Increasing volume of batch?

[JTMace]

Hi folks.
Made my first ever Pilsner Urquell clone yesterday (1st lager actually) and my 21L batch is a litre or two short but is 1048OG as opposed to my target 1044 OG.
The fermentation is going excellently ( was left overnight at 20C, yeast is Wyeast 2278).
I was thinking of added RO water to bump up the volume by a litre or so but am not sure if this is wise... advise?
Also what temperature would you advise continuing fermentation ( I was thinking of 12C and finishing at end of fermenting at 20C to reduce sulphurous aromas)?
Thanks in anticipation.

 

[Bubba Wade]

You can add water if you like. But you can also add the water when you bottle or keg the beer. Large scale commercial breweries will ferment at a higher gravity and then dilute prior to packaging. This allows them to increase production capacity without adding additional equipment.

 

[JTMace]

You can add water if you like. But you can also add the water when you bottle or keg the beer. Large scale commercial breweries will ferment at a higher gravity and then dilute prior to packaging. This allows them to increase production capacity without adding additional equipment.

Thanks Bubba, I did suspect that might be the case.

 

[HighVoltageMan!]

I personally would not dilute the beer. 1.048 is not that high for any pilsner. I usually shoot for 1.050 for most lighter lagers. 1.044 will not be big on malt flavor, keeping it at 1.048 will produce better flavor in my opinion.

As far as sulphur production is concerned, colder temperatures will produced more sulphur than warm. 20C seems too warm for a lager. Pitching at 20C and cooling it to 12C will produce a better lager than just keeping it at 20C. It best to pitch at or below fermentation temperature, but that requires a lot more yeast at pitch. I doubt you will have excessive sulphur. All lager yeast produce some sulphur, that is one reason for lagering. Lagering allows to drop yeast, clear the beer, reduce sulphur and mature the flavors. If you get sulphur, lager it.