chandlervdw
Member
Ok, I've brewed a couple of really decent extract kits but I've been trying to make the switch to all grain. My friend who has a lot of experience doing all grain did a Belgian Dubbel with me and it has also turned out decent.
The problems started with MY first all grain - I got a recipe for a Highland Gaelic Clone from Beertools.com and it had this really strange taste to it. Some of my friends described it as watery, others described it as yeasty. It was a terrible batch and I ended up tossing it, after force carbonation and all. I recently got a kegerator and I was too eager to get a beer on tap that I never did secondary fermentation. That could've added to the yeastiness, if that's what I'd call it.
I was worried that my recipes were bad, so I used a Jamil recipe (legit) for an American Pale Ale. Fermentation went great - never above 67°F. The only thing that I am worried about is my mashing process. To make a long story short, over the course of the 1 hour saccharaction rest, my grain bed temp dropped from 154°F to 140°F - I'm worried that the starches didn't get converted. Also, the recipe called for a fly sparging over the course of 1 hour. I just did a batch sparge. It seemed to work great and I hit my target gravity almost right on. I moved it from primary to secondary today (10 days of fermentation) and I took a sample to taste it. Same nasty, watery, yeasty taste as the Gaelic clone. I'm really bummed but I'm gonna let it sit in the secondary.
I realize it could be a million factors but does anyone have an idea? Is it the mashing process or what?
The problems started with MY first all grain - I got a recipe for a Highland Gaelic Clone from Beertools.com and it had this really strange taste to it. Some of my friends described it as watery, others described it as yeasty. It was a terrible batch and I ended up tossing it, after force carbonation and all. I recently got a kegerator and I was too eager to get a beer on tap that I never did secondary fermentation. That could've added to the yeastiness, if that's what I'd call it.
I was worried that my recipes were bad, so I used a Jamil recipe (legit) for an American Pale Ale. Fermentation went great - never above 67°F. The only thing that I am worried about is my mashing process. To make a long story short, over the course of the 1 hour saccharaction rest, my grain bed temp dropped from 154°F to 140°F - I'm worried that the starches didn't get converted. Also, the recipe called for a fly sparging over the course of 1 hour. I just did a batch sparge. It seemed to work great and I hit my target gravity almost right on. I moved it from primary to secondary today (10 days of fermentation) and I took a sample to taste it. Same nasty, watery, yeasty taste as the Gaelic clone. I'm really bummed but I'm gonna let it sit in the secondary.
I realize it could be a million factors but does anyone have an idea? Is it the mashing process or what?