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at that stage
I have brewed 5 beers total and I feel like I'm at that stage where I'm no longer just happy with making a drinkable beer. I'm noticing the little flaws in the beers I've brewed and my brain is working on ways to correct them for future brews.
Take for instance, right now I just had a bottle of my begian white brewed with orange peel, coriander, and some honey. I'm lucky enough to also have in my fridge a couple of bottles of Blanche de Chambly from Unibroue. So, as I'm writing this, I'm comparing the two. What I've noticed with my beers is that the fusel alcohol flavor is fairly noticable especially with my belgian white. I know I need to work on getting my fermentation temps down. The white was brewed in the middle of the summer and I know the fermentation temps hovered around 75-76 degrees. Also, the body of some of my beers is real light and thin. I know that this is somewhat common with extract brewed beer, but what can I do to help with the mouth feel and body? Do I need to add some unfermentable sugar such as lactose? My white is certainly not as spicy as the Blanche, but that is something I could easily correct by adding more coriander and other spices.
I guess to summarize, I'm ready to start brewing some better beer. I'm beginning to notice the subtleties that make a difference between a decent beer and a excellent beer. I guess it's observations such as this that make this hobby so addicting. Here's to brewing better beers. Cheers.
To add some body to your beer you can add malto dextrine. It's only about 12% fermentable and can add some body and mouthfeel to your beer.
I think a few key factors to brewing better beer is aerating your wort, fermentation temperature control, and proper yeast pitching rates. Not only should you get your temps down but you should try to reduce temperature fluctuation during fermentation.
And to be fair to yourself, a wit is one of the harder beers to brew successfully. It's actually the first beer mentioned in BYO's "The 10 Hardest Beer Styles" article on their site.
Might also think about trying some partial mashes using 2-3# of specialty grains, and mashing, not steeping.
Really adds fresh taste, richer taste, & a better mouthfeel. And, you can use le$$ extract.
Lowering the fermentation temp makes a huge huge difference. I too have been fermenting at room temp which has been around 75 degrees. I made a stout that placed 2nd in it;s catagory in a contest and I noticed a fruity flavor to it and one of the judges suggested getting the fermentation temp down.
I had brought a fridge in the house that I put a thermostat on so I could brew lagers and I made the same stout recipe and fermented iti nthe fridge at 60 degrees and it tastes light years better. the sweetness comes out better and there is no fruity flavor as before. Yeast and everything was the same, only difference was temp of fermentation.
Used fridges are cheap, and you can get a good thermostat online now for a good price also and it's worth the money and will make a huge difference in your beers.
DC
Amen to the temperature control. Beyond being able to ferment cool in the heat of summer, you can completely control the ferment of your beer. Before temp control, I had a lot of beers that got real hot and then crashed in temp when the fermentation slowed down, and the result was an underattenuated beer. Now with temp control, I can keep it cool during the hot parts and then warm it up through the latter parts of fermentation. And the bottles condition so much more reliably when they're in a temp controlled environment.
All-grain will help you get more control, but there's a learning curve there. Extract beer is great, and you don't need to go AG to make awesome beer.
As mentioned temp control is one of the single most important factors to change flavor. You may also want to take a look at your water chemistry as well. When I started filtering my water I got much better flavor, and your beer after all is 90% water.
Man, thanks for all the suggestions. You guys truly are a wealth of knowledge! I should be able to control my fermentation temps better now that the weather is getting cooler. If not, then I might need to experiment with the "swamp bucket" method.
I'll be looking into incorporating some malto dextrin in my upcoming brews. Especially, when I get to brewing up a porter or stout. I know I'm not ready for all grain (not sure if I'll ever be), but the partial mash idea sounds intriguing. I might look into trying that. What else would this require as far as equipment? I guess there are other forums on here that talk about this.
When I lived inthe country our water was terrible so I had to use bottled water for sanitation and making the beer. Now that I live in the city I use tap water for sanitation but still use bottled spring water for making the beer.
DC
There have been several great suggestions to starting moving your beer from good to better, so I won't repeat the same things.
I will suggest however, that you should focus on one variable at a time. Don't start adding maltodextrine at the same time aerating wort and doubling your pitching rate. You are likely to miss the factor that is making the beer better (OR WORSE). Start with temp control...save your pennies and get a fridge and temp controller. That is huge in my opinion. Then start with proper yeast mamagement.
One last comment, I never had a problem with getting enough body with extracts... It was usually just the opposite, getting thinner body with extracts. So I suggest you focus on getting the proper fermentation first, through temp control and yeast management. Then start worrying about the ingredient contribution. Without a good/proper ferment it really doesn't matter what ingredients you throw in there.
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