An Idea.......group brew

[Aleman]

:nono: Cor I dunno, Can't get the hops, Can't hit the gravity, Why did we set the rules anyway :hmm: :hmm:

Dunno why I bothered to Let Down my wort now :evil:

 

[Wez]

Dunno why I bothered to Let Down my wort now :evil:

Because you hopped it for the gravity you let it down to

 

[Vossy1]

Cor I dunno, Can't get the hops, Can't hit the gravity, Why did we set the rules anyway

:lol:

It doesn't bother me either way as I'll be brewing again shortly..another bitter hopefully within style

Dunno why I bothered to Let Down my wort now

You could have asked no too...like me :whistle: :lol:

 

[steve_flack]

If one was thinking of taking part in this how many bottles would be involved?

 

[Wez]

Hiya Steve

I think that it would be expensive to send a bottle to every member who's taking part, but I think that an assesment from 2 or 3 people would be required for a balanced view of a beer. So unless anyone disagrees, I will aim for posting a max of 3 out (although I plan to bottle 25L and keg the other 25L anyway)

We'll need to have a think about who's posting to who soon?

PS - does this mean you have a recipe or already have something bottled up those sleeves ?

 

[steve_flack]

I'm brewing this weekend. I have a recipe which I haven't brewed before but I think it should work out OK.

 

[Wez]

Nice one Steve, have a good brew :thumb:

 

[Aleman]

I have a recipe which I haven't brewed before but I think it should work out OK.

Does it fit within the rules?

Or are you going to wing it like all the rest :nono:

 

[Vossy1]

Does it fit within the rules?

Or are you going to wing it like all the rest

:lol:

 

[Dunfie]

I'm brewing this weekend aswell Steve. No idea what I am going to do yet but it will probably be quite dry :whistle:

 

[steve_flack]

I have a recipe which I haven't brewed before but I think it should work out OK.

Does it fit within the rules?

Or are you going to wing it like all the rest :nono:

Well it's designed to fit the rules... that's not to say it will. :pray:

 

[Vossy1]

Can a wort be Let Down (watered down to gravity) at any stage ie, post fermentation, and is it acceptable to do so?
I know it can be, and I suspect it has been in certain pubs I've visited
I've plugged 1.050 into Beersmith with a target of 1.044 and it's telling me I'd have to add 8ltrs of water (treated, boiled and cooled).

That seems an aweful lot of water 13% of total volume :hmm:

 

[steve_flack]

The big mega breweries do it all the time but they are using deoxygenated, sterile water so there's no risk. The reason they do it is usually money. Fermentation takes a long time and fermentation vessels take space. It's more economic to make a strong beer and water it down after the expensive bit so it takes up less space in the fermenters. In the case of some breweries they water it down by differing amounts to get different beers (Courage Bitter and Directors for example).

On a homebrew scale I'm not sure it's a great idea. Whilst you can reduce (remove?) oxygen from water by boiling, it does seem rather keen to redissolve on cooling so deoxygenated water may be hard to achieve. Maybe I'm worrying to much about though?

 

[Aleman]

Whilst you can reduce (remove?) oxygen from water by boiling, it does seem rather keen to redissolve on cooling so deoxygenated water may be hard to achieve. Maybe I'm worrying to much about though?

Probably Steve, In order to stop the stuff redisolving, put the boiling water into a corny and purge it with CO2 . . .Or add 1/2 a campden tablet, as that is a very good oxygen scavenger

 

[Vossy1]

Cheers chaps

I think I'm going to let this brew down to desired gravity then. I'll boil the water, cool it and add it straight away.
I'm not too bothered about oxygen re-absorption. I would imagine that boiling will get rid of most of it, and without aggitating the water post boil, I can't see much re-dissolving anyway.
The yeast remaining in solution should easily be able to handle the small amount that gets through, providing I don't slosh it into the fv :lol:

Would there be any detriment to adding the camden tab, flavour wise?

I've still to get my head around it not affecting the malt flavour or bitterness units, but that's me :wha:

 

[steve_flack]

It definitely will affect the bitterness units as you will be diluting a fermented beer so will be diluting the isomerised alpha acids. Also unless you up the hops in the boil, you will get a less bitter beer as the extra gravity reduces the hop utilisation.

You will have to make the beer proportionally more bitter before diluting to take account of the dilution.

 

[BrewStew]

I've had a similar situation to you V.

I treated my mash for the first time for this brew and my effeciency shot up to 85%, making me overshoot the upper guideline gravity.

To make matters worse, the S04 got a better than average attenuation and reached two points lower than my target FG.

so i've ended up with 5.1% ABV.

but you know what, i dont care if i get disqualified, cos it tastes belting straight out of the fermenter and is crystal clear! i'm out right refusing to water this down :lol:

 

[Vossy1]

Good on ya BS :party:

So, basically I'm stuck with the beer as it is, which will mean it is unbalanced ...oh well
Another brew for the forum it is then :thumb:

 

[Vossy1]

Steve, sorry forgot to ask...

Wouldn't it be possible to compensate for the bittering loss by making a hop addition to the water to be added for dilution?

 

[steve_flack]

You could try boiling some hops in a dilute wort I guess. The best thing would be to use a bit of isomerised hop extract to adjust the bitterness.