Distilled Water to Simplify Big Batch?

[ere109]

I've made a lager several times and people have really loved it. They've loved it so much, that I've been asked to brew 20 gallons for an event in August. That would make one really long day. I've heard of adding water to lower OG before. How far can you stretch that?
What would be the effects if I doubled my ingredients, brewed a 10-gallon "double" batch, then halved it by putting 2.5 gallons of water into four carboys? Flavor issues? Control issues? I'd love to here thoughts and advice from people who've done this.

 

[ere109]

I was planning to do this batch on Sunday, so any thoughts would be welcomed.

 

[HeavyKettleBrewing]

I was planning to do this batch on Sunday, so any thoughts would be welcomed.

I've never tried this at that volume but have always experienced a more watered down flavor. Simply put, you will not be brewing the same beer your friends have grown to love. Get some friends to help and brew it well. Just an opinion to help give your thread a bump. Good luck tomorrow.

 

[eastoak]

i would just brew the 20 gallons rather than take the shortcut. two 10 gallon batches; mash one while boiling the other and so on.

 

[ResumeMan]

You'll probably lose efficiency as you increase your grain bill, and you will definitely get reduced hop utilization with the increased gravity. So this would require more-than-doubling the ingredients. But if you use software to adjust for that (and you actually manage to nail it) I think it would be pretty close.

When I first skimmed your post I thought you were talking about making a double strength *beer* and diluting that, rather than a double-strength *wort.* That would definitely make a different beer, since the yeast will react differently to fermenting high-gravity. But if you can get exactly double the gravity in the wort, and can get the IBUs right I think it should work.

Good luck.

 

[Raenon]

This is no different than any other partial boil situation, like boiling 2.5-3gallons of wort and topping up.
Sure, partial boils are more common in extract brewing, but it will work for AG too. You'll just need a bit more hops to help with your utilization efficiency (assuming your mash tun holds enough grain to do a big bill for 10 gallons to begin with, or you can do two).
Only situation I've heard of it being a problem is with very hoppy IPA's and the like, where you might actually reach saturation in a very high OG wort, which would then be halved.

 

[CA-LT1]

Just read your post, sounds like you were going to brew today and I hope it turned out ok for you. What you proposed is exactly what I do for my "light"er ales. Works great, you get twice the beer for your time.

 

[ere109]

Thanks, everyone.I ultimately agreed that I didn't want to risk the taste for an important event, so brewed both batches in full. Unfortunately, I didn't get any help, so it was a twelve hour break. With a brew buddy, I've done twenty gallons in six. Its amazing how everything slows when you have to run back and forth to do every stage.