First Brew Complete!

Hi all.

First let me say I am new here and have been reading the forums for a while. After a month of waiting I finally got to try out my first brew. I used Mountmellick Export Ale, the extract.

OG: 1.044
FG: 1.008

7 days in Ale Pale
14 days in glass Carboy
14 day in bottles after racking

When I opened the beer it had a snap of carbonation as expected, small foam, looks normal. The taste is fine, not off by any means, but seems diluted or watery. Will this improve with more time in the bottles?

The only things I can think that might have affected this are that we boiled 2 gallons for the wort and added 3 gallons to bring it to the total of the 5 gallon volume. OR... When I was cooling the wort after adding the 3 gallons it brought the temperature down quickly to about 70 degrees..where I then pitched the yeast.

Has anyone else had a similar problem? Any advice or comments are greatly appreciated. Im going to also talk to my LHBS and get the next batch under way! thanks in advance

Congrats first of all! It is a fun journey.

Did you take the OG reading after you added the water? I am not familiar with the recipe you used and am not sure what taste was expected. Time in the bottle usually smooths out certain tastes, but usually does not increase flavors (except for very large beers)

Yes the OG was after the water was added and mixed.

The recipe was Boil the malt extract for 30 mins, adding 2/3 oz hops at 30 mins and remaining 1/3 oz hops at 0 mins.

Congrats on your first brew! 1.044 is a fairly light beer (by my standards, at least) so your description of watery might just be how that recipe is meant to be. Also, the lower the final gravity, the "thinner" the beer is in terms of mouthfeel.

If I were you, I would enjoy your new brew and try another recipe with an OG of 1.055 or higher with an FG around 1.015 next time and see how you like that. Many of my brews start above 1.060 (some as high as 1.095) and end in the area of 1.014 - 1.018 and are full-flavored and have a nice viscosity to them.

Good luck and happy brewing!

Hey Welcome Chris and Congrats, Amingo is right. I brewed a 4% mild ale and it seemed very watery to me.

Ok cool! I am glad it came out tasting fine and not contaminated! haha 1 of many brews I am sure...got some drinking to do now !

I also just whipped up my first home brew. A brewers best dunkel. Haha...unfortunately I've never had a dunkel, just liked the sound of it, and i love heffeweizen. OG 1051 FG 1019. The only concern I had was I think I hydrated the yeast a little to early, and I stirred it after putting it in the water almost immediately. By early I mean 1 hr 45 mins before pitching to the wort. Bottling went well, taste is very chocolate/coffee/bread/hint of clove. Can't wait to get to the finished product. I knew going in I was going to make mistakes. So I said the hell with it and wrote everything I did down. Kudos for home brewing, every part of it was fun, except keeping 2 toddlers away from my sanitized equipment.

Just remember: if you don't like it at first...just leave it in the bottle for longer!

Congrats! Now, next step, go brew another.

I just purchased this and hops from by HBS. They said to add 2 pounds of DME. Perhaps this is why your brew seems a little light?

Typically, 3 weeks is recommended for bottle conditioning/carbonation. The beer will likely change in feel and taste as more carbonation dissolves into solution. Give them another 1-2 weeks at room temps, refrigerate for 2-3 days, and try another one. My bet is it will be better.