fine, it's just less volume than i'd like and a higher ABV. I don't think the risk is worth it, possibly ruining some good beer just because i'd like one, maybe two extra bottles.

 

[vtipsy]

I think the general consensus is that adding water might work or it might not.

Consensus is ... there is no consensus.

 

[HB_ATL73]

I think the general consensus is that adding water might work or it might not. Right now the beer is completely fine, it's just less volume than i'd like and a higher ABV. I don't think the risk is worth it, possibly ruining some good beer just because i'd like one, maybe two extra bottles.

Exactly, Your better off just bottling what you have

 

[CascadesBrewer]

I would not add any sugar/water at this point.

I will admit that I am not a huge fan of these 1 gal brews...my girlfriend has tried a few and I am trying to push her towards 2 gal batches...and I am in the process of establishing my equipment for stovetop batches to fill my new 2.6 gal keg. With only 128 oz, being off 8 oz or removing 6 oz for a hydrometer reading just has such a huge impact on the overall percentage of your final beer...and those gal jugs have so little headspace for fermentation.

The lesson here is to 1) measure your pre-boil* and post-boil volumes and 2) understand how your boil off and other losses impact your final product. I know that if I collect 6.5 gal of volume pre-boil, I will boil down to ~5.5, will get ~5.25 into my fermenter and ~5.0 into my keg. (lot of hops will suck up more water, but I don't worry too much about that)

*What I find works well for me are some plastic chopsticks that I measured out half gal marks with a permanent pen that I can dip into the pot...but there are lots of other ways.

 

[jtrux]

On your next batch shouldn’t you just use boiled water to bring up the volume in your 1 gallon jug to the proper lvl before adding your yeast?

 

[Craig George]

I will admit that I am not a huge fan of these 1 gal brews...my girlfriend has tried a few and I am trying to push her towards 2 gal batches...and I am in the process of establishing my equipment for stovetop batches to fill my new 2.6 gal keg.

My next batch will be 2 gallons. Well, I have a 3 gallon kettle and two 3 gallon buckets, so i'd imagine it will end up being around a maximum of 2 gallons of finished beer.

On your next batch shouldn’t you just use boiled water to bring up the volume in your 1 gallon jug to the proper lvl before adding your yeast?

Yeah, i probably should have topped it up before fermenting but as it was my first ever brew I wasn't sure on the proper level in the fermenter. I didn't want to put too much in and risk it blowing off everywhere in the back of my wardrobe.

 

[CascadesBrewer]

My next batch will be 2 gallons. Well, I have a 3 gallon kettle and two 3 gallon buckets, so i'd imagine it will end up being around a maximum of 2 gallons of finished beer.

Cool. I have been looking at options for 2-3 gal batches for myself and my girlfriend. I am not sure what stores you have around, or how prices compare, but the Walmart near me has some decent quality of 5 gal pots for around $35US and a dirt cheap 4 gal pot for $12US. It might be hard to get 2 gal of finished beer with a 3 gal pot...but even a solid 1.8 gals would be better than just 0.8 gals.

As far a fermenters for 2 gal batches, there are 3 gal carboys, and the FerMonster 3 Gallon Ported Carboy With Spigot (https://www.morebeer.com/products/fermonster-3-gallon-ported-carboy-spigot.html) looks interesting. I started down the path of building a fermenter out of a $9 3 gal stainless steel pot from Walmart, but then I decided to get a 2.6 gal keg so I probably will just ferment in my 5 gal glass carboy so I can get 2.7 - 2.8 gal into the fermenter.