Wow . . . like tar . . . light beers, anyone?

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rhinostylee

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I bottled my dry Irish Stout last night. I can see why beer makes you so fat . . . it was like murky oil as I siphoned it into the bottling bucket. Then I remembered the 6 lbs. of malt extract I put in the boil . . . pure sugar! I think I’ll be able to have more patience to condition and carbonate the stuff (tasted pretty good, maybe too sweet, but we’ll see what time does) because it did not look very appetizing last night.

Anyway, the next one will be murky as well . . . making an American brown ale.

Any suggestions on a less fattening and less tar-like brew? Should I try some wheat beers?
 
I have about 7 lbs of dry malt extract in my stout and it's not tar-like at all. Extract is only partially fermentable, but he more sugar that ferments, the THINNER your beer will be.

Since your beer tasted very sweet and seemed thick, I have the feeling that it has not fully fermented.

Did you put any oats in this beer?

-walker
 
Walker said:
I have about 7 lbs of dry malt extract in my stout and it's not tar-like at all. Extract is only partially fermentable, but he more sugar that ferments, the THINNER your beer will be.

Since your beer tasted very sweet and seemed thick, I have the feeling that it has not fully fermented.

Did you put any oats in this beer?

-walker

I agree with you . . . the final SG was 1.019, and it was supposed to be 1.008 to 1.014. Perhaps I bottled too soon, I hope my bottles don't explode.

This is the beer I've been posting about in which I re-pitched the yeast about 5 days ago (at a stalled SG of 1.024). It was bubbling less than once per minute, small bubbles. I probably could have waited another week, but I bottled it anyway. I figured that if new yeast in beer only dropped it from 1.024 to 1.019 in 5 days, it wasn't going to drop much more.

Also, perhaps "tar" was an exaggeration, but there is no denying it was thick and black. This was the "Grain Bill":

Black Barley 4 oz
Roasted Barley 4 oz
Crystal 120L 4 oz
 
- Extract is only partially fermentable, but he more sugar that ferments, the THINNER your beer will be.


Interesting... I did not know that. Should/Could I be adding Dextrose or other sugars to my boil for increased potential?

Cheers,
J
 
I've never used it, but adding Malto-Dextrin sugar supposedly adds body and mouth-feel without affecting flavor. That MD sugar is highly non-fermentable (only 4% to 20% fermentable, from what I've read.)

I've used brown sugar in some batches, too. That basically FULLY ferments and leaves behid a little molasses. I use brown sugar to give an extra kick to the beer, but I use it in small-ish amounts (no more than 1 pound in a 5 gallon batch).

In general, you can add any fermentable sugar you want to give more alcohol (dextrose, sucrose, honey, etc.)

-walker
 
jaymack said:
Interesting... I did not know that. Should/Could I be adding Dextrose or other sugars to my boil for increased potential?

It really depends on what you're aiming for. A dry, lighter beer or a sweet, heavier beer (to mention two extremes)? Sometimes a brewer will add sugars in order to increase fermentables and raise the abv at the expense of body, and other times a brewer might add something such as carapils to introduce non-fermentables and increase mouthfeel.

Edit: the MD that Walker mentions is essentially synonymous with the carapils (tm) I mentioned.
 
I've done ales with OG's around 1035. It's tougher to get good flavor and mouth feel at low gravities, although my favorate Brown, from Half Moon Bay Brewery in CA, is only 4.3% ABV and quite tasty. California common (AKA steam), Golden ales, and ambers can be done at lower gavities without a problem.
 
Your bulk extract is probably fresher than the canned extract, but it shouldn't make much of a difference provided it is the same type and manufacturer. Manufacturers try hard to be consistant. Trying to compare bulk from one company to canned from another is more of a problem. The flavor should be close, but the percentage of fermentable sugars can very a lot.
 
Two solutions to reduce high suger content:

Alpha-amylase enzymes will break down the unfermentable sugars to make sure that everything is fermentable. Of course, these may take up to three hours to completely work at below 140 degrees.

Koji (Apsergillus Oryzae) is used to make japanese rice wine, and will convert sugars in ten-twenty minutes at 100 to 120 degrees.

-Responses looked up in the Complete Joy of Homebrewing, by Charlie Papazian.

Also, don't blame homebrew on getting fat. There's a lot of things out there much worse for you than a 32 ounce bottle of homebrew.
 
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