Dilution Of Beer With Water - Help Please

[bevdawg]

Hey quick question. I need to know how to work out the final alc/vol for my finished and carbed beer that I'm going to dilute with boiled and chilled water.

The SG was 1.071
The FG was 1.022

Giving me 6.4% alc/vol. Volume is approx 17ltr.

I want to dilute this with approx 2ltr of boiled and chilled water. The keg is close to full carb, so just going to wack it in and connect back to the gas and leave for another week. Will mouthfeel be affected? It finishes a tad warm at the mo due to high alc (guess), so I don't mind loosing that.

Is this the best practice? The final beer was a little too high in alc so want to bring it down closer to 5%. BeerSmith does not seem to give you an option on dilution of beer only wort.

 

[MHB]

Im going to leave the is post fermentation dilution a good idea question alone, but the calculation is ease enough, you need the old Standard Dilution Equation (everyone should know it as its so useful)
In the raw form its C1*V1=C2*V2 (where C is Concentration and V is Volume), just remember that the 1.000 part of the FG 1.022 is not involved as its just the weight (well Mass Density) of water and you cant dilute water with water, so if you have 17 L @ 0.022 and you add 2 L and V2 is 19.
17*.022 = C2*19
Rearrange the equation
(17*0.22)/19 = 0.01968 (or 19 L @ 1.01968)
Or you could look at the alcohol content with the same equation
(17*6.4)/19 = 5.726%
If you are going to dilute, ideally you need De-aired sterile water, get a 2-3 L container, fill it with boiling water, cap it excluding all the air (just like a No-Chill cube) then when its cold add it to the keg.
Mark

 

[bevdawg]

Normally I would not dilute post ferment, just don't like where this beer is at... what are the drawbacks of post ferment dilution?

 

[dr K]

Normally I would not dilute post ferment, just don't like where this beer is at... what are the drawbacks of post ferment dilution?

As Mark notes, Oxygen.
Of course if you are going to drink your beer soon then its not a problem. Another method, from the secret archives of the Kastle is to use highly carbonated (Black and Gold Sparling Mineral water?).
I am lead to understand that a post fermentation diluted beer--30% base beer and 70% post ferment water diluted, was well accepted by a number of brewers who probably knew what they were on about, though there was no doubt that even with the carbonation oxidation reared its ugly head after 3 months.

K

 

[ploto]

Could you force carb 2l of cooled boiled water in a keg then transfer the beer onto that? Just asking, I don't have kegs.

 

[hoppy2B]

The original IPA was a strong ale put into a barrel which was filled with hop cones, if I'm not mistaken, and I'm led to believe that this made a refreshing drink after the several month journey to India.
Several points come to mind namely:
1. I doubt strong alcohol would be refreshing
2. A tonne of hops wouldn't taste to great or be overly refreshing
3. A drink is traditionally a mixture with water

Mixing a quantity of strong beer to a number of parts of water should work ok as long as the beer is uncarbonated and priming sugar is added. The adding of the sugar or other fermentables is important to overcome any issues with oxidation. Or at least that's my understanding and take on the subject.
It has been common practice for mega swill breweries to transport their product globally in a concentrated form for some time.