Beer Forum

Alright, this question is to the masses, but I had to add in Tasty in case he is paying attention. I have had a few occations where I have needed to brew up extra strength wort, then dilute back with boiled/chilled water to reach desired starting gravity PRE-FERMENTATION. This has worked great the two times I needed to fill a 60 gallon barrel in a relatively short period of time ... 1) no-boil berlinerweisse with two double strength mashes collecting 15 gallons each, then diluting down with 30 gallons of boiled and chilled water pre-ferment. 2) a flanders red recipe that was mashed and boiled at 35% higher gravity where I could brew 4 consecutive batches then dilute down to the appropriate starting gravity with the last 20 gallons of water. Both of these were pre-ferment dilutions and they worked out great.

Now I am about to brew a mild which has a low starting gravity of 1.036-1.038 and was thinking about Tasty's "imperial" dortmunder golfing beer which I believe calls for dilution post-ferment. I am intruiged by the idea of using my 10-gallon controled fermentation space to make 20 gallons of beer, but had a few concerns with doing this with a mild. At normal strength, the 1.036 wort would ferment down to 1.011. If I double everything up to brew a 1.072 wort I would need the ferment to stop at a desired 1.022 (Wyeast London ESB). <-- that seams like a bit high for expectations of final gravity readings (Mash at 154). If I end up below the F.G. of 1.022, then the dilution may be good for bringing down the alcohol levels but will also bring down the final gravity too much ... resulting in a watery-thin beer? Should I use Alcohol % or FG to determine dilution rates?

Assuming I hit the desired FG of 1.022, I would just boil 10 gallons of water and put 2.5 gallons into 4 corny kegs then top off with 2.5 gallons of fermented wort in each keg. Sound reasonable?

Thanks for any input, thoughts, personal experience on this (Tasty's) post-ferment dilution technique?

Whenever I do blending I will usually go by taste, but in this scenario I think you would be best to start off by utilizing the FG as your beginning point for a blend. I wouldn't stress the ABV too much unless the final blend really throws the alcohol out of style that can be perceived by others to a fault. Maybe someone with some experience in this process will chime in too....

I did a post-fermentation dilute a couple times with my blonde ale. Honestly I can't remember the specifics of it other than I spent a bit of time with ProMash's dilution calculator to dial it it. I'm pretty sure I did it according to FG to make sure I didn't lose too much body.

I actually messaged Tasty about this last week. He told me, despite my recollection of it's being a Dortmunder, that his golf course beer is a Bopils with an OG of 1.050. He says he blends it 50/50 with water. Hope that helps.

EagleDude wrote:
Assuming I hit the desired FG of 1.022, I would just boil 10 gallons of water and put 2.5 gallons into 4 corny kegs then top off with 2.5 gallons of fermented wort in each keg. Sound reasonable?

Before you blend your whole batch, blend a pint glass 50/50 with carbonated water and your finished beer. Chances are the flavor may taste a little "off" because of differing water chemistry between the water and beer. If that is the case you may need to mimic your dilution water pH and mineral profile to that of your finished beer.