ale

philbutcsssykes

Hi i'm a novice when it come to home brewing. i've just done a malt ale which was supposed to be a 23 litre batch but like an idiot i went and put 25 litres in without thinking. i thought this would have weakend the beer so i put some sugar in to make up for it. have i done the right thing or have a completely ruined it?

HBO_Staff

Using more water than the manufacturers state in their guide will mean a lower alcohol content and possibly a dilution in the flavour, although how much depends on how much water was added, and 2 litres wont ruin it. By adding extra sugar you will have increased the alcohol content again, as this sugar will ferment. What you will end up with, if you added not too much sugar, is a slightly weaker tasting flavour than if you'd used 23 litres. If you added a lot of sugar then it will start to give the beer a sweeter flavour.

By the way, sometimes people use less water in 40 pint recipes and/or add extra sugar to increase the alcohol content, for example with a Woodfordes they may make it to 36 pints instead of 40 to get it a bit stronger in alcohol, and it will also increase the strength of the flavour too, so water and sugar contents can be varied to taste

philbutcsssykes

thanks very much, thats a massive help!