My First Beer: English Style Pale Ale- dissapointment

Okay so I just brewed my first solo home brew. It was an English Style Pale Ale. I was shooting for Bass. And while carbination, alcohol, and hops were extremely close. My beer lacked in maltiness. What did I do wrong. I asked the pros at my local shop (beer nut) what I would need they provided me with a kit designed more for american pale ales, with some different/extra hops. I guess I just dont know enough about the process yet to figure out why my pale ale was not malty enough. My guess is one or both of two things: 1st it needed to be cooked longer and or hotter. 2nd it needed more malt. O yea as of now until i built up m ability I am an extract brewer. the kit had both a jar of malt extract, and some dry grains. I am pretty sure the dry grains should have been cooked a bit longer as I misred some directions I had. With the malt extract I dunno if the cooking was wrong or not. Anyone got help on this I would love it. thank you.
onelove.

can you post the recipe?

rdwj said:

can you post the recipe?

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i will look for it just one sec.

no dice as fo right now. I'll keep looking though

Did you use any fermentables that weren't malt? Sugar or corn syrup or something?

If you haven't bottled yet, get 8 ounces of Aromatic Malt and micromash it in a pint of water and add to the batch.

(Mildly Kilned) Used at rates of up to 10%, Aromatic malt will lend a distinct, almost exaggerated malt aroma and flavor to the finished Ales and Lagers. Aromatic malt also has a rich color and is high in diastatic power for aid in starch conversion. D/C Aromatic malt. As the name suggests, adds aromatics to a beer.

You said you had questions about the cook time? How long did you boil the wort?

During my short stint as an extract brewer, I just made a habit of tossing in 1/2 pound of DME or...depending on the style...some other (body building) fermentable like a pound of quick oats.

All this, regardless of the kit recipe.

Also remember that an English Ale will take on a maltier taste if served at typical English Pub temperatures...around 50 degrees? I think?

A pound of quick oats ? You mean like Quaker 1-minute oatmeal ?

Did that work out well ?

Mutilated1 said:

A pound of quick oats ? You mean like Quaker 1-minute oatmeal ?

Did that work out well ?

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I just know that it said "Quick Oats" on the carton.

I added a pound to both my stout (extract/steep) and a pound to my AG porter.

Worked out nice. Lots of extra mouth feel and nice and sort of "creamy".

BierMuncher said:

I added a pound to both my stout (extract/steep)

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Ah good. Thats nice to know, because thats kind of what I want to brew this Sunday.

Mutilated1 said:

Ah good. Thats nice to know, because thats kind of what I want to brew this Sunday.

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Here's an extract from a BYO article on Oatmeal Stouts:

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Rolled oats are available in the supermarket. It is best to buy the "quick cook" or "one minute" oats. These are identical to the traditional breakfast oats (which require longer cooking time), but the "quick oats" are cut into finer pieces. The resulting increased surface area allows the starches to dissolve more readily into the water. Special flaked oats, similar to the supermarket "quick cook" oats, are available in homebrew supply stores.
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Here's a link

total wort cooking time was about 80 minutes.

Couldn't find the recipe for the pale ale, but as far as the "sugars" go it had 6 lb of coopers light malt extract, and about a half 1b of some sort of dry grains. The dry grains were only in for about 20 min, i am thinkin that was part of my problem, as I have read that 45 min would be a more aporpriate time for dry grains. Anywho thanks for all the suggestions I will be starting my 2nd batch a porter tomorrow. Hopefully at least a few bottles can be consumed on turkey day.. thankk you all for the suggestions. I plan on going and getting some dark malt extract to add to the kit I just bought which again has the 6lb of coopers light in it. I may throw some oats in too, just to make it interesting. onelove.

Did you boil the grains, or did you steep them?

Don't go screwing around with recipes just yet man. Stick to the instructions but get your kits at either Austinhomebrew or Morebeer.com. Don't use cheap kits. Oh, a porter will nowhere near be ready by Thanksgiving. You'll be disappointed. If you want something by then, try a hefeweisen. 10 days in primary, 20 days in the bottle.