Watering down the beer (Wie pansche ich richtig?)

[Hexe]

I've been asked to brew a very light beer, something I normally never do because I only make one corny keg per session, and 18 ltrs of weak beer is not all that much. I know I can water the wort down, but it'll mean I have to use my boiling pot to ferment in, which means that I have to figure out how to fly proof it and so on.

Would I get away with the super lazy option of watering down a strong (say OG 1.070) but extra hoppy batch after primary fermenting, when I put it all into secondary? I have a 10 US gallon keg to ferment in, so I can water it down a bit in the first ferment already, say, from 6 US gallons orginial wort up to US 8 gallon dilute, so I can use regular yeast (crude guess, it'll be about 1.050?). IIRC I had no problem cramming in 7 kg of pale into my 5 UK gallon mash tun, it all got a bit hard to stir, but it sort of worked out and I ended up having to fill a demijohn from the primary at racking time as the customary corny ran out of space.

I can brew again on racking day and make a couple liters extra wort and add some more water to make up the week old brew to 2 corny kegs[1], so I can give the second fermentation in a corny some more proper food, just so it's all nicely carbonated and mixed in.

Anyone tried this and succeeded/failed?

Cheers,

Hexe Froschbein

[1] I'm just guessing here that nearly doubling the water in a 7% beer will give me a 3ish% beer, I no longer have the software and it's amazing how much one can forget after a hiatus from brewing

[brewzone]

Just brew a batch as usual, then water down/liquor back to the required volume.

I never adjust the hop rate and the balance stays about right.

There will be less body but You would expect this in a lighter beer anyway.

Mashing at a higher temperature say 68C would help provide a little extra body.

[Tony01]

Try brewing some of this:
http://www.brewdog.com/blog-article.php?id=153
(The Nanny State, not the Tokyo - or the Tactical Nuclear Penguin ... )

[steve_flack]

Have you tasted Nanny State? I have. Not a good un

[Tony01]

No, I was trying to find somewhere local who sold it. Not good as it's coloured water - or because it has too many hops?

[steve_flack]

Both

[Tony01]

I will still give it a go, more than likely!

The world would be an incredible place if we were all able to learn by others' mistakes!

[Hexe]

Just brew a batch as usual, then water down/liquor back to the required volume.

I never adjust the hop rate and the balance stays about right.

There will be less body but You would expect this in a lighter beer anyway.

Mashing at a higher temperature say 68C would help provide a little extra body.

Cheers brewzone,

I don't manage to appreciate weak beers very much, so the desired flavour profile thereof is a mystery to me...in fact, I believe that the only thing that makes my witch brews palatable is that they pack a punch *g*.

However the problem is, that I can water down to about 25 lts and no more, otherwise its some extra effort which I prefer to avoid, so the question was, can I water down after the primary ferment when I put into secondary?

Hexe

[Bribie]

Yes, provided the water is de-oxygenated as you don't want to be introducing oxygen at this stage. If you can get some two litre bottles of sparkling 'spring water' that's a good option, as they are oxygen free AFAIK.

Just check the sodium etc levels on the label - if you can get a low sodium one then that should do fine. I have watered down 'summer ale' to put in a competition in the low alcohol class and it tasted surprisingly good. Didn't get a medal however