I have had a Muntons Docklands Porter brewing. Followed the Recipe and got a SG or 1045 I added a few extra pints of water as I prefer a less alcoholic brew so ended up at 1043.
Had it was brewing for 3 days on a primary fermentation and then moved it from the primary to a secondary. The reasons were that I used an old plastic FV, old as in I already had in the garage. It's really almost new, my son used it for one brew of Mead last year) Anyway I moved the brew to a newly purchased FV with a bottom tap. I did this because I wanted to remove the initial sediment and have a FV that I could fit an airlock to to monitor the fermentation of my brew and allow for an easy transfer to bottles or a Pressure Barrel. The old FV lid is not designed for an airlock and it does not have a bottom tap. I have not yet modified it to attach a grommet or something. (Next DIY job I guess
)It's now been 2 weeks and the gravity has been going slowly down and as of last night is still bubbling away @ a bubble approx every 45 seconds. The Hydrometer is now showing 1010 which according to Jimbo's Calculator gives me an alcohol level of around 4.3%. A little less than the 4.5% suggested by Muntons, which is good. I would maybe have preferred it around 4% but hey I can live with it. Smells good and checking the brew as I drained it to my Pressure Barrel looks fairly clear already.
I used 80gms of light spray malt mixed with 1/2 pint of water as my primer and it is sitting back in its corner where it will be for the next 3 days and then I will move it to the garage to settle out and condition ready for drinking.
So when moving the beer I took a sample and tried a taster yesterday. It tastes like Mild/Porter but feels a bit watery in flavour.
Have I done the wrong thing by diluting to get the alcohol down a bit, if so what other ways can I reduce the alcohol content but still keep the full flavour of the beer?
Do I have to wait for no bubbles from the FV before moving to my PB or can I decide a SG I want say at 1012 that would give me my desired alcohol level and then move it to my PB. I understand from reading the website that the priming sugars will also raise the Alcohol content by a small amount. Is it going to be around 0.2% in which case have I ended up with the orig 4.5% and a watery beer
Does seem I am having the opposite trouble from most of the posts here who cannot get their beer SG down enough...sigh
Any advise would be appreciated