I brewed a pale ale a few weeks ago for a party coming up in a few weeks. Kegged it today. A few mishaps took place during the brew session. This is all grain by the way. Toward the end of the second runnings, the wort was running very pale out of the mash tun. I got concerned that I was pulling out tannins, so I shut it down at 7 preboil gallons. I usually collect 7.5 gallons. Preboil gravity was exactly on target. I figured efficiency was off since my volume was lower than normal, so I added a half cup of DME to the boil to get me to where I needed to be. Looking back, I believe this was not necessary. I should have just moved on with the lower volume since gravity was right on, correct? Or alternatively, I should have added some volume of water to the boil at the same time, correct? My efficiency did suffer. Not sure why, but I ended up at 68% and am usually 75-80%. I had a strong ferment, WLP001 and a 1 liter starter dried it out to 1.010. My ABV reading was 7.25. I was shooting for 5.5. If I had added water to the boil, I assume I would probably be closer to the target ABV. Also, I overhopped it. For some reason, at the last minute I doubled my flameout hops from 1.5 ounces to 3. I still don't know why. So now I have a high alcohol overly hopped pale ale for a backyard pool party. I have 4.5 gallons in a 5 gallon cornie. Should I top it off with a half gallon of water? Will that take the ABV down and take the edge off the hops without watering down the flavor too much? If this wasn't for a party with several non craft beer drinkers, I would gladly serve a strong pale ale highly hopped with Amarillo and citra, but I think I need to take the edge off for the mortals. Any opinions on this approach?
I say leave it alone and just buy some commercial swill for those who may not appreciate your homebrew. Thinning it out will bring the ABV down to about 6.5%, but it will also make the beer even thinner tasting. If you do it, though, make sure that you use boiled and cooled water, else you will adding O_2 to your beer.
Your ABV would change from 7.25% to about 6.5% (7.25 % x (4.5 gallons / 5.0 gallons)) If the taste is 'too much of everything' then I'd say diluting is a viable option. But how are the bitterness, malt flavors, and body/mouthfeel?
It's really hops that dominate. But mostly flavor, not so much bitterness. I did mostly late addition hops. .25 oz at 60, then .75 at 20, 2 oz at 10, 3 oz at flameout. Hard to judge mouthfeel as it's not carbonated, but the gravity sample didn't seem too thin.
Serioulsy doubt anyone will be in the mood to complain especially after they've enjoyed a pint or two of your expertly crafted high alcohol overly hopped pale ale.
This is the best answer. However, do you have low ABV, low hopped ale you could blend with it? I would consider blending (say with a wheat, blonde, mild etc) but I'd skip dilution and get some 40's of colt-45 for anyone who complains. Oh, and don't forget the brown bags.
Great idea. I tried this, and it worked well. The ratio of water took the edge off the hops, but left enough to satisfy the craft fans. Malt flavor and mouthfeel didn't seem to suffer. Thank VikeMan.
"My efficiency did suffer. Not sure why, but I ended up at 68% and am usually 75-80%." If you collected another 1/2 gallon of wort at that gravity it would have landed your efficiency at 75% It seems like your Pre-Boil gravity was 1.034, and if you collected 7 gallons, then that is an efficiency of 69%. But, 7.5 gallons at 1.034 is 75% efficiency. That 1/2 gallons made all the difference! Also, my efficiency suffers when I brew light colored beers. Dark grains help to keep the mash PH down in the 5.2 range but in recipes without those dark grains I need to add calcium chloride to get a better mash PH.
This was what I was thinking he could do. Brew up a gallon or so of very low gravity wort, ferment quick with US-05 or something similar (or could even use some of the cake from the pale ale in question) and blend.
