Diluting High gravity beer before fermentation

[Christaum]

I´ve been searching for threads on diluting a high gravity wort BEFORE fermentation. All i´m finding is dilution after fermentation.
Has anyone tried it before?

The reason I want to try this, is because I have a larger fermenter capacity (70 L), and a smaller mash tun (50L). I was thinking about brewing 50 L of a higher gravity brew, and adding 10 more liters of boiled and cooled water to the fermenter before pitching the yeast.

is there any cons to this technique?

 

[CA_Mouse]

That is basically what extract brewers are doing... They boil a smaller amount of wort with a high concentration of extract, then add water after the boil to bring up the volume and drop the gravity. I don't know if you can mash a high enough gravity wort unless you have a high boil off rate or are adding LME/DME or simple sugars.

Mouse

 

[SixStrings]

Agreed with CA_Mouse. You'll essentially be doing what most extract and some PM brewers do with their beer: creating a high gravity wort, then diluting to your desired OG. The only concerns would be correctly targeting your final OG/IBUs after dilution. A decent brewing software that accounts for top-up volumes should do fine for calculating this.

 

[helgibelgi]

I'm interested in this question as well. I have done this a few times. It's now my standard method actually. My brewing pot that I use on the stove is only 16 liters, so I boil 16 liters and then add about 4-5 liters of water. I have not noticed anything being wrong with my beers using this method.

It's easy to get the desired gravity, just assume that your batch is 20 liters (or whatever you want to) in your calculations and then just use less water when mashing and lautering/sparging.

 

[Christaum]

So heres what happened,

I got to brewing a dry oatmeal stout, brewed around 11 gallons, and after the boil I added about 2,5 gallons of boiled and cooled water. I added this right after boiling so it would speed up my wort cooling. Got it at a OG of 1.046.
Today (5 daya later) the air lock stopped bubbling. Its at a FG of 1.011. I took a sample too see how its tasting, and im finding it a bit watery. Not getting so much flavor out of it. Its like drinking roasty water
Do you guys think this will change after it matures?

 

[cluckk]

Actually it will change with carbonation. When you carbonate the mouthfeel changes. 1.046 down to 1.011 should be fine. I've had many beers that seem watery and thin until carbonated. Afterwards they were great.