Water down a high alcohol beer?

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Brettman2

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Hi all,

I made another all grain batch of an American pale ale a couple of weeks ago that I have done many times before. It has always turned out to be 5% give or take.

For whatever reason, the wort ended up at a much higher gravity this time and has ended up resulting in a beer of about 6.5%. I am not fond of the taste of the higher alcohol. Is it a simple matter of adding some cold water to the finished beer before I keg it to drop it down a little bit? Working out how much I need to add isn't that difficult, but has anyone ever done this, and if so, did it taste the same as a lighter beer that has made with the correct FG reading to start with?
 
Bottle or keg as usual and then add water or lemonade or green cordial as needed. This way you limit the chance of infection and also the incorrect dilution if adding water.
Never have I added water to my beers , I use beer smith , Ian's kit and kilo spread sheet and last the BIAB calculator to achieve final Alc %.

Hope this helps.
 
De-oxygenated water. Commercial breweries do this and call it "adjusting to sales strength".
 
If you are going to do it, boil the water first to kill any bugs and drive of as much oxygen as possible. Also be aware that you will be diluting your IBUs as well as the alcohol so you may find that the final product tastes a little well, watery.

Personally I would just leave it or dilute in the glass as has been suggested.
 
Thanks all, I think I will just what TwoCrows suggested and water down in the glass if needed.
 
As suggested a lemonade addition in the glass would be the go, a strong shandy. If your not keen on the sweetness use a diet one.
Now if you had a mini keg or growler set up you could make it up in one of those as needed.
 
Use sparkling mineral water in the glass.

In the future I recommend adjusting the OG to the desired level if its way over target, before fermentation.
 
Hi all,

I made another all grain batch of an American pale ale a couple of weeks ago that I have done many times before. It has always turned out to be 5% give or take.

For whatever reason, the wort ended up at a much higher gravity this time and has ended up resulting in a beer of about 6.5%. I am not fond of the taste of the higher alcohol. Is it a simple matter of adding some cold water to the finished beer before I keg it to drop it down a little bit? Working out how much I need to add isn't that difficult, but has anyone ever done this, and if so, did it taste the same as a lighter beer that has made with the correct FG reading to start with?

you're tastebuds will adjust pretty quick ;)
 
I had an 8.6% IIPA that was delicious but certainly not a sessionable beer. Ran my other kegs dry so the IIPA was the only one on tap. Mixing it 60/40 with soda water in the glass resulted in a nice 5ish% beer more sessionable beer that still tasted great.
 
A talk at HomebrewCon by two winning Ninkasi brewers talks about how watering down beer is a legitimate tool. One competitor watered down a single beer (by 2 oz.) and placed in three different categories.
I say go for it.
 
In a commercial situation High Gravity Brewing as it is called is a pretty common procedure.
It can work very well in a homebrew sense as well...
K
 
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