Watered Down Tasting Beer: Can It Be Salvaged?

OK I know where I screwed up during the brewing process, so I am not surprised that after 1 week in the keg (Keg conditioning not force carbing) that my Blue Moon Clone (All Grain Recipe) is watered down in taste. I actually really like the taste, but you get a 1 second hint of it, then the rest is a mouthful of water.

I am less interested in reverse critiquing the the brew process, and more interested in hearing what I can do / if it is possible to salvage the beer? I have read a couple of idea so here is what I am contemplating:

FIRST: I will let it sit in the keg at room temp for another month before I do anything. Maybe it will improve in feel over time? If it still is watered down here are some thing I am considering:

- Mixing it with a stronger store bought beer / barleywine?
- Switching gears and making it a Lime-a-rita?
- Add a strong fruit extract like blueberry?
- Adding a different strong extract? ( I would be looking for suggestions of what would be a good extract to add to a watered down heffe)

All ideas appreciated!

been there, done that. learn from your mistakes, dump it and move on to the next beer. i know that advice raises hackles with some brewers but i want to brew good beer not get good at salvaging bad beer. on the other hand 1 week in the keg is not long enough to tell if it will be good or not, give it some time before you turn it into a lime-a-rita (i shudder just thinking about it).

Drink it and move on. Drink every last bland drop. You'll never make that mistake again on purpose

Another week in the keg and I tried it last night. Much better feel and has taken on a light citrus note that I really like. It is still a bit "watery" but drinkable. IN fact, I am going to put it on tap for my daughters graduation party today. I'll have other commercial brews as well, but I know I will be hitting the keg exclusively! I am looking forward to how this shapes up over the next month!

Roughster said:

Another week in the keg and I tried it last night. Much better feel and has taken on a light citrus note that I really like. It is still a bit "watery" but drinkable. IN fact, I am going to put it on tap for my daughters graduation party today. I'll have other commercial brews as well, but I know I will be hitting the keg exclusively! I am looking forward to how this shapes up over the next month!

Click to expand...

Your beer is maturing. Had you left it in the fermenter a bit longer it would already be at its prime. It's a wheat beer and they mature quickly so don't expect much more change. Perhaps another week will help but it may take less than that even.

RM-MN: You were spot on. I think this is a great example of not giving it enough time and more importantly being hyper-critical of it from a brewer perspective. I put it on tap and then surrounded it with commercial beers ranging from Sierra Nevada, several brands of commercial heffeweizens, Corona Light, and Newcastle. In addition, had 2 nice bottle each of a white and reds. At the end of the night, barely any commercial bottles were touched and my keg was completely empty!



Maybe I should take the Beginner Sticky thread a bit more seriously aka GIVE IT TIME! The only bummer thing about my beer being a hit is that I didn't get a chance to bottle it and let it age to a few different time points. Oh well, time to brew another batch!

Roughster said:

RM-MN: You were spot on. I think this is a great example of not giving it enough time and more importantly being hyper-critical of it from a brewer perspective. I put it on tap and then surrounded it with commercial beers ranging from Sierra Nevada, several brands of commercial heffeweizens, Corona Light, and Newcastle. In addition, had 2 nice bottle each of a white and reds. At the end of the night, barely any commercial bottles were touched and my keg was completely empty!

Maybe I should take the Beginner Sticky thread a bit more seriously aka GIVE IT TIME! The only bummer thing about my beer being a hit is that I didn't get a chance to bottle it and let it age to a few different time points. Oh well, time to brew another batch!

Click to expand...

The extract kits I have brewed seem to have generic instructions having you ferment for a week and then bottle and it will be ready to drink soon. My experience and the experience of others who post here is that most beers won't be ready to bottle until at least 2 weeks and leaving them in the fermenter longer usually is a plus. Then there is that wait time for them to be ready to drink. Hmmm.....your light color beer matured pretty quickly. My robust porter took about 2 months in the bottle to get the maturity that I wanted. In general, the lower the alcohol level and the lighter the color, the faster the beer will be ready to drink and conversely, dark beers with high alcohol seem to take forever to mature.

Roughster said:

FIRST: I will let it sit in the keg at room temp for another month before I do anything. Maybe it will improve in feel over time? If it still is watered down here are some thing I am considering:

- Mixing it with a stronger store bought beer / barleywine?
- Switching gears and making it a Lime-a-rita?
- Add a strong fruit extract like blueberry?
- Adding a different strong extract? ( I would be looking for suggestions of what would be a good extract to add to a watered down heffe)

Click to expand...

I did a session ale recently that had amazing aroma but lacked body, I also had an american brown that I did that was super bland but balance. I mixed them at a 1:1 ratio and came up with a very tasty pale ale/ipa. I would suggest blending, you may come up with something better than the some of its parts.

Hope that helps,
Cheers!

RM-MN said:

Your beer is maturing. Had you left it in the fermenter a bit longer it would already be at its prime. It's a wheat beer and they mature quickly so don't expect much more change. Perhaps another week will help but it may take less than that even.

Click to expand...

This +100. Too much of a rush in the fermenter, too critical early on.