Does green beer taste thinner?

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cweston

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I opened a bottle of an IPA lst night that has only been in the bottle for a week--it has been about 5 weeks since brew day.

I don't normally try a beer until it's been in the bottle two weeks or more, but I had a specific reason for wanting to taste one of these.

Anyway, this is an IPA with both gravity and IBUs at about 60. It was fermented w/ Wyeast British Ale and hopped with Columbus (kettle), Cascade, and Willamette, including 1 oz of cascade dry-hopped for 3 weeks. It finished at about 1.012.

It tastes great, but it did taste a little thin--a touch watery and lacking in mouthfeel.
Since I don't normally sample my beers at this stage, I don't know if this is typical.

Thoughts?
 
"Thinness" of body typically doesn't change much from green to mature brews in my experience. You're probably stuck with it. If anything, thicker/sweeter brews dry out more over time, not the opposite. Maybe you added too much water at the end? I've made that mistake before.

But, really, it's been my experience that the hoppiness in alot of IPA's needs a bit of sweet malt backbone to balance it out. In that light, FG @ 1.012 sounds a bit low. My IIPA that is dryhopping right now finished out around 1.030, and it's delicious right where it is. Oftentimes, dryness (low FG) can be perceived as thin body, and this might be the case here.

Unfortunately, you've already bottled. Otherwise, I would have suggested just what I did last time I had a beer end up too dry and watery: a supplementary boil with steeped grains, hops and maltodextrin. Add that to the secondary and let it meld with the rest of it.

Next time, judge the body/weight/mouthfeel of the beer as best you can before you bottle it, and if you need to amend it, you can. Maltodextrin is a brewer's best friend in this case. :mug:
 
Yeah--I mashed at about 153 and wasn't expecting that low of a FG. But it was super cold out when I brewed, so I probably lost more heat in the mashtun than usual.
 
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