Adding Water After Fermentation!

Discuss all aspects of fermentation
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Eric
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Re: Adding Water After Fermentation!

Post by Eric » Thu Dec 06, 2018 3:08 pm

Kingfisher4 wrote:
Thu Dec 06, 2018 2:28 pm
timstaley wrote:
Thu Dec 06, 2018 12:00 pm
I have successfully used bottled carbonated water in the past deals with the PH worries and the oxygenation problem
Tasted ok too
Interestingly, many of the bottled water varieties seem to have quite a high pH. Tesco Ashbeck water is the lowest I have found, Only became aware of this because of the potential problems with diluted starsan which quite rapidly goes milky and becomes apparently less effective in high pH water, e.g. our tapwater.
Just to point out there is no simple relationship between pH and alkalinity.
A small quantity of acid added to pure water would cause its pH to fall rapidly and be less than pH 7.
The same amount of acid into alkaline water, such as mine, would cause a vastly slower rate of fall in pH. Even after pH fell to 7.0 the rate of fall per unit of acid would be vastly less than observed in liquor without alkalinity. Only after a significant greater addition of acid and when pH was tending towards pH 4.5, the accepted end point for alkalinity, would the rate of change in pH approach that observed in pure water.

Mashing beer is slightly more complicated, but in the case of dilution of beer the circumstances are exactly the above in reverse. Add some distilled or deionised water and there will be little problem that while pH will rise by dilution it will be small in terms of pH as it is measured on a logarithmic scale. Adding alkaline water will be very different as not only will pH be diluted, but acid in the beer will be neutralised by the alkalinity. Now its pH will rise more quickly due to the depletion of the acid and the naturally low pH that gives both protection from bacterial infection and enhancement of the many flavours we desire may be detrimental in some circumstances.
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Re: Adding Water After Fermentation!

Post by jaroporter » Thu Dec 06, 2018 6:58 pm

you've got great advice for what you want to do so this is probably an unneccessary comment.. but if at all unsure about liquoring back post fermentation then i've often added a splash soda water to certain beers in the glass to drop down the intensity..
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HTH1975
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Re: Adding Water After Fermentation!

Post by HTH1975 » Thu Dec 06, 2018 10:26 pm

orlando wrote:
Thu Dec 06, 2018 8:20 am
HTH1975 wrote:
Wed Dec 05, 2018 8:00 pm
If I was going to liquor back post-fermentation, then bottled water would be my choice.
For simplicity it appears to be a reasonable work around, just doesn't deal with the pH issue. Not a problem if the Beer is going to be consumed quickly as there will be less time for spoilage to occur. More of an issue if ageing is the aim.
I should have capitalised IF - I wouldn’t liquor back post fermentation myself. However, if someone does want to do this, then bottled water has benefits over tap water.

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Kev888
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Re: Adding Water After Fermentation!

Post by Kev888 » Fri Dec 07, 2018 10:55 am

Yes I'd also prefer to liquor back before fermentation, but post-fermentation can be handy too. I've only done the latter a few times (and not long in advance of drinking), but the results seemed fine so it is something I may try more of where fermenter capacity is being pushed. I'd probably just use treated tap water (as both it and the usual water treatments are already to hand), but I don't see any great problem starting with bottled water instead assuming it was either treated or close enough already.
Kev

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Re: Adding Water After Fermentation!

Post by RobP » Fri Dec 14, 2018 12:43 am

Boiling water expels the oxygen held in it. It will absorb more but should help.

Haydnexport
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Re: Adding Water After Fermentation!

Post by Haydnexport » Sun Dec 23, 2018 12:01 pm

you could also brew a similar profile beer but with a lot lower gravity and blend them both. I have done this a few times when using my new kit and getting way better efficiency than expected

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Re: Adding Water After Fermentation!

Post by McMullan » Sun Dec 23, 2018 6:23 pm

Apparently, Fuller's blend various combinations of high and low gravity worts to produce some of their best-selling beers. Haydnexport's way is probably the best. However, I've liquored back post-fermentation using boiled (soft) tap water with really good results. Obviously, the recipe needs pre-adjusting to account for the dilution. For me, it was about getting 1.5 kegs out of a standard batch. I'm still experimenting with it, but I'd say use a yeast strain that presents a big flavour profile. I've used a few English yeast strains from known breweries and I noticed what I produced had a lot more yeast character than that presented in the commercial beers. Obviously, the mysterious brewing processes of each brewery is going to have a big impact, but I thought maybe some were diluting to maximise volume of the end product. My results suggest that might well be the case. I wouldn't view it negatively, like a big commercial diluting high-gravity processed syrups. It's about getting the most out of small-scale kit essentially. Ale's still top notch 8)

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Re: Adding Water After Fermentation!

Post by HTH1975 » Sun Dec 23, 2018 7:31 pm

^ re: blending beers. This seems to be a lost art, but it was commonplace even post WW2

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