Brewed an old ale over the weekend and WAY overshot my OG. This was a partial boil, which I topped up in the carboy.
Target OG was 1.09 or so. I measured at well over 1.1, approaching 1.2. 1.2 seems impossible, but the wort was like syrup.
Anyway, it's fermenting like mad right now but I'm not sure I really want a beer that will turn out as strong as this one is likely to be, or that finishes as high as this one likely will. Some years ago, I would probably have pitched a champagne yeast to finish it off and had a monster beer, but that's not my intent these days.
So, I'm thinking of doing one of the following things and am interested in advice/experiences/etc. if anyone has done something similar.
1) Split the batch to two kegs and dilute with water (I'm thinking perhaps a gallon per keg).
2) Split the batch to two separate carboys, brew a very weak 2 gallon batch, split this between the carboys and pitch some additional yeast.
I'm also thinking of dry hopping or adding oak chips to one of the splits just to get some variety.
I've never diluted before, so I'm not quite sure what to expect. I've read other threads here as well as an old BYO article by Chris Colby, so I know it should work but I'd like to hear from others who may have done similar.
Thanks!