Reduce body while in Primary?

[DethApostle]

Hi all,
I brewed for the first time in ages on Saturday and after a couple of teething problems with my new kit ended up with 20l of Black IPA at 1.066 OG. Target was 23l at 1.072 so I was quite a way off the mark.
I racked into the FV and pitched 1pkt US-05 and today the gravity is 1.020 so not quite finished. I had a sneaky taster and the beer is very thick mouthfeel wise, not unpleasant but I'm not sure i would want more than a pint of it in a session at this point!
Is the body of the beer likely to change through the end of primary and/or secondary fermentation? Or is there anything I can do to thin the feel slightly?
I suppose adding a bit more water is an option but that will drop the abv even further?!
(Not that 6.3% is exactly low of course!)

Any advice would be appreciated!
Cheers
DA

[Deebee]

is it cloying?

What was the recipe?

[Sadfield]

Would adding sugar and water do the trick, reducing the body, but adding alcohol when the sugar ferments out?

Thinking about it, you could possibly add sugar to a hop infusion to counter any reduction in flavour.

[DethApostle]

is it cloying?

What was the recipe?

No I wouldn't say it was overly sweet, just very full bodied.
Can't put the full recipe as it's a competition beer (maybe!!!) but it was a mix of MO, Munich and carafe 3, and hopped to hell and back!
The mash/sparge didn't go to plan (but hit temps ok) and the boil was very vigorous hence only 20l not 23l!
Could either of those have caused this do you think?
DA

[Matt12398]

If you brewed it on Saturday and it's now Wednesday I'd say leave it alone as it's clearly not finished.

[DethApostle]

If you brewed it on Saturday and it's now Wednesday I'd say leave it alone as it's clearly not finished.

Thanks Matt,
I know Fermentation is nowhere near finished however I wonder if that has any effct on the body of the beer? Taste, gravity - yes definitly. Feel? - i dont' know...

DA

[Matt12398]

Alcohol is less dense than sugar solution so yes technically it could do.

[killer]

If you brewed it on Saturday and it's now Wednesday I'd say leave it alone as it's clearly not finished.

Thanks Matt,
I know Fermentation is nowhere near finished however I wonder if that has any effct on the body of the beer? Taste, gravity - yes definitly. Feel? - i dont' know...

DA

Matt's spot on. Remember gravity is effectively density, so higher gravity beers are more viscous and will have a greater mouthfeel. You also probably have a fair bit of yeast in suspension which will contribute as well. 3/4 days in primary is a long way from a finished beer so best leave it alone for the moment

[DethApostle]

Matt's spot on. Remember gravity is effectively density, so higher gravity beers are more viscous and will have a greater mouthfeel. You also probably have a fair bit of yeast in suspension which will contribute as well. 3/4 days in primary is a long way from a finished beer so best leave it alone for the moment

Of course, didn't consider that there would be yeast in suspension too.
Will have another snifter after 10days before dry hopping and see what change there has been!

On a related note, has anyone heard of Cold Crash Dry Hopping? I read somewhere (on a US forum i think) about 2 stage Dry Hopping. 1st at Fermentation temp for 7days, then again, with new hops for 3 days while crash cooling? I've never seen this suggested anywhere else, is there any point?

DA

[Matt12398]

It's what some of the US breweries like Stone do. A lot of people say that 3-5 days is plenty and after that you're not getting much more from the hops. By repeating the dry hop you're building on the hop aroma from the first dry hop addition.

[DethApostle]

So, now 9 days in I've had another sneaky taster and the body is much reduced! Definitely still full bodied but not overkill, and there is still some suspended yeast too. After another 10 day dry hoping and then a cold crash this'll be about right I reckon!
Thanks for the advice all, yet again being patient wins out!
Cheers!
DA