Can you add bittering hops to fermenter?

[CanAm]

I brewed a Scottish ale with only 60 minute bittering hops. I overshot my gravity and am going to add some sterilized water once fermentation calms down. But then my hops will be too low.

Could I boil some hops in water (or would I need to make up some wert from DME) for an hour and add them to the fermenter? Not concerned that adding water boiled hops will decrease the gravity as I'm adding water anyway.

Thanks!

 

[brandonnys]

Uh... You could, I suppose...

Is your goal to dilute the beer to reach your desired gravity, or to add more IBUs?

Was your volume low and your gravity high? If this is the case, your IBUs will probably be fine after diluting the beer down.

 

[CanAm]

My goal is both. To dilute the beer to reach my desired gravity. But then I'll be low on hops so I'll want to add some in.

The volume was correct but the gravity was high.

 

[Vandulus]

One thing to consider is the volume of water you're adding - the smaller the volume of water, the lower the hop utilization is going to be. I'd suggest some high % Alpha hops if you're using a small volume of water.

 

[CanAm]

I'll be adding one gallon total, so was planning to boil the hops in one gallon initial volume for an hour, then add back the amount that boils off.