A quick question

Get advice on making beer from raw ingredients (malt, hops, water and yeast)
Post Reply
Western Brewer

A quick question

Post by Western Brewer » Mon Apr 23, 2007 2:38 pm

Hi All,
Just finished cooling my DL Adnams Southwold bitter. All done as per Daves instructions Sparged to 4 1/2 gallons boiled for 90 minutes and ended up with about 3 1/2 gallons and after cooling just over 3 gallons. Took a sample of cooled wort and the gravity reads as 1.060. Now Dave then says to top up to final length (5 gallons) to achieve the OG of 1.037.
So is there anyway of checking if adding the required amount of cold water will bring my 1.060 down to 1.037 as I don't want to go under this.

User avatar
Andy
Virtually comatose but still standing
Posts: 8716
Joined: Fri Nov 18, 2005 1:00 pm
Location: Ash, Surrey
Contact:

Post by Andy » Mon Apr 23, 2007 2:45 pm

Promash and Beersmith have dilution calculators to help you work this out...
Dan!

Western Brewer

Post by Western Brewer » Mon Apr 23, 2007 2:48 pm

Well damn, so it has! (Beersmith) Just under two gallons needed then.
Cheers for that Andy

User avatar
Andy
Virtually comatose but still standing
Posts: 8716
Joined: Fri Nov 18, 2005 1:00 pm
Location: Ash, Surrey
Contact:

Post by Andy » Mon Apr 23, 2007 2:50 pm

Don't forget that your hop schedule was for a brewlength of 5 gallons and so diluting to a longer brewlength will also reduce the bitterness profile.
Dan!

User avatar
bitter_dave
Even further under the Table
Posts: 2170
Joined: Thu Dec 29, 2005 1:00 pm
Location: Whitley Bay

Post by bitter_dave » Mon Apr 23, 2007 2:55 pm

Andy wrote:Don't forget that your hop schedule was for a brewlength of 5 gallons and so diluting to a longer brewlength will also reduce the bitterness profile.
Probably not such a bad thing for Dave Line recipe :wink:

Western Brewer

Post by Western Brewer » Mon Apr 23, 2007 3:14 pm

Either i'm missing something but DL recipes always collect less than 5 gallons before the boil then top up to 5 gallons, so is the bitterness dilution already taken into account?
Sorry if this is a stupid question.
BTW I've ended out with a hair under 5 Gallons and a OG of 1.036. missed by 0.001.

User avatar
bitter_dave
Even further under the Table
Posts: 2170
Joined: Thu Dec 29, 2005 1:00 pm
Location: Whitley Bay

Post by bitter_dave » Mon Apr 23, 2007 3:20 pm

Western Brewer wrote:Either i'm missing something but DL recipes always collect less than 5 gallons before the boil then top up to 5 gallons, so is the bitterness dilution already taken into account?
Sorry if this is a stupid question.
I don't think this is a stupid question at all - I think you could well have put your finger on something there as to why some people find his recipes more bitter than others*

* although I cannot claim to know anything about this :wink:

User avatar
Andy
Virtually comatose but still standing
Posts: 8716
Joined: Fri Nov 18, 2005 1:00 pm
Location: Ash, Surrey
Contact:

Post by Andy » Mon Apr 23, 2007 3:58 pm

If the recipe is designed for a final quantity of 5 gallons and the hop quantities reflect this volume then the desired bitterness will be obtained even if you have to top up with water to hit 5 gal. My comment was about *increasing* the final volume to a level greater than the recipe intended but without adjusting the hop quantities. If you've hit 5 gallons (by topping up with water) and the original recipe was a 5 gallon one then the bitterness should be as per recipe.
Dan!

Post Reply