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NorsemenRugby58

NorsemenRugby58

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So I began AG brewing this summer. Bought all the stuff and I've been very successful so far. The first AG brew I made I was way off with my volume... a learning process but the brew came out decent anyways. My friend and I thought it needed alittle more hops so we bought the same kit and boiled the bittering hops for 15mins longer. After primary was done we ripped a sample off the top and it tasted great. Now in the keg and properly carbed it has mellowed out completely. I can't get any hop presence from it, it lost all its aroma... and its very plain/watery tasting.

I put it in secondary to settle out at 66 degrees... its primary temperature for about 1 1/2 weeks. I then put it in the keg and carbed it up. Any explanation to where all that full-bodied flavor went?
 
NorsemenRugby58 said:
So I began AG brewing this summer. Bought all the stuff and I've been very successful so far. The first AG brew I made I was way off with my volume... a learning process but the brew came out decent anyways. My friend and I thought it needed alittle more hops so we bought the same kit and boiled the bittering hops for 15mins longer. After primary was done we ripped a sample off the top and it tasted great. Now in the keg and properly carbed it has mellowed out completely. I can't get any hop presence from it, it lost all its aroma... and its very plain/watery tasting.

I put it in secondary to settle out at 66 degrees... its primary temperature for about 1 1/2 weeks. I then put it in the keg and carbed it up. Any explanation to where all that full-bodied flavor went?
Click to expand...

Sometimes with age, the beer mellows considerably. That's usually a good thing- harsh bitterness fades, tannins mellow, etc. In this case, it sounds like the recipe might have been a bit off.

What was the recipe/mash schedule?
 
Recipe: Pale Ale


7lbs Gambrinus Organic pale ale malt
1lb Briess Organic München Malt
3/4lb Briess Organic caramel 20 degree malt
1/4 Briess Organic caramel 60 degree malt


1/2oz Challenger (15IBU) 40mins----->55mins
1oz New Zealand Cascade (16 IBU) 25mins
1/2oz New Zealand Saaz 5mins



Again, when it came out of primary I thought it tasted great. The recipe did not call for a secondary fermentation but I do it anyways to clear/settle and get my beer off the trub. I boiled down to probably 5.25 gallons at worst (I forgot but it was above 5) and when fermentation was done it seemed like I had 4gallons in the secondary vessel.

Thoughts?
 
I think from his post above he meant that it called for a 40 minutes boil, but he added another 15 min.

I would suggest that yooperbew is on to something with the mash temp, may have been too low and lost some body. What was your starting and finishing gravity??
 
woops forgot to put the mash schedule my bad.

yeah changed the boiling of the first addition to 55mins instead of 40 is what that means. Mash schedule was as follows.

3 1/4 gallons of water heated to 168 for the strike...

supposed to settle between 152-154 degrees which it did. let it sit for 40min

Then 3 3/4 gallons heated to 170 degrees
 
NorsemenRugby58 said:
woops forgot to put the mash schedule my bad.

yeah changed the boiling of the first addition to 55mins instead of 40 is what that means. Mash schedule was as follows.

3 1/4 gallons of water heated to 168 for the strike...

supposed to settle between 152-154 degrees which it did. let it sit for 40min

Then 3 3/4 gallons heated to 170 degrees
Click to expand...


Hmm, mash time seems a little short, but otherwise looks normal. What was your OG and FG?
 
NorsemenRugby58 said:
woops forgot to put the mash schedule my bad.

yeah changed the boiling of the first addition to 55mins instead of 40 is what that means. Mash schedule was as follows.

3 1/4 gallons of water heated to 168 for the strike...

supposed to settle between 152-154 degrees which it did. let it sit for 40min

Then 3 3/4 gallons heated to 170 degrees
Click to expand...

Why did you only mash for 40 minutes? (I don't know if it's an issue- you might have had full conversion, but it seems very short).

What was the OG? That beer is pretty low on hops and malt, so it's balanced but wouldn't be very flavorfull in my opinion. If I made that recipe, I'd probably get an OG of 1.045 or so.

I think the recipe itself is at fault- just kind of "meh" if you know what I mean. Still, carbonation will provide much more mouthfeel and bring out some aromas.
 
I didn't snag a final gravity but the original gravity was 1.038, way off the mark for the 1.048 listed on the recipe
 
NorsemenRugby58 said:
I didn't snag a final gravity but the original gravity was 1.038, way off the mark for the 1.048 listed on the recipe
Click to expand...

That means your efficiency was 60%. That could be part of the issue- that's a very small beer. You won't have much malt flavor with a 1.038 beer, or a very full mouthfeel. You should have plenty of hops bitterness, though.

How was your crush? A low efficiency is often because of a poor crush.
 
I didn't crush them myself it was a kit I ordered from a company. It spent 5 days in the mail in a sealed bag though...
 
If you're not testing for conversion, 60 minutes is a pretty safe guideline for a mash.

If you want to make a pale ale, we have lots of good recipes in the database!
 

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