My Red Rye IPA brewed this past Sunday taste watered down.

Out of curiosity I took a gravity reading. Currently its sitting at about 1.060. I think when all is said and done it will be about 1.043.

The color is really nice and has a great hop notes but mouth feel at first feels thin and taste a little watered down.

I got a new carboy which is 6.5 gallons. I believe I got a bit over confident when calculating boil off and eyed 5 gallons in correctly. Sittin on about an inch of trub realistically its probably 6 gallons.

Can I fix this in any way, possibly by dry hopping? Should I expect it to concentrate more as I get closer to my desired gravity?

I might just have a "summer ale" on my hands.

Thanks.

Tipharet said:

Out of curiosity I took a gravity reading. Currently its sitting at about 1.060. I think when all is said and done it will be about 1.043.

The color is really nice and has a great hop notes but mouth feel at first feels thin and taste a little watered down.


Thanks.

Click to expand...

This doesn't make sense. First, no beer should finish at 1.043 unless it's an absolute monster and at 1.060 it should be a sweet mess. Are you sure of your hydro readings?

Adding hops won't do anything to counterract it being watered-down.

Eric

griffondg said:

This doesn't make sense. First, no beer should finish at 1.043 unless it's an absolute monster and at 1.060 it should be a sweet mess. Are you sure of your hydro readings?

Adding hops won't do anything to counterract it being watered-down.

Eric

Click to expand...

I dont know what to tell you. Maybe I cant read a hydrometer? My other IPA that just finished has a gravity of 1.040 when it should be 1.063. Coming in at only 4% abv.

What causes such a low gravity?

edit: I think I realize what happened. I calculated with the boil was all said and done was at about 4.5 gallons. I add the water to the top. The more concentrated flavors are probably lower. which I cant read as my baster is not long enough. When I rack it in a couple of weeks I will take the gravity then.

Are you saying the final gravity is 1.043 or the original gravity?

DonMagee said:

Are you saying the final gravity is 1.043 or the original gravity?

Click to expand...

I did not take an initial.

I think there is a disconnect in terms here or your yeast didn't do it's job.

Original Gravity is the gravity before fermentation. It is typically taken after the boil, when the wort is cooled before you add the yeast.
Final Gravity is the gravity after the yeast have done their work. This would be taken a 1-4 weeks after adding yeast.
The hydrometer's estimated ABV is not what ABV the beer has at that gravity, but what ABV the beer might have if it starts at that gravity. So without knowing the original gravity and the final gravity it is very hard, if not near impossible, to estimate the ABV.

If you added yeast and then a few weeks later got a final gravity of 1.043, I'd think your yeast didn't do a good job. If we had your recipe and your process (how your brew day went) maybe we can see what went wrong.

Are you using a hydrometer or a refractometer? If it's the latter, are you correcting for the presence of alcohol? 1.043 isn't anywhere close to the FG for an IPA, or any beer for that matter unless it had a monster of an OG. If you're actually having beer's finish at ~1.04, there's something wrong, but my guess is you aren't reading something properly.

Doesn't the carbonation/bottle conditioning phase help with that "thin" or "watery" mouthfeel problems?

EDIT: I know much of the conversation has been about getting a hydro reading, but if the OP is concerned about the watery taste, read this thread: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/ipa-thin-watery-tasting-224737/

Should put your mind at ease.

What yeast are you using? If it was liquid, did you make a starter?

So based on the thread, I don't know how to read a hydrometer..lol

I will research that.

Tipharet said:

So based on the thread, I don't know how to read a hydrometer..lol

I will research that.

Click to expand...

How does the beer taste? you'd know if your SG was 1.043 by how sweet it is. It'd be quite sweet at 1.043.... if it's sweet, and actually at ~1.04, there's another issue.

http://www.imgur.com/S17kd.jpeg

So that's a reading for today. To correct for temp it is 1.014 correct? Which should mean its finished right? Still taste watered down, but I think that's cause I am pulling from the top. If there is less concentration on the top then that means the read is prob incorrect then?

OK, your hydrometer of 1.014 is correct or close to it which means that if it's been that way for at least 3 days your beer is done fermenting. You tasting it and thinking it tastes watered down is most likely due to the fact that it is very young (green) and is not carbonated. You need to get it in the bottle or on gas for at least 2 weeks before you can tell what the final product is going to taste like. Don't know what your SG was, but with a FG of 1.014 the beer should have a nice full mouthfeel when it is fully carbed and ready to drink.

chumpsteak said:

OK, your hydrometer of 1.014 is correct or close to it which means that if it's been that way for at least 3 days your beer is done fermenting. You tasting it and thinking it tastes watered down is most likely due to the fact that it is very young (green) and is not carbonated. You need to get it in the bottle or on gas for at least 2 weeks before you can tell what the final product is going to taste like. Don't know what your SG was, but with a FG of 1.014 the beer should have a nice full mouthfeel when it is fully carbed and ready to drink.

Click to expand...

Well I topped off with water after pitching so I hope that has something to do with mouth feel. I brewed that on the 5th of this month and will bottle Sunday.

But you didn't take any gravity readings before pitching or topping off with water? You really need to know your SG in order to know your ABV and how watered down your beer is going to be. Next time top off with water to achieve your 5 gallons and then take a gravity reading with your hydrometer before pitching. Also check the wort temperature and make sure it is below 70 before pitching. If you topped off with the correct amount of water that the recipe called for then chances are your SG was within 5 to 10 % of what it was supposed to be, so your ABV will be close and your body and mouthfeel will be close after carbed up. Get it in the bottle and give it 3 weeks before you pass any more judgement. You'll be amazed how much your beer changes from week to week or even day to day after it's on CO2.

Will do, previously my brew process was time based. Just now starting to get more technical. The recipe says SG was 1.063. How would I calculate abv?

That 6.5% ABV. There are a ton of calculators and aps out there that calculate abv based on SG and FG. I just used beersmith.

Cool not to shabby.