How can I reduce the Alcohol content of my IPA?

[hokapoka]

This is my first IPA and everything seems to be going great so far.. except that specific gravity of the wort was 1.072 whereas it should have been 1.063! I am afraid this is going to lead to something very boozy.
Primary fermentation is almost complete and I am about to transfer it to the secondary for a couple of weeks to get some flavors going. How can I dilute the alcohol content at this point? Can I add water? Will this contaminate? Advise please

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

Boiled water will not contaminate.

 

[thekraken]

I'm curious, how did you overshoot your OG? Did you brew from a kit? All grain or extract?

 

[grainbill]

if it finishes 9 points high, your target abv will not change. your IPA might have a bit more body than you expected. depends on the trade off you lean towards. i'm not a fan of adding water to a finished batch, others may be. if it is not a competition brew, relax and make adjustments to the recipe next time. who knows, you might just have a killer IPA...

 

[kh54s10]

If this was an extract kit, you didn't add anything and ended up with the proper volume, your OG was within a point or two of 1.063.

Uneven mix would be the culprit, your sample came from the stronger part of the wort.

Even so, I would not sweat it. It will have a higher ABV but not drastically so. It might mean you will have to drink one less pint in an evening.

 

[KeninMN]

At 75% attenuation it will be 7.2% vs 6.3% ABV, which is a 16% increase in alcohol content. Not the worst thing in the world, but if you want to dilute, here is an excellent resource that I have successfully used:

https://byo.com/stories/item/237-blending-for-volume-techniques

 

[feinbera]

Bear in mind, you'll also be diluting your hops and malt. It'll take you about three quarters of a gallon of water to reduce 7.2% ABV down to 6.3%, which is enough to make your beer noticeably thinner-bodied, lighter-colored, and less hoppy. If it's an extract batch, you're probably closer to your target than the reading would imply as long as you hit your volumes, and even if not, there are a lot of well-respected and tasty IPA's that clock in around the 7.0-7.5% range.

If it were my beer, unless I was dramatically under-volume due to more boil-off than expected or something like that, I'd let 'er ride, and chalk it up as a learning experience.

 

[TheCollector]

+1 to feinbera
Let 'er ride! Probably gonna make it better tasting not worse

 

[JohnSand]

I've had this problem. I chose to add water to half of the bottles, and leave half as is. Both halves worked well. The watered half was closer to the intended recipe. Go ahead and live a little. Whichever you choose, it will work out.

 

[Billy-Klubb]

I'm not understanding the question nor the problem.ipe:

 

[titansvol]

I wouldn't add any water. Just enjoy the extra ABV.