Second batch, not so good!

Well my first batch of brew came out pretty good. In fact all that tried in gave me a thumbs up as the re-filled their glasses. It was the Liberty Cream Ale kit from Midwest Supplies. For my second brew I decided to use a kit from a LHBS. It was a Milk Stout kit and I added a cup of chocolate powder at the flame out. My gravity all came out normal. I did a primary of 7 days and a secondary of 10 days. I then kegged and have had it in the fridge for almost 3 weeks. I tried it last night and was very disappointed. No real mouth feel and to sweet. I know there are so many factors and I may be to vague, but any suggestions as to what went wrong or what I should do differently next time?

Thanks

What was the OG? 17 days in my opinion is no where near long enough for a even a low OG ale, let alone a stout. Especially if your not even bottle conditioning. Any off flavors had no time to clean up.

Off the top of my head I think it was 1.055

FG what was leftto ferment need both to know where you're at. I let stouts sit at least a month before checking FG but thats my .....02

beaksnbeer said:

FG what was leftto ferment need both to know where you're at. I let stouts sit at least a month before checking FG but thats my .....02

Click to expand...

Again off the top of my head ( I don't have my notes in front of me), the FG was around 1.010.

I think my problem is being patient and being a beginner. Should I have left it in the primary longer or rack to the secondary and let sit for a month or so?

Fireman1317 said:

Again off the top of my head ( I don't have my notes in front of me), the FG was around 1.010.

I think my problem is being patient and being a beginner. Should I have left it in the primary longer or rack to the secondary and let sit for a month or so?

Click to expand...

Yea that would have helped a lot.

Any way to salvage this batch?

I believe you're stuck. You could have a lot of Real Beer Floats though!

We have probabily all made a beer that tasted pretty bad and drank it anyway.

Mine was a batch that I added way too much special b to and was horrible but drank anyway. I spent the money and made the beer so I drank the beer. Call it a learning experience

Did the batch use lactose? If so, there is the sweetness. Milk stouts are also called Sweet stouts.

Forrest

Austinhomebrew said:

Did the batch use lactose? If so, there is the sweetness. Milk stouts are also called Sweet stouts.

Forrest

Click to expand...

That's what I was thinking! Milk stouts, particularly with chocolate, are pretty sweet. If your FG is 1.010 or so, it's definitely done. Knowing your recipe will help pinpoint some of the issues, like lack of mouthfeel. It probably is recipe related.

I am not one to jump on the "17 days isn't long enough!" bandwagon. In my opinion, it certainly is long enough for a well made beer (appropriate fermentation temperature, yeast pitching rate, quality ingredients). It may taste a bit smoother after some conditioning, but 17 days in a fermenter IS long enough!

17 days is plenty of time for this type of beer, although I would have left it in the primary for the whole time. 7-day primaries are, in my opinion, a touch too short when trying to make the best beer possible.

The sweetness comes from the recipe - milk stouts are among the sweetest types of beer commonly brewed.

Lack of mouthfeel can easily be fixed by dissolving some maltodextrin (4-8 oz) in boiling water and adding that to the keg. Let it blend for a couple of days, and it should feel a lot more viscous.

Yooper said:

...but 17 days in a fermenter IS long enough!

Click to expand...

Take away 32,000 posts of yours and the bandwagon would be jumping on you! Hehe

Op, post recipe if you have it...sweetness is warranted, mouthfeel should be thicker with lactose

If it's really undrinkably sweet, try mixing it in the glass with a few ounces of Guinness or some other really dry stout. Or make mildly sweet 1/2 and 1/2s or Black and Tans?

So I think I figured out one of mt many problems. I need to take better notes. I originally stated that the stout had been in the primary for 7 days and the secondary for 11 days. After looking at what I did write down I have found that it was in the primary for 11 days. At that time I racked to the secondary. The gravity reading at that point was 1.024. I have no how long it was in the secondary other than at least 7 days. Apparently I did not take a gravity reading when I transferred to the keg.

I realize that milk stouts are sweet, but this just seems too sweet. There is no bitter or coffee type flavors. Also the color is more like a porter. Would it help to take it out of the fridge and let it sit in the basement for a while?