sam adams LIGHT ?

i thought i was brewing sam adams. after over 2 weeks in the bottle it tastes more like sam adams light ! kinda watery and weak flavor. what did i do wrong....i followed the AHS kit instructions closely. i know this beer will probably improve after a few more weeks in the bottle but i cant see how the flavor will dramatically INCREASE ???

We're going to need more details than that, methinks.

I tried SA light at a recent beer fest and thought it was OK. Just a little weaker than SA lager.

.5 lb crystal 10L
2.5 lb 2 row
4 lbs extra pale extract
1/2 oz fuggle bitter
1/2 oz. fuggle flavor
1 oz. saaz aroma

boiled for 75 minutes instead of 60

cooled with wort chiller

used white labs east coast ale yeast (no starter)

OG= no reading
FG= 1.013

fermented at 64 for 3 weeks no secondary

bottled 5/22

I would have thougt Sam would have had more hops

no other insight ?

How did you mash the 2-row? Is this a 5 gallon batch? Without an OG, I'd guess you may have gotten low efficiency and just ended up with a session beer.

It is a little difficult to give you much more without a OG.

How big was your boil?

Did you do a partial mash?

Running your recipe through Beertools as a partial mash, shows an OG of about 1.050, Fg 1.004, and an ABV of about 6%

Edit: corrected.

did a 4 galllon boil and the poor mans mash. i just steeped the grains in 160 degree water for 45 min and dumped a gallon of hot water over it for a sparge....

I assume you were aiming for the Boston Ale and not the original Boston Lager. In that case, you have the right yeast strain and the hop schedule looks pretty good, you might try adjusting the grain bill with a bit of darker crystal. A lot of times in extract recipes they use lighter crystal malts because the beers are inherently darker and the want the color to be the same...but the resulting flavor is not the same. Try throwing a half pound of crystal 40 in on top of what you have there.

Sounds like you did everything right. You just used the ingredients for 3 gallons of beer to make 5 gallons.


And isn't Sam an extract/hallertauer beer?

TrojanMan said:

Sounds like you did everything right. You just used the ingredients for 3 gallons of beer to make 5 gallons.


And isn't Sam an extract/hallertauer beer?

Click to expand...

but this is an AHS kit and i followed the instructions....except for going low tech on the mash/sparge ! i guess that was it ????

yeasty said:

but this is an AHS kit and i followed the instructions....except for going low tech on the mash/sparge ! i guess that was it ????

Click to expand...

Yea, you probably had poor conversion and I doubt just dumping hot water over the grains was a very effective sparge. My guess is that these factors resulted in a pretty poor efficiency, which would have lowered your OG. Next time make sure to take an OG and you'll know right away if the problem lies there or not. Also, for future PM batches, use Deathbrewer's method. Works great. Good luck!

could you link me his method ?

yeasty said:

could you link me his method ?

Click to expand...

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/easy-partial-mash-brewing-pics-75231/


I used this method on a batch of brown ale that I have in the fermenter now. Pretty simple and effective.

geez. what i did was not all that different. he says to let the grains soak for 30-60 OR till you have "conversion".....how do i know i have reached "conversion" ?

either use your hydrometer or the iodine trick.

yeasty said:

geez. what i did was not all that different. he says to let the grains soak for 30-60 OR till you have "conversion".....how do i know i have reached "conversion" ?

Click to expand...

Right, but being more precise with the mash temperature and sparge could make a significant difference, assuming that you had a low gravity with your original method.

As far as testing for conversion, you can do an iodine test. I can say, however, that I've always had conversion after a 60 minute mash.