First Time brew Dead Guy

So I did an extract dead guy clone for my first beer. I am trying one now after just five days of it being bottled.

It seems to me that it lacks some flavor, will the flavor of my beer change as the days go by in the bottles or is that just what its gonna taste like? TIA

Need a bit more info, what kit was it? How long you primary? How long in the bottle? What temp did you ferment at? What were your gravity readings?

Its been in the bottle for five days now...

-Sanitized everything with Star San

-Boiled for a 5 GAL wort in a 15 GAL keg/kettle on a crab pot burner with a 1/2 ball valve spigot.

-Steeped Munich Malt and Carastan British Crystal grains first in pot until boil.
-Added light malt extract and 1.5 oz. Perle hops- boiled for 60 min.
-Added light dry Malt extract for the last 20 min of boil.
-Added 1 oz of Sterling hops for last two min of boil.
-Strained hops from wort, and sparged into primary fermentation bucket with cold water.
-Added wort to 3 GAL of cool water/sparged hop water in primary fermentation bucket.
-Tried to cool wort in ice bath and it was taking too long so I put the whole bucket in the refrigerator.
-Cooled wort to about 70-72 degrees
-Took Hydrometer reading starting gravity is 1.056/1.057
-Added 1 TSP of Amylase Enzyme
-Added one pack of American Ale Yeast
-Shook vigorously for 1-2 min
- Stored in closet with a 3/8" tube going from rubber stopper in bucket lid to a bowl of water to air lock it.

Waited 1 week to ferment in bucket and then siphoned to a secondary glass carboy and let that sit one week.

Took hydrometer reading and FG was about 1.008 giving me an approx ABV of 6.4%
Mix boiled 3 cups of water with 1 cup corn sugar and then siphoned to bottling bucket and then bottled.


Any tips on improving my process?

Dylan42 said:

So I did an extract dead guy clone for my first beer. I am trying one now after just five days of it being bottled.

It seems to me that it lacks some flavor, will the flavor of my beer change as the days go by in the bottles or is that just what its gonna taste like? TIA

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The short answer is yes. I am always amazed how the flavor changes from start to finish. In fact tasting the brew as it goes along its one of the things i like about the process. I always taste my creation from boil to bottle. In another week it will be completely different. Most of my brews get used up by friends and family pretty quickly but i always save a 12 pack to age a few mth

It looks like your procedure is good, put them away for a few more weeks, it will prob taste totally different.

While you are waiting for these to condition make something else to keep your mind off this brew.

Carb these babies up and then lager them in the fridge..............that will really improve the flavor of this psuedo maibock.

As above, I usually bottle condition everything for at least 2 weeks. I had an IPA that didn't really come into its own for 2 months and a stout that took 4 months.

If you're a details kinda guy take notes, those bottles will hit a peak flavour and then may start to go south. Good info if you ever brew it again.

Update I have one more of these in my fridge and I must say it tastes quite a bit different. The flavor is much better but still doesn't linger long. Thanks for the advice!

I always let them sit for 3 weeks. I picked that up from this site. Its crazy how much the taste changes over a few weeks.

Dylan42 said:

Update I have one more of these in my fridge and I must say it tastes quite a bit different. The flavor is much better but still doesn't linger long. Thanks for the advice!

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Why the amylase enzyme? That would thin and dry out the beer, reducing the nice mouthfeel and rich body of Dead Guy. I've never heard of anybody using it in a beer that should have body and flavor.

Dylan42 said:

So I did an extract dead guy clone for my first beer. I am trying one now after just five days of it being bottled.

It seems to me that it lacks some flavor, will the flavor of my beer change as the days go by in the bottles or is that just what its gonna taste like? TIA

Click to expand...

Five days is way early, the flavor won't come in to it's own until about two weeks. That said, I always have one or two at the one-week mark, just to get a 'preview'. I enjoy tasting them as they mature.

Yooper said:

Why the amylase enzyme? That would thin and dry out the beer, reducing the nice mouthfeel and rich body of Dead Guy. I've never heard of anybody using it in a beer that should have body and flavor.

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Wow you're absolutely right! I did not know that it was the amylase enzyme that created that dry and thin feel/taste. I got the recipe from my LHBS and they highly recommended using it. They have recommend that I use it on a couple of different recipes I have gotten from them but I typically forget to put it in. The other was an extreme IPA. Glad I forgot to use it!

Pic of it.

I have a Dead Guy clone recipe posted on this forum that I like, and I think it's close to Dead Guy if you want to compare that to your LHBS recipe.

I would be suspicious of any place that recommend amylase in each beer. I've been homebrewing a long, long, long time, and have never used it and never needed it. I think if they are recommending it with nearly every batch that their advice is suspect in other things as well.