Beer too dry

Don't know if my taste buds are changing or something else is going on but my IPAs and APAs have been way too dry. Even after a good 8-10 weeks of age I still taste a good chunk of just alcohol and hops.

I try to keep my crystal at 5-6%, I use crystal 60, 10% Munich II, I use S-05 and I ferment at 63-65. I mash at 152.

I have tried mashing at 154, still the same. Should I go up to 156? I've checked the thermometer and its dead on. Go up to 8-10% crystal? Add more Munich? Switch to 1056?

Advice?

Thanks in advance.

IPA's are supposed to be dry, and you are supposed to taste alcohol and hops. That's the point of an IPA. Am I missing something?

I agree, but mine are too dry if that is explainable. To the point where it almost taste like a hint of malt liquor.

I didn't notice it until the wife said something, now its all I notice. My 6% ABV tastes like a 10%. Unless I am miss using dry as a description?

Could you provide the OG and FG?

Increasing crystal, mashing higher both very viable ideas to increase the sweetness. All my IPA's are either made with US-05 or S-04 and they turn out with just the right amount of sweetness with pretty similar % of crystal malt.

Also, have you checked your PH level in the mash? What kind of water are you using? And if it's not a water issue, have you tried using a different thermometer or calibrating the one you're using? I've had to recalibrate my thermometer as I use it more and more, not sure why. Another thing to think about is what temps are you fermenting at?

I'm wondering about the water change, I did stop using gyp. Didn't think of that, that might be it!

My gravs for the APA are usually 1.056-59 and finish at 1.011 to 1.013, I made a IIPA that started at 1.079 and finished at 9% Brix ( broke another one....).

Ive checked the thermometer for the 150-200 range, checked it against my smoker digital thermometer.

Also, what are your IBU levels? Do you keep an eye on bittering ratios when putting together a recipe? (BU:GU). IMO this is crucial for getting the right balance you are shooting for.

Grantman1 said:

Also, what are your IBU levels? Do you keep an eye on bittering ratios when putting together a recipe? (BU:GU). IMO this is crucial for getting the right balance you are shooting for.

Click to expand...

I try to keep it around 0.7

Gypsum usually has a tendancy to increase the dryness or hoppy bite in beers. I usually just use the CaCl to get the calcium in range. But I'd definitely get a PH meter and try to keep the mash PH under 5.5 and see if that helps. If using lots of light grains I'd get me some Acidmalt or some phosphoric acid to help keep the PH down under 5.5, how does your darker beer taste? Usually if your darker beers are great and your lighter ones are just off, either too dry or astringent, the PH is the culprit. Just my experience.

You may like a sweeter IPA. There are some out there, and so since you're finding that 5-6% crystal 60 is still leaving you a dry finish, you could increase that.

You could use an English malt, along with more Munich malt, to increase the malt backbone, and increase the crystal.

Maybe something like this:

Marris otter 72%
Munich malt 18%
Crystal malt 10L 7%
Crystal malt 60L 3%

That is similar to my "Furious" clone. I mash at 152, and it still finishes at 1.012 or so, but with a much richer, deeper, sweeter finish that an IPA with US 2-row and less than 5% crystal. That may be more to your taste.

Awesome suggestions! Thank you all.

I'd suspect it's something with your water as well if your thermometer isn't a culprit. I'm a big fan of the Bru'n Water spreadsheet, as it gives pretty reliable mash pH estimations in my experience. Though I'm not sure why you'd be experiencing a prominent alcohol bite at 6% and those cool fermentation temps. Since you're using S-05, maybe try bumping up ferment temps to 65-68*F and see if that helps round out the flavor? That's just pure speculation at this point, I've personally never used S-05 at temps that low so I can't speak of how it performs differently, if at all.

What yeast are you using? Some are known to give a dry tasting finish - even at higher FG. There is a brewpub my wife and I went to , and there was something in almost all of the beers that my wife didn't like - to dry. We asked and were told they used the same English ale yeast (WLP 007) for all of their beers. This years is known for producing dry finishes in beers. The yeast can also do the opposite. I find beers brewed WLP 566 will almost always taste a bit on the sweet side, even in beers with NO crystal malts and a FG of ~1.006

Personally, I doubt it's your water. What was your IBU?

If you have a very high IBU for your gravity range it may come across as too hoppy.

Also, you could be mashing low which is gonna make a dry beer, I've read lagunitas mashed at 158.

I'm in the Gordon Strong camp, he says, and I believe, that the last thing you should tweak is your water.

Just my two cents.

harrymanback92 said:

Also, you could be mashing low which is gonna make a dry beer, I've read lagunitas mashed at 158.

Click to expand...

I was surprised to read about SN mashing at 155 for SNPA!!

My IBUs are not that bad, I shoot for a 0.7 IBU/SG for my APA and .9 for the IPAs. The hops profile is dead on for what I was shooting for, there is just a "hot alcohol" taste even on my 5% beer that is still there after many weeks of conditioning.

I've done combos of my own recipes as well as store kits for the holidays and they all have the hot alcohol taste in them. Its like I'm drinking hoppy moonshine (overstatement, its very subtle but now that I know its there is screaming to me). Its like my balance is off.

Unfortunately my pH papers suck I need a better test kit. Its hard to tell the difference between 5 and 6 with what I have. I'll try a side by side and drink the test subjects!! I'll do one at a higher temp, and one I'll try to keep better eye on my pH.

Maybe your fermentor is getting really hot during fermentation creating fusel alcohols?

Chest freezer w/temp controller. I'll play this weekend, supposed to be 65 this sat thanks to global warming!! My winter stock is about exhausted anyways.

Brew day!! I love brew day.

My pH was actually good. My mash was coming out between 5.0 and 5.2 (hard to tell with the strips). My sparge runnings were between 5.6 and 5.8.

One thing I did notice is I had a hard time with my temp, I was shooting for 152, did everything right, but I hit 150. I added water to comp and mix the heck out of it but my tun was filled to the brim. I noticed since I was using multiple thermometers (NIST) that the bottom of my mash tun was actually 2 degrees colder. Not sure if I'm not mixing enough, of it it was because it was over filled leading me to not mix enough, or if it is a design flaw (converted 10g igloo).

Last thing I'm going to toss out is maybe I'm not rinsing the oxyclean off my equipment adequately. What kind of flavor would oxy contribute?

Use Oxyclean to clean and rinse the equipment really well but use StarSan to sanitize.

So you for those following my path of madness, debauchery, and consumption... I have discovered the root of my evil!!

I'm embarrassed to admit, my folly was conditioning. I had a keg that had the "taste" and I pulled it out of rotation. Forgot about her for an additional month, spanked her back into the tap and it tastes absolutely wonderful.

I'm kinda new with the >8% beers and lesson learned. Conditioning time is critical. Thanks for all the suggestions and the help. The answer was much easier than we all thought.

Don't fall into the trap of thinking this is the way it will automatically always be and that beer really needs this long to mature. The better you can manage fermentation (temps, oxygen, etc) the less off flavors are produced during fermentation, so the less time it takes to mature. As you get more experienced I suspect you will find that your beers are maturing faster and faster. You could inadvertently end up waiting on a beer that is in fact at it's prime and that would be a sin

That is one of the beauties of beer brewing, you don't have to be meticulous (it helps). If you mess something up, time will often be the cure. If you find your beers consistently take a long time to age, then start to look for potential issues - if you care.