How will brewing a 6gallon batch of home brew with 5gallons of water affect the brew,more alcohol taste better?!
I've been making some real good home brew but this time i used less water & more hops & plan to let it aged,after bottling,for at least 3months & maybe a year or longer!.My brew has a smooth taste & aroma,but i would like to get the comments from some other brewers!.Www@FoodAQ@Com
Answers:
I have to disagree with the first answer!. The poster is right in saying that the yeast will produce the same amount of alcohol with the same amount of sugar, but because you are using less water (if you START with 5 gallons your final batch will probably only be about 4-4!.5 gallons because of what is lost in the boil), the resulting solution of alcohol, water, residual sugars, etc!. will have a higher percentage of alcohol in it!.
Think of it this way: if you have half a glass of beer, and then fill the glass with water, the resulting solution will have the same amount of alcohol in it, but will have a much lower percentage of alcohol simply because of the added water!.
As for aging, the slightly higher gravity and added hops will both contribute to a beer that will age well!. Three months might mellow it a bit but won't produce much change in flavor!. Aging beer is still relatively new and we don't understand much about how it affects it!.Www@FoodAQ@Com
Think of it this way: if you have half a glass of beer, and then fill the glass with water, the resulting solution will have the same amount of alcohol in it, but will have a much lower percentage of alcohol simply because of the added water!.
As for aging, the slightly higher gravity and added hops will both contribute to a beer that will age well!. Three months might mellow it a bit but won't produce much change in flavor!. Aging beer is still relatively new and we don't understand much about how it affects it!.Www@FoodAQ@Com
There are a number of potential factors but it unlikely will increase the alcohol content!. Yeast creates alcohol by consuming sugars in the wort!. That yeast has a certain tolerance for the alcohol it produces, it will produce approximately the same amount of alcohol each time assuming there are enough sugars available for it!. You will be introducing the same amount of malt in the 5 gallon batch as the six gallon batch right!? Then there should be no difference in the alcohol content unless the yeast wasn't meeting it's potential alcohol production because it consumed all the fermentable sugars!. The only difference I would expect might be that it is sweeter and hoppier flavored, probably heavier as well!. You could introduce a higher tolerant yeast into your beer but since you aren't introducing more fermentable sugars into your beer it shouldn't really change it much other than the yeast flavor in the beer!.Www@FoodAQ@Com
