Watering down wort to target OG?

[Tall_Yotie]

Hey all!

So, I am making a Kolsch. This is for the CEO from Koln, so I am trying to make it as authentic as possible. I got an 81% efficiency with my batch sparging, so overshot the OG style target.

Long story short, I want to water down my wort to be at the target OG. I am at a 1.055, and the max is a 1.05, and I have 5 gallons collected. I assuming that if I add 1/2 gallons I will be at a 1.050 OG. Do I have to boil the water I am adding, or can I do some Star-San mixed water and avoid boiling?

Would prefer to avoid having to boil. Any issue using the Star San instead?

Thanks for any help!

 

[ArcaneXor]

Just buy a gallon of RO water for $0.30 and add as much as you need - those self-serve machines vend sanitary water.

 

[Yooper]

Don't put star-san in your wort! It's a sanitizer, but it's not good tasting and it won't be good for your beer.

Either boil some water and cool (if you have chlorine in your water, you'll want to boil it off) or use tap water if your tap water is chlorine/chloramine free. Or buy some distilled water or RO water at the store.

 

[Tall_Yotie]

Will probably just add some store water then. Cool, thanks for the info!

 

[DavidM]

Don't put star-san in your wort! It's a sanitizer, but it's not good tasting and it won't be good for your beer.

Either boil some water and cool (if you have chlorine in your water, you'll want to boil it off) or use tap water if your tap water is chlorine/chloramine free. Or buy some distilled water or RO water at the store.

After listening to The Brewing Network I gathered that adding Star San to tap water in diluted amounts will not effect the taste of the beer and may actually improve fermentation.

The gravity of Star San is some thing like 1.3 so anything added to your water and then to your wort will definitely sink out.

Am I being misguided by the good folks at Star San or am I just interpreting the information wrong?

 

[user 34267]

Most bottled water is ozonated now, which means it's clean. The bottle will tell you how it was cleaned. If it says ozonation, you're good to go.

 

[kanzimonson]

Remember, if you dilute your OG, you're also diluting your IBUs. This is why you need to take a gravity reading preboil.

 

[Tall_Yotie]

Remember, if you dilute your OG, you're also diluting your IBUs. This is why you need to take a gravity reading preboil.

I did take a reading preboil, I just had mathed out what it would be and was off apparently. Thanks for the reminder about the IBU's though, I will remember that for future issues.