liquoring back - Good, bad, indifferent?

Get advice on making beer from raw ingredients (malt, hops, water and yeast)
Post Reply
patwestlake
Steady Drinker
Posts: 73
Joined: Fri Jan 02, 2015 1:23 pm
Location: Penarth, South Wales

liquoring back - Good, bad, indifferent?

Post by patwestlake » Tue Jun 20, 2017 8:27 pm

if you over-boil (ie lose too much in the boil and end up over target OG), what are the effects of liquoring back by adding sterilised water to get to correct SG? I understand that the in-boil concentrations have been progressively wrong, but the final ratios will be correct (colour, IBU etc).

At the other extreme, is adding dextrose to an under boiled batch worth doing for any reason than to get the target ABV?

I've had both as I get used to my new kettle and its evaporation rates, so am interested in when to do more and when to just accept what I've created!

cheers, Pat
FV : #99 Highway to Helles (Munich Helles)
Next up - #100 Farmhouse in Your Soul (Saison)

Drinking :
#98 Bells Light Hearted (3.9% IPA)
#97 Decadence 64 (Mosaic IPA)
#96 Wicked Weasel (Fursty Ferret Clone)
#95 Penarth Gold (Loweswater Gold Clone)
#94 Cheeseburger Cavalry (US IPA)

User avatar
Kev888
So far gone I'm on the way back again!
Posts: 7701
Joined: Fri Mar 19, 2010 6:22 pm
Location: Derbyshire, UK

Re: liquoring back - Good, bad, indifferent?

Post by Kev888 » Tue Jun 20, 2017 10:27 pm

Theres generally no great harm in liquoring back before fermentation; personally I find this easier/best to do in the kettle as it nears the end of the boil. There may be a slight effect on hop utilisation and colour if the majority of the boil was at higher gravity than intended, but not much. Similarly there may be a slight alteration in pH unless the top-up water was treated, but again not much if the top-up was small.

Under-boiling can be more problematic, depending on how this is happening. A long vigorous boil is desirable for various positive effects on beer quality, if you aren't getting that then the issue needs resolving. But if you are just occasionally seeing 'a bit' less evaporation than expected then thats okay. I would suggest delaying the late hop additions in order to boil for a bit longer first, and so reduce the volume as intended. You could instead accept the extra volume and add malt extract to reach your target Original Gravity. Doing similar with more fermentable sugars will also work to correct the OG but will not do much to raise the FG, so the beer will be somewhat dryer.
Kev

User avatar
scuppeteer
Under the Table
Posts: 1512
Joined: Fri Oct 01, 2010 7:32 pm
Location: Brenchley, Kent (Birthplace of Fuggles... or is it?)

Re: liquoring back - Good, bad, indifferent?

Post by scuppeteer » Mon Jul 03, 2017 12:50 am

You just need to get used to your losses in the boil. Liquoring back is the easy option, if you are under OG then it's best to put up with it. As Kev said it will end up being a much drier tasting beer if you add additional sugars. And this is a much more tricky calculation to make.
Liquoring back is easy, forgive me if you already know, but times the current OG by the volume, divide this by the required OG, then minus the volume. This will give you the number of litres required to liquor back.
Dave Berry


Can't be arsed to keep changing this bit, so, drinking some beer and wanting to brew many more!

Sir, you are drunk! Yes madam, and you are ugly, but in the morning I shall be sober! - WSC

Post Reply