All Grain Beer Tastes Watery

So I've completed a few All-Grain beers to date and have had decent success. All of the beers had good flavors and aroma etc... There has been only one concern. The beer tastes extremely "clean" almost watery with little body or mouth feel. I'm not sure exactly what is going wrong at this point but my only thought is that I need to adjust the water I'm using. It's purified bottled water. Other than that I did have a little trouble with my mash temps while brewing outside in the winter as they were a little low. Aiming for 155F.

Any Suggestions? Brewing again this weekend.

Thanks!

First, make sure its not Reverse Osmosis water or RO water. This has no minerals and will have trouble converting. 155 is a good middle of the road temp so thats not your problem as long as your sure your thermometer is calibrated and not off by 10-15 degrees.
Secondly, check your recipes, they may be lacking something

Great thanks for the suggestions. I think the water is RO so that may be the problem there. Can I still brew with this water and just adjust by adding some brewing salts etc....?

What type of FGs are you getting? I have had this problem with a Blonde Ale where the beer seems watery due to low mash temps. I ended up at 1.007 from 1.045. I hope that carbonating it will take some of that muddy water taste away.

My FG's are pretty good. With the last APA I made it was a .050 OG and .010 FG. I carbonated in the bottle for 2 weeks. It seems well carbed.

If you are getting reasonable OG's than conversion is probably not an issue.

Carapils can help if it is truly only an issue of body. This will theoretically add unfermentable dextrins which can increase body.

And if you want to use RO, go for it, just add a little CaCl (I think its like 1/4 tablespoon for a 5 gallon batch or something like that). There is a good sticky on here for that.

Great thanks for the tips! I've certainly considered adding some Carapils as well. I'm going to try out the CaCl in the water. The water I've been using is a generic "Purified Water" so I'm assuming it was made by RO.

Be sure that you condition an appropriate amount of time...I notice some of my beers taste watery in the 4-6 week range out from brew day, but develop alot more mouth feel and complexity of flavor about 6-7 weeks out....be patient.

What styles? Beer can change greatly over a few weeks' time.

If you use RO, read up on the water brewing science section and see what to add. It's not hard to build water once you understand the theory.

Check your thermometer. It's quite possible that your mash temps are off a few degrees, which can make a huge difference.

purified water is RO water. I use bottled spring water and have had great success

The advantage of RO or distilled is that you know what you are starting with - nothing but water. And so water adjustments are easier.

If you don't want to make adjustments, you can use spring water or filtered water and it is probably fine for most beers.

Are you carbing ok? Maybe the beers a bit flat

I went through the same thing and for me it turned out to be a few factors:
1. Beer was too young
2. I am my own worst critic

Vongo said:

I went through the same thing and for me it turned out to be a few factors:
1. Beer was too young
2. I am my own worst critic

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Yep I have found this to be true in 99% of my watery beer issues. Let it age a while and it will develop a body.

wedge421 said:

Yep I have found this to be true in 99% of my watery beer issues. Let it age a while and it will develop a body.

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aint that the truth

Keep in mind I have only done 6 brews thus far... it was my 1st lesson. Patience and I am still learning it. I just cracked the last bottle of my 1st all grain brew and it was amazing ( brewed in late December) I wished I had let the whole batch age instead of the last lonely bottle being the best tasting.

flabyboy said:

purified water is RO water. I use bottled spring water and have had great success

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Purified water simply means the water has been filtered to remove harmful bacteria and some chemicals. This process leaves behind most of the minerals. Often "purified" water is just water that has been filtered through a series of sediment and carbon block filters. RO water (reverse osmosis) is a different animal. The process to create RO water strips out everything including the minerals in the water making it just pure water and then is hammered with UV to kill any harmful critters. While some companies that sell "purified water" may actually bottle RO water in their "purified bottles" there is no way to guarantee that what you pick up off the shelf as "purified water" is RO or really just purified. Be sure to read labels. If not clearly labeled as such just spend the extra 15 cents per bottle and buy spring water.

Spring water is an excellent way to go if you do not want to get into the water science portion of brewing.

I use spring water. Buy a few gallons here and there so I always have enough on hand for brew day with out having to make a 8 plus gallon trip.

Toga said:

Spring water is an excellent way to go if you do not want to get into the water science portion of brewing.

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The only problem is that you still don't truely know the composition of that spring water. Although I agree it will probably be better than only RO (for all grain brews), you still need a water analysis to truely know what you are using, if you want to be a control-freak brewer like some.

Me personally, I just use tap. Tastes good from my source. If I have to add top up water to extract brews I try to use store bought spring or RO, but usually I just pour right out of my carbon filtered tap.

I thought my beers were a little watery too, so I upped the OG. Now most of my beers start at 1.060.

I'll still make an occasional lighter beer like a Mild when I want something real thirst quenching, but my wife and I just really like powerful beers. In fact, I really can't get enough alcohol in a beer according to her.

Fixing up some RO water for a basic beer is very simple. Check out the brew science forum for more info.

While it's true that you wont' necessarily know what is in spring water, for most people this is fine for most beers. It won't really start to matter until you have lots of other things nailed down and really want to focus on improving the water for a particular style. Generally Spring Water will be fine for middle color beers.

You might be drinking them too cold. Try drinking half a glass when cold, then let it sit until it's 45f, then try it again.