Hi fellow brewers ... wonder if you can give me some e-feedback:
Recently brewed two different styles and both came out rather sweet and a tad bid "metallic" that I was expecting. These are 2 of my first 3 beers tapped in the kegerator. Wondering if you can tell me if that is how they should taste. I know there are infinite reasons that could be why but wonder if you can pick up anything from my descriptions.
First I made a German Alt :
Description : A well-balanced, bitter yet malty, clean, smooth, well-attenuated, copper-colored German ale. This is an intermediate style that can be brewed by extract-with-grain or all-grain methods. Ferments at 60 deg. F.
Extract:
Pilsener LME 6.6 lbs
Munich DME 1 lb
Steeping Grains
Aromatic Malt 1 lb
Caramunich .5 lb
Carafa Special II 3 oz.
Hops:
Mt. Hood 1 oz
Tettnang .5 oz
Yeast:
Wyeast 1007 German Ale
This got a bit warmer than 60 and sat at ambient. It was not a full volume boil I boiled ~ 3 gallon and topped off with faucet water. This one has the touch of the metallic flavor but is not the malty mouthfeel I was expecting. I tried an Alt at Goose Island from the tap and it had a much better mouthfeel, and sweet but not this sweet.
Then, I brewed this ESB, it's a Fuller's Best clone from BYO (and my first full-volume boil). The boil did not get that strong as it was windy fyi, but I don't think that should matter for an extract :
Ingredients
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
1 lbs 3.2 oz Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain 2 12.1 %
1 lbs 3.2 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 1 12.1 %
1 lbs 8.0 oz Corn Sugar (Dextrose) (0.0 SRM) Sugar 3 15.2 %
1.00 oz Target [8.60 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 4 17.0 IBUs
1.00 oz Northdown [9.60 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 6 9.4 IBUs
1.00 oz Styrian Goldings [5.10 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 7 5.0 IBUs
0.25 tsp Yeast Nutrient (Primary 3.0 days) Other 9 -
6 lbs Light Dry Extract [Boil for20 min](8.0 SRM) Dry Extract 5 60.6 %
1.0 pkg London ESB Ale (Wyeast Labs #1968) [124.21 ml] Yeast 8 -
Still too sweet. Flavors sit on the back corners of my palate and generally not the mouthfeel and taste I was looking for from an ESB. BUT I've never had a Fuller's Best so maybe thats how it's supposed to taste. Still kind of tastes Cidery, which I guess is from the Corn Sugar. But why would they advise to use a # and a half of corn sugar in the recipe?!
OVERALL I'm just generally disappointed in these low gravity, low hop session beers that I was aiming for for my first kegerator beers. Usually I brew IPA's cuz I can mask the failures with hops.
Bottom line : what am I doing wrong?
Recently brewed two different styles and both came out rather sweet and a tad bid "metallic" that I was expecting. These are 2 of my first 3 beers tapped in the kegerator. Wondering if you can tell me if that is how they should taste. I know there are infinite reasons that could be why but wonder if you can pick up anything from my descriptions.
First I made a German Alt :
Description : A well-balanced, bitter yet malty, clean, smooth, well-attenuated, copper-colored German ale. This is an intermediate style that can be brewed by extract-with-grain or all-grain methods. Ferments at 60 deg. F.
Extract:
Pilsener LME 6.6 lbs
Munich DME 1 lb
Steeping Grains
Aromatic Malt 1 lb
Caramunich .5 lb
Carafa Special II 3 oz.
Hops:
Mt. Hood 1 oz
Tettnang .5 oz
Yeast:
Wyeast 1007 German Ale
This got a bit warmer than 60 and sat at ambient. It was not a full volume boil I boiled ~ 3 gallon and topped off with faucet water. This one has the touch of the metallic flavor but is not the malty mouthfeel I was expecting. I tried an Alt at Goose Island from the tap and it had a much better mouthfeel, and sweet but not this sweet.
Then, I brewed this ESB, it's a Fuller's Best clone from BYO (and my first full-volume boil). The boil did not get that strong as it was windy fyi, but I don't think that should matter for an extract :
Ingredients
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
1 lbs 3.2 oz Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain 2 12.1 %
1 lbs 3.2 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 1 12.1 %
1 lbs 8.0 oz Corn Sugar (Dextrose) (0.0 SRM) Sugar 3 15.2 %
1.00 oz Target [8.60 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 4 17.0 IBUs
1.00 oz Northdown [9.60 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 6 9.4 IBUs
1.00 oz Styrian Goldings [5.10 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 7 5.0 IBUs
0.25 tsp Yeast Nutrient (Primary 3.0 days) Other 9 -
6 lbs Light Dry Extract [Boil for20 min](8.0 SRM) Dry Extract 5 60.6 %
1.0 pkg London ESB Ale (Wyeast Labs #1968) [124.21 ml] Yeast 8 -
Still too sweet. Flavors sit on the back corners of my palate and generally not the mouthfeel and taste I was looking for from an ESB. BUT I've never had a Fuller's Best so maybe thats how it's supposed to taste. Still kind of tastes Cidery, which I guess is from the Corn Sugar. But why would they advise to use a # and a half of corn sugar in the recipe?!
OVERALL I'm just generally disappointed in these low gravity, low hop session beers that I was aiming for for my first kegerator beers. Usually I brew IPA's cuz I can mask the failures with hops.
Bottom line : what am I doing wrong?