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watery brew?
whats the typical symptom of watery tasting brew? ( its my first try - I followed a red ale formulation )
I used a nylon bag to brew the wort... could that be the issue?
should I try again with some malt extract this time instead of just trying to make my own wort?
just getting started so any insight is welcome... thanks.
Walk us through your grain steeping process. Any time and temperature you can remember would be great. What was your grain bill, and how many bags was it split between?
Heres the formula I used and I tried to follow these directions to a T:
http://homebrewexchange.net/content/hbx-red-ale
however I did use a grain bag made of nylon to hold the grains...Im wondering if that didn't allow enough of the material to work its way out into the wort....?
Like I asked before did you put all the grain in one bag? I'm assuming so now since it's such a small batch. That is an incredibley light recipe tho. My iPhone app says you'd only have a OG of 1.034, and it will only be 3.2% AVB. Did you take gravity readings?
Next time find a 5 gallon recipe that provides expected gravities and divide by 5.
yup everything in one bag for the main brew...
for the hops I placed half of them into a smaller bag and put about half of it directly into the brew...
yea it felt very light on alcohol...it wasn't that bad - it was just a tad watery. The other parts were good... the color the carbonation - the hop level could have been less bitter for my tastes but the part missing was the middle flavors... It was hops + carbonation...then it dropped off quickly to just watery.
haha... guess its to be expected for the first batch and not knowing what the hell im doing.
Ill try again.
It seems like a recipe issue, not a brewer issue.
thanks Ill try again...
dunno If I can do the 5 gallons tho - I just literally don't drink that much beer....and I don't want to make a big waste if I mess up since Im still totally new to this.
If you were to up something in that recipe what would it be? i was thinking of adding some liquid or dried malt to the wort to increase the character of the final product...
No?
adding some malt extract will give you more alcohol, and increase the body of the beer. sounds to me like a decent plan for next time.
also, if you do make a full 5 gallons, the beer will keep in the bottle for quite a while, so even if you don't drink a lot, you'll be able to finish it. and you can always give some to friends and family.
cool thanks!
I wanted to go for smaller batches so my experiments could be cleared more quickly...I also didn't want to give people anything that I myself didn't really like - so maybe after I make a batch thats more tasty Ill move up to 5 gallons! I know those are more standard home brew sizes so its probably easier to find recipes too.
Ill try the next batch with some extra malt extract... now Im wondering how much I should add.
hmm...this takes time to learn I see.
cheers
I meant to divide a full 5 gallon recipe by 5 to figure out how much of what to use in a 1 gallon batch.
If you wanted to brew that again I'd add more of each the 2Row and the crystal.1.5LBS of the 2 row and 12 oz of the crystal would do the trick.
As far as adding extract, Liquid Malt Extract comes in 3 pound incriments, so unless you want to measure it out and keep the rest it'd be easier to just add more grain. As far as dry malt extrace, I've never used it before, but I'm assuming it'd be pretty similar to adding more grain.
aha I was JUST looking at doing that as well... I was looking at the recipe and thinking.. maybe I just double the grains!
I just looked up the crystal to figure out what exactly is the difference between crystal and two row:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mash_ingre … ystal_malt
crystal adds sweetness?
Ok - I may try some combo of increasing some of the grain ingredients - and /or possibly a dash of dried malt extract as well.... ( hopefully I won't go overboard this time and get something thats beyond where it should be..whoops! )
Im also looking to get a less hoppy flavor...I know most people love bittery hops... maybe Im weird - but I actually prefer the more bread like / nutty beers with less bitter bite to them.
I guess I need to pick a good yeast as well....hmmm. Thanks for all you guys helping - this is speeding up my insight. cheers!
Yea as I understand crystal malt is the same as caramel malt. Keep them in a lower percent of the grain bill. for one gallon of beer I'd shoot for 2 lbs of grain total for a normal strength beer. Adding more grain will counter your hop bitterness as well. If to you it was just on the verge of being too bitter I'd leave your hop schedule if you had no complaints about the aroma and hop flavor. If it was far too much bitterness for you look for a recipe with a hop variety with a lower alpha acid rating. The longer you boil hops for and the higher the alpha acid/co-humulone% the more bitterness you will extract from it.
Doing an "All grain" batch can be a bit much for a first time homebrewer. Next round I would go for a partial mash kit that has been scaled down to fit a one or two gallon batch size. When you are not so worried about getting the mash right you can think about doing other things like sanitation, cooling, hop additions....etc.
While I for sure applaud you doing an All grain (although very small) batch I think you would be better served doing some mini mashes to get a little experience under your belt. Get your process down, figure out how you like to do the fermentation stage, and possibly tinker with some recipies.
Then do some all-graining. Also you might want to talk to some people and find someone that All grains and spend a brewday learning. I don't want to discourage you at all from brewing by any style but I think that learning in an all grain setup can be an uphill battle and you are much more likely to keep at it after a couple really tasty and thusly encouraging brews.
Hope that helps some
ID
Hey!
yes very helpful thanks. Im on my second batch already and used liquid extract this time along with more grains and better soak ... I think this may work out a bit better....and Im taking a class this weekend.
cheers
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