Adding water post-boil?

[AzfromOz]

Howdy,

I entered my first comp recently and the beer was judged as having some DMS in it, which as you can imagine impacted the score. I (and some of the judges) put the DMS down to having a problem with the boil - presumably not vigorous enough to eliminate the DMS created during the boil.

I further put the boil issue down to my jet burner. It's very finicky and when I get the wort boiling I seem to have a choice of an extremely vigorous boil or, if I drop the gas flow to the jet burner just the slightest bee's d*ck, then a barely rolling simmer.

I figure having a boil that gives me a lower-than-expected final volume is better than having a beer with DMS in it, so for my next boil I will do just that. I have boiled at the vigorous setting once before on my jet burners and ended up about four litres short of expected final volume.

Question is, will adding water post-boil materially affect the beer, flavour- or body-wise? The judges commented that body and appearance were spot on, and I wonder if adding water post-boil will impact that?

In the interim I will also continue to tinker with my jet burner to see if I can hit that perfect rolling boil...

As a side note, I couldn't taste the DMS, so it was great to have it pointed out to me. That's how we become better brewers!

Cheers

 

[warra48]

If you know the volume you are down, why not add the extra water 10 minutes or so before flameout? That way you can maintain your vigorous boil.

 

[Moad]

Not to say that it is right or wrong but I do this regularly. I no chill into 15L cubes and top up with 5L of tap water when I pitch.
I've never tasted any off flavours that I can pick up and never had any fermentation issues since diluting at pitch time.
It means I can knock out an extra 20L of finished beer (total 140L). I am in the process of accumulating 20L cubes so that I don't have to do it this way but I am very happy with the beer I am making. I'm sure there are many good reasons to not do it but my experience tells me it is fine.

 

[MHB]

Or at the start, or move the pot away from the flame a bit... lots of options, including adding water post boil. The concern with doing that is that it really should be De-Aired and Sterile (call it boiled), introducing oxygen to hot wort is the fastest way to cause oxidative harm, not sterilising well I'm sure that's self explanatory.
Mark

 

[manticle]

It will affect all the things you reference -body, flavour, etc.

If you have dms issues and believe the judges are right (they aren't always) then deal with the dms first with proper techniques. Most commercial malts these days should have vastly reduced levels of smm (dms precursor) so a 60+ min adequate/ vigorous boil should take care of things. If it does not; fix the cause rather than a symptom. Make the boil longer or more adequate, fix your equipment or get new equipment.

Adding water then adjusting everything else is like making a souffle that collapses, then trying to add enough raw egg, heat and compressed air to make it fluffy.

Get it right from the get go, if it's not right, go back to the get go.