Having moved south of the border, I have been limited to my supplies and methods. Until I can get back to AG I've been doing extract and partial mashes. I just did 2 Brothers Cane and Ebel converted to a partial mash recipe. My gravity on a 5 gal batch started out spot on at 1.072. After a few weeks, my reading is at 1.011 (should be closer to 1.017). The recipe does include some thai palm sugar in the boil, and I know there could be the usual suspects of overpitching my English ale yeast or having too high fermentables. Knowing the issues is one thing. But I really want to know is there a way to nicely tweak the final outcome? Is adding a certain amount of water gonna shift the gravity or make the beer watery? If I could, how much? Use maltodextrin? Or is it best that I sit back in a haze with my 8% beer?
Correcting FG. Options??
- Thread starter Toastman
- Start date
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Unless you're using de-aerated water you will definitely ruin your beer with cold-side oxidation. IMHO much better to leave the beer as it is and reserve it for special occasions, at best when there is someone around that can carry you to bed or any other suitable piece of furniture... 
InspectorJon
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I feel like there are two questions here.
Can the beer be diluted to lower the alcohol content? There are lots of examples of people mixing beer with something else. I made an IPA that was just too bitter/harsh for me. I think it was to much Galaxy. Adding about 20% ice cold water to a glass before pouring the beer really improved it to my taste. I have seen people in Europe order mixed beer and soda water to create kind of a session beer. I would not add water before bottling or kegging but after might be just fine. It will thin the beer and make the final gravity even lower.
Can you add something to bring the final gravity back up and create more body? Lactose comes to mind, not sure it would be good in the beer style. Someone may know something else that can be added to boost gravity that is unfermentable. You would have a beer with more body but it would still be 8%
Can the beer be diluted to lower the alcohol content? There are lots of examples of people mixing beer with something else. I made an IPA that was just too bitter/harsh for me. I think it was to much Galaxy. Adding about 20% ice cold water to a glass before pouring the beer really improved it to my taste. I have seen people in Europe order mixed beer and soda water to create kind of a session beer. I would not add water before bottling or kegging but after might be just fine. It will thin the beer and make the final gravity even lower.
Can you add something to bring the final gravity back up and create more body? Lactose comes to mind, not sure it would be good in the beer style. Someone may know something else that can be added to boost gravity that is unfermentable. You would have a beer with more body but it would still be 8%
chipmunk
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I tried maltodextrin once - by accident... I mistook it for corn sugar and primed my bottles with it... Ya not a happy brew day. So after I realized my mistake, I opened the bottles and primed them directly. To my surprise the beer turned out fine. So If you’re in bottles I suppose you could experiment without too much risk. Might also be fun to brew up a complementary blend - drink 2 at a time after mixing them lol
couchsending
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Leave it
there’s nothing you could do to it that wouldn’t do more harm than good.
if you didn’t know the gravity I guarantee you that you wouldn‘t have any idea when you drink that it’s 1.011 and not 1.017.
there’s nothing you could do to it that wouldn’t do more harm than good.
if you didn’t know the gravity I guarantee you that you wouldn‘t have any idea when you drink that it’s 1.011 and not 1.017.
