Diluting Post Fermentation

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Truman42

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I often dilute my wort to required Sg before pitching yeast. With my last brew I didnt have room in the cube to dilute any further and was still 8 points above my SG (1.062 and should have been 1.054) and my other cube is being used to CC a Scotch Ale.

Ive read on here in another post that its possible to dilute at the end of fermentation. So is it just a matter of working out your dilution rate from your actual FG against your recipes FG and dilute it down accordingly?

And will doing this not affect the flavour of the beer at all?
 
Dilute into the fermentor, you'll just end up with more beer. Not a bad thing. :beerbang:
 
If you're getting consistently higher OG readings, you might want to adjust the % efficiency in your brewing software.

You'll end up using a little less grain for each batch, which is a bonus, too.

To fix your current issue, either dilute with some cooled, pre-boiled water, or just call it an "Imperial" version of the original recipe :D
 
If you're getting consistently higher OG readings, you might want to adjust the % efficiency in your brewing software.

You'll end up using a little less grain for each batch, which is a bonus, too.

To fix your current issue, either dilute with some cooled, pre-boiled water, or just call it an "Imperial" version of the original recipe :D

Cheers mate, yeh Im always getting higher gravity readings so will adjust my efficiency from 70% up to 80% and see how I go with that.
 
...and I probably wouldn't dilute post fermentation.
 
I would personally dilute based on getting the abv to the required level and I think there would be flavor differences. Bottle a few before dilution to taste the difference.
 
You can open up your recipe and scale a percent at a time until it hits your OG. Then you'll know your efficiency exactly .
 
I would personally dilute based on getting the abv to the required level and I think there would be flavor differences. Bottle a few before dilution to taste the difference.

I don't want to dilute if its going to affect the flavour at all. I would rather just have a higher ABV. I had read on another post that dilution post fermentation doesn't affect the flavour but I can't see why not, you watering down your beer.
 
The problem with diluting post fermentation is that you will be adding oxygenated water to fermented beer. BUT if you're bottle conditioning this is probably not so important as I imagine the yeast will scavenge the oxygen anyway.

...

If you're still using the Maxi-BIAB calculator, it should be telling you your actual achieved efficency towards the end of the brewday actuals. If you use that number in the setup part for the brewday, then the calculations should be very accurate.
 
I use the maxibiab calc and brewmate and they both tell me my efficiency which is around 80% the last two batches Ive done. (must be the good job the missus does of stirring the sparge)
So next time I will increase it to 80% and see how I go.

My other problem with this brew is I had calculated my recipe on 19 litres so I could use my 23 litre cube. But I had left it at work and didn't realise until I started the boil and went to the shed to get it.
So I managed to get 17 litres into my other cube and add a litre of cooled boiled water just before pitching but thats all I could fit in and the Sg was still 1.062.

If watering it down after fermentation is going to change the flavour then I wont bother.
 
I would dilute out a small portion to investigate the potential change in flavor. I would imagine the significant flavor change would result from the conditions encountered by the yeast. If you brewed the same beer at lower og it would have a different flavor profile, but that isn't your issue. Just speculating . . .
 

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