Can I water it down?

[Meatymc]

Well my latest attempt to brew a session ale - something around 4% tops has failed yet again. I have to confess I do tend to drink higher alcohol beers as a norm when out and about so maybe I'm incapable of producing a lower alcohol brew at home.

My latest brew - a 2nd try with optic as the base plus some acid, black and wheat went straight into the fermenter whereas I added some distilled water to my previous brew to get the starting gravity down and add some volume. So starting on this came in at 1054 and it's already down at 1008 after just 5 days so looks as though it's going to end up at least 6%.

So question is can I add distilled/treated water at this stage and if so, how do I recalculate the final % proof given the gravity reading will drop/plunge?

[rpt]

Once fermentation has started you need to be careful not to introduce too much oxygen which will be dissolved in the water.

[BenB]

Presumably boiling and cooling the water would get round that as long as it was added without splashing etc.

[Meatymc]

Thanks guys.

I've decided it's not worth messing around with it for the sake of a few extra bottles - plus I won't know the final gravity. Does highlight the need for me to have a proper written checklist for each brew - I missed the now standard wheat addition at the start of this brew as well although only 15 minutes late going in. Will put one together for future brews.

[Fuzzy-felt]

For your next brew you could make it a particularly low gravity version (possibly adding water to the boil to get the OG where you want it to be) and then blend with your current brew. You can then fanny around with the proportions to get all manner of variations - if you know the proportions used you can work out the FG. Not so handy if you bottle, though, as you need to open up two each time. You could use smaller bottles for the purposes of blending, though.

[Redimpz]

My two pennorth. Don't muck about with it. make some notes as to where you think you went wrong, get it supped and get the next one on. Fine tuning is something that comes with experience. we all make mistakes.

[jaroporter]

agree with not diluting at that stage, but here's my dirty little secret. my kegerator right now has two taps, one with an 8,5% ale, and one with fizzy water. some nights i drink session ale, some nights i need a strong ale. and others everything in between.
it works so well that i'm not even that disgusted at myself for pouring water in my beer..

[john luc]

In Guinness they brew the beer to around 7% strength and then Post fermentation they use sterile de aerated water.