Beer lacks body

Hi All,
I have made my second All-Grain and all seems well.

• 11 lb Pilsen Malt
• 1oz traditional german hops (60min)
• 1oz hallertauer hops (15min)
• Wyeast Belgian Saison
• 1052 og

10 days in the primary at this point(1012) and it is really good except it lacks body or maybe some sweetness would balance it out.

I am curious if anyone has any ideas. I was thinking about adding a little honey as it is still fermenting a bit.

Any ideas?

Honey will completely ferment out and leave you with less body.

And for what its worth, it's usually backwards for me, body lacks beer!

Honey will take a few weeks to ferment. If you wanted to add honey you probably should have added it to the primary. It will jack up your abv, but will not add much to body or flavor or sweetness. If it was my beer, I would leave it as is. It is not finished yet and you are tasting green beer. It will taste different after it is finished and carbonated.

I would Primary/secondary for three weeks, bottle for three weeks, then take a taste. You really have very idea how this beer will taste in a few weeks, so I'd let it be.

What temp did you mash at?

Sounds good, thanks guys!

Mash temp water was 164 to hit a stable 149

I am using beersmith to figure this stuff out for me...

maybe try putting some oatmeal in your next brew to boost the body?

Been wanting to try this myself as my first attempt at a "dark beer" had the consistency of coca-cola.

I would expect it to come out a little bit dryer with a mash temp that low. Give it time and see what happens. It will most likely get better with age but will still taste a little thin.

Yeah, probably so. It seems very good at this point. Very phenolic and spicy. I based this on a similar recipe from northernbrewer

http://www.northernbrewer.com/docs/kis-html/1743.html

My efficiency is around 66% so I added a bit more base malt, plus I thought the Saison yeast would be interesting.

That mash temp is on the low side. For a little body with out too much residual sweetness, shoot for 154*F.

What does everyone think of him maybe adding a little maltodextrine? Or is it too late for that?

It is not too late to add maltodextrine. Really, it never is.

If you want more body, you need to change your mash schedule. You also can use a lower attenuating yeast. For the mash, you can raise your rest temperature into the mid 150s, or you can do separate beta and alpha amylase rests.

You also chose one of the highest attenuating yeasts out there. While it is quite interesting, it will leave less body in your final beer than most other strains.


TL