Reducing ABV

[RevFrank]

What is the best way to go about producing a 4% ABV batch of a 6.5% ABV beer? I thought about adding 3 gallons water to a 5 gallon batch of 6.5% to produce 4% ABV but I worry about diluting the taste in the process. Anyone have any ideas on the subject?

 

[Desert_Sky]

Is it already brewed? I would drink it and just brew another beer that hits the target of 4%.

 

[RevFrank]

Not brewed yet. But i was a bit enamoured with the idea that i could brew 5 gallons and turn it into an 8 gallon batch! As I ponder the idea, i think you are right. Its a lot simplier and cleaner to design a beer with a 4 abv target than trying to dilute a beer to 4%

 

[BrewingAroundtheRrealm]

Mash at a higher temperature. I made a strike water temperature error in a beer a few months back. Ended up mashing what should have been a 5.5% beer at 160 rather than 152. It was a dumb mistake. The ending beer started at 1.052 and ended at 1.015 with a final ABV around 3.5%.

I haven't rerun this to make sure that it's a repeatable experiment. It was a great beer and I would never have known it was only 3.5% had I not checked it.

 

[El Nino]

in the words of ice cube's dad from friday "put some water on that damn sh**!"

I haven't tried adding a big amount like 3 gallons, but a couple batches ago, I brewed a beer that missed my target volume by a lot & had a high OG. I added half a gallon of water (2.5 gal batch) and the beer came out awesome.

However, that probably only diluted it from say 7.5 to 6.5, I'm not sure how a 2% drop would be. In my case though it tasted perfectly fine.

 

[jrowland74]

After fermentation, heat it up to drive off some of the alcohol. If you are bottling, add some more yeast and continue as usual.

 

[jrowland74]

After fermentation, heat it up to drive off some of the alcohol. If you are bottling, add some more yeast and continue as usual.

The boiling point of ethyl alcohol is 173.3° F. Hold it at about 180° F and you should get rid of some alcohol pretty quickly, although I'm sure of the rate of loss. You could even put a little water in ahead of time to account for volume lost in the process.

 

[dmtaylor]

You can use Windsor ale yeast, which only attenuates to about 60%, that might do the trick for you. I like to use that yeast for sessionable beers. FG will finish high about 1.020 or more but the beer does not taste overly sweet either.

 

[Phunhog]

Partigyle!!! Brew a 1st runnings higher gravity beer and a 2nd runnings lower gravity beer from the same mash.

 

[GPP33]

The goal is to brew a big beer and dilute it to get more volume right? That’s not much different than brewing a small beer, you’re just adding the water after the fact. Calculate grain and water appropriately and you’ll have a good (higher volume) brew.

You may find you want to up the FG by raising the mash temp or more specialty grains to add a little more character but 4% isn’t that low.

 

[treacheroustexan]

Not sure if this is exactly what you're looking for, but this may give you a little inspiration. Watch this video. He gets 10 gallons of IPA in kegs out of essentially a 5 gallon batch.

 

[RPh_Guy]

What is the best way to go about producing a 4% ABV batch of a 6.5% ABV beer?

The best way?
Let me drink about a third of it. I'll top it off with water when I'm done.

Cheers

 

[@RoyalGallon]

I’ve recently done this with a strong Belgian ale I made. I wanted something a little more drinkable around 7% compared to the 9% beast I made.

So I added boiled cooled water with finings enough to bring the abv down. I also worked out what it would do to the OG and the PG.

Then - most importantly - I made the dilution on a small glass of the beer and tasted it before diluting the whole batch. That didn’t taste too thin or watery so I went ahead and am happy with the result.

High gravity brewing to increase output is common practise - they tend to dilute down at filtration using deaerated carbonated liquor.

 

[Gnomebrewer]

The ending beer started at 1.052 and ended at 1.015 with a final ABV around 3.5%

I hope you didn't drink too much of this 3.5% beer before driving.....1.052 to 1.015 is actually 4.85%!

 

[TheAleRunner]

What is the best way to go about producing a 4% ABV batch of a 6.5% ABV beer? I thought about adding 3 gallons water to a 5 gallon batch of 6.5% to produce 4% ABV but I worry about diluting the taste in the process. Anyone have any ideas on the subject?

You just described the Coors Light method. That's exactly how it's brewed. It's a whole lot more cost effective, especially at those volumes.

 

[ExMachina]

What is the best way to go about producing a 4% ABV batch of a 6.5% ABV beer? I thought about adding 3 gallons water to a 5 gallon batch of 6.5% to produce 4% ABV but I worry about diluting the taste in the process. Anyone have any ideas on the subject?

Honesty, I've always been curious what the trade off would be between just brewing smaller vs brewing big and diluting. My suspicion is that there would not be much/any perceptible difference...and if there were, I would bet that the diluted big beer comes off tasting better

 

[@RoyalGallon]

Honesty, I've always been curious what the trade off would be between just brewing smaller vs brewing big and diluting. My suspicion is that there would not be much/any perceptible difference...and if there were, I would bet that the diluted big beer comes off tasting better

I've worked in a brewery that brewed the same product at sales gravity and at high gravity and diluted.

You couldn't tell the difference at all.

 

[BrewingAroundtheRrealm]

I hope you didn't drink too much of this 3.5% beer before driving.....1.052 to 1.015 is actually 4.85%!

You are correct. I ran my calculations wrong and it turns out I used the pre-poil brix reading of 11.4 instead of the original brix reading of 13.4. Final brix of 7.4 which comes out to 4.8% ABV.

I should have realized that. I apologize for the misleading information in my original post.