Questions to improve my beer.

Good morning all, I have a few questions for you.

I just finished my first brew and followed the recipe to the T, however there were parts of the brew that I should of payed more attention too. Unfortunately I didn't pay much attention to the hydrometer readings (which I know to do on my next brew) which I am assuming would help me narrow and diagnose my mistakes.

Here are my questions:

1. The brew is a Nut Brown, has all the flavors of a good nut brown, but seems a bit watery (not a lot of body). It doesn't look watery and is actually quite opaque. Are there steps in the process in which I can cut out some of the water, or is this something that fermenting longer can fix? Brew was in primary and in secondary for roughly 7-10 days each (per recipe).

2. The brew is RIDICULOUSLY carbonated. I added 1 cup of dextrose (per recipe) when bottling. Am I correct in assuming that cutting out a 1/4 cup of dextrose, maybe more, would eliminate the intense carbonation? Is there anyway to decrease carbonation post bottling?

To be honest, I am happy overall with the first brew, it's not awesome, but its drinkable, which is more than I can ask for. I just want to fix some of these newbie mistakes for my next brew to make my beer better. Hopefully this makes sense, and let me know if you need any additional info to help diagnose my problems. Thanks all =)

minus said:

1. The brew is a Nut Brown, has all the flavors of a good nut brown, but seems a bit watery (not a lot of body). It doesn't look watery and is actually quite opaque. Are there steps in the process in which I can cut out some of the water, or is this something that fermenting longer can fix? Brew was in primary and in secondary for roughly 7-10 days each (per recipe).

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Good afternoon here (I'm far away from Portland)

How long has your beer been in the bottles? I think two weeks fermenting is not enough time, most of us here let it sit in the fermenters for at least one month and 3-4 weeks in the bottles (I always give it 4 weeks in primary fermenter and 4 weeks in the bottle) so maybe tours is just "too young" to drink it.

I cannot help you with the carbonation since I never used dextrose, sorry, I only use DME.

By the way... Is it said "Fermenter" or "Fermentor"? My English is not very good.

I think your two problems might be related. When you say that there is a lack of body, it could be because your yeast fermented the beer to a higher degree of attentuation than planned. This would cause your beer to be drier and lose some body.

Your overcarbonation could be because you bottled too early. If you bottled when there were still residual sugars, then the yeast would consume those sugars and the priming sugar and could have overcarbed the beer.

A hydrometer will help you prevent these problems with your next brew. You'll know when fermentation is finished and the degree of attenuation.

First, congratulations on your first batch! My thoughts on your questions:

1. You'll need to give us more information on your steps, including ingredient volumes and boil time.

2. Definitely too much priming sugar. The maximum I've ever used is 3/4 cup, and that is usually too much for most beer styles. I measure by weight now with much better results. You may want to use an online calculator to get the correct carbonation level for the beer style. I use Beersmith software, but TastyBrew.com has a good one: http://www.tastybrew.com/calculators/priming.html.

I am assuming that I didnt ferment long enough as well because in all my bottles, there is still a small layer of sediment.

your yeast fermented the beer to a higher degree of attentuation than planned. This would cause your beer to be drier and lose some body.

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Can you explain this please?

minus said:

I am assuming that I didnt ferment long enough as well because in all my bottles, there is still a small layer of sediment.



Can you explain this please?

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body mostly comes from unfermented sugars. if your beer finished at 1.020, that is a decent amount of sugar left in the beer, giving it a lot of body. if it goes to 1.005, there is hardly any sugar left, so the beer is more alcoholic, so it is thinner.

I think you should put this brew down as a good learning experience in the process and not try to adjust the recipe directly based on your current results. You really need more information about your original gravity, gravity at bottling time etc. before you can start improving on the recipe with any degree of accuracy.

Overcarbonation will also make a beer taste like it has less body.

Do this little experiment. Pour yourself two pints and then put one in the fridge and leave the other out on the counter, don't drink them yet. Wait one hour and start drinking the one on the counter, it will have obviously obtained room temperature and lost some of its carbonation. Does it taste maltier? Does it have more body?

After 3 hours take the beer out of the fridge that was sitting in there and taste it, don't drink it all at once. Now, let the rest sit for a little bit until it's about 55 or 60 degrees. Taste again.

This will help you understand how temperature and carbonation levels effect the apparent maltiness and body of a beer.

Have fun and congratulations on your first successful brew!

Thank you very much with the tips guys, much appriciated!

Berserker_Brew said:

body mostly comes from unfermented sugars. if your beer finished at 1.020, that is a decent amount of sugar left in the beer, giving it a lot of body. if it goes to 1.005, there is hardly any sugar left, so the beer is more alcoholic, so it is thinner.

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side note-- The beer tastes VERY alchoholic:rockin: not complaining, but just a side note:cross:

hopefully this doesnt sound tooo newbish, but is there any reference online that would show me to use a hydrometer correctly? I tried it numerous times during the brew, but it didnt seem to give me accurate readings.

Lets find out what RIDICULOUSLY carbonated actually means.

When you pop the cap what happens. Does it foam out the top?

My second batch was very very watery - yet as you did I followed everything to a "T" including the correct amount of water. the ONLY thing that I did wrong was not to have a good boil. It was not a "rolling" boil but a very very calm one.
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Do NOT use you hydrometer "during the brew boil". It is only used just before you pitch the yeast and sporadically after that. Maybe after 2 weeks and after bottling.

here is a nice site for hydros

http://www.stillcooker.com/materialsneeded_hydometer.htm

minus said:

hopefully this doesnt sound tooo newbish, but is there any reference online that would show me to use a hydrometer correctly? I tried it numerous times during the brew, but it didnt seem to give me accurate readings.

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http://www.howtobrew.com/appendices/appendixA.html

Thanks for the input brewers, I'll follow up with some more details of the brew when I get home from work.