diluting beer after fermentation

[SnidelyWhiplash]

does anyone brew a stronger beer and dilute it after fermentation to make more? I know some commercial breweries do this to make more beer with less equipment. like brewing bud light at 8% abv and dilute to 4% before bottling.

I was considering this to basically make 2x 5 gallon batches in 1 carboy, lager in the carboy for a month or 2, and add 5 gal of water before before bottling. Doesn't have to be that extreme of a volume, could add anything between that and 1 cup for sugar.

the affects are:
-mashing/sparging with less water = higher gravity, lower pH, maybe worse efficiency if you are trying to mash a lot of grain, so this might only be applicable if you want to mash a less than 10% beer and dilute to less than 5%

-boiling higher gravity, don't know any affects other than fits in a smaller pot

-fermenting - can make a starter to handle high gravity, I've seen some wheat yeasts say increasing gravity increases ester production, which may be desireable

-bottling - boil and chill the additional water/priming sugar, mix it with the beer in the bottling bucket. overall it's like 50% less work than making 2 separate 5gal batches.

 

[Chesterbelloc]

Yes, there are commercial breweries that dilute beer.

I was reading not too long ago about a British brewery that does it. I cannot recall when they do the dilution.



I suppose we could liken it to admixing water with one's glass of wine, which is how civilised people drink it, unlike the heathens.

 

[ajdelange]

High gravity brewing is de rigeur in the commercial world. More beer for less plant (capital investment). Some care is required as yeast perform differently in higher gravity worts than they do in lower. Different pitching rates, temperature staging, lagering etc. are required. The most important thing with high gravity brewing is that the dilution water must be thoroughly deoxygenated. This could be an issue for the home brewer. One approach might be to boil and then throw in a campden tablet as the water cools.

I have contemplated doing it whenever I get higher efficiency than normal but the beer always tastes so good that I have never had the heart to actually carry it out.

 

[SnidelyWhiplash]

agree and I have always brewed high gravity (1.08+) beers up to now. just thinking of doing this to stretch the batch for styles that are lighter like a pilsner or oktoberfest. mashing at 1.08-1.10 would be reasonable and then double the batch at bottling.

 

[Chesterbelloc]

It's funny.... I have never brewed anything stronger than about 6%.

I have almost got the barley-wine bug once, but then I just went out on whim and bought a 4-pack of Shipyard strong-ales.


I have never lagered either. But, I'd give my eye-teeth for a good glass of Munich or Vienna at the moment... actually... at most moments.... wild!

 

[IffyG]

One of the guys on the brewing network (tasty?) brews high gravity beers and diluted them with boiled carbonated water. There was a lengthy discussion on the matter in one of the Brewstrong podcasts. I would find it but I'm on a tablet, give google a whirl and see if you can find it.

 

[ShakerD]

One of the guys on the brewing network (tasty?) brews high gravity beers and diluted them with boiled carbonated water. There was a lengthy discussion on the matter in one of the Brewstrong podcasts. I would find it but I'm on a tablet, give google a whirl and see if you can find it.

It was one of the "high gravity" podcasts on the brewstrong show. Not sure which one though. I think there are 3-4 in the series. If I had to guess I would say the last one.