Hi all, just wanted to see if I could get some advice improving my beers. I've been AG brewing for a few years and have done about a dozen or more batches. My final product is OK but far from great, consistently on the watery, dry side and generally lacking in flavor and body. Most of my brews are lower gravity (1.040 - 60), but still seem to lack flavor for the given style. Also noticed my beer generally has a nice creamy head at first, but as the keg goes down the beer flattens out with little or no head.
My process starts with crushing the grain on brew day (barley crusher, factory setting), mashing in with DI water with minerals and acid adjusted using Bru'n Water spreadsheet, 60-75 min mash in rectangular cooler with bazooka screen, no mash out, batch sparge with vorlauf before 1st and 2nd runnings, 60 min boil after hot break, rapid chill through CC and plate chillers into conical fermenter, oxygenate with pure O2 for 1 min, pitch yeast starter, ferment in temperature controlled upright freezer, usually primary for 1-3 weeks, no secondary but dump most of yeast after primary complete, transfer to keg purged with CO2, force carbonate, drink.
I use beersmith and generally hit my target volumes, gravities, mash pH, and temps. Use a refractometer (have both analog and digital and double check measurements), digital pH meter, and digital thermometer, and regularly recalibrate all.
A couple of thoughts I have:
1. I usually err on the side of a slightly larger yeast starter according to Mr Malty. Begin about 3 days prior, let my starters fully ferment, chill, then decant off and pitch on brew day. Could I be overpitching and therefore over attenuating?
2. I use whirlfloc tablets which supposedly bind proteins - any correlation with flat beer with poor head retention?
3. My thermometer is a cheap $15 one from NB. I calibrate it with an ice bath but is it really accurate? Thought about buying a lab grade one for better accuracy on mash temps.
Sorry for the long post, but I figured you would need the info to understand what might be going wrong. Any additional thoughts or insights would be greatly appreciated. Here's a copy of my last brew, an Irish red kit from NB.
Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 7.23 gal
Post Boil Volume: 5.98 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.00 gal
Bottling Volume: 4.75 gal
Estimated OG: 1.044 SG
Estimated Color: 9.9 SRM
Estimated IBU: 26.2 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 80.5 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes
Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
7 lbs 8.0 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) US (1.7 SRM) Grain 1 85.7 %
12.0 oz Belgian Cara 8/Caramel Pils (8.0 SRM) Grain 2 8.6 %
4.0 oz Special Roast (Briess) (50.0 SRM) Grain 3 2.9 %
2.0 oz Biscuit Malt (28.0 SRM) Grain 4 1.4 %
2.0 oz Chocolate Malt (450.0 SRM) Grain 5 1.4 %
0.75 oz Williamette [5.30 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 6 15.0 IBUs
0.75 oz Goldings, US [5.20 %] - Boil 30.0 min Hop 7 11.3 IBUs
0.50 tsp Wyeast Yeast Nutrient (Boil 10.0 mins) Other 8 -
1.00 Items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 5.0 mins) Fining 9 -
1.0 pkg American Ale II (Wyeast Labs #1272) [125 Yeast 10 -
Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Medium Body, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 8 lbs 12.0 oz
----------------------------
Name Description Step Temperat Step Time
Mash In Add 17.12 qt of water at 165.9 F 154.0 F 60 min
Sparge: Batch sparge with 2 steps (Drain mash tun , 4.03gal) of 168.0 F water
Notes:
------
MASH:
4.25 gal DI water, 2.4 gm CaCl2, 1.1 gm CaSO4, 5.0 ml 10% phosphoric acid, mash pH = 5.38
SPARGE:
4.0 gal DI water, 2.2 gm CaCl2, 1.0 gm CaSO4
VOLUMES/GRAVITY:
Pre-boil: 7.5 gal, 9.2 brix, 1.036
Post-boil: 5.75 gal, 11.2 brix, 1.045
Fermenter: 5.0 gal, 11.8 brix, 1.047
FERMENTATION:
Day 5: SG = 6.0 brix, 1.011
Day 6: SG = 6.0 brix, 1.011
Day 7: 12 oz yeast dump
Day 10 6 oz yeast dump
Day 13: 4 oz yeast dump
Day 15: 5 oz yeast dump
Day 19: 6 oz yeast dump, cold crash to 34 F
Day 20: 8 oz yeast dump
Day 21: Keg
Created with BeerSmith 2 - http://www.beersmith.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My process starts with crushing the grain on brew day (barley crusher, factory setting), mashing in with DI water with minerals and acid adjusted using Bru'n Water spreadsheet, 60-75 min mash in rectangular cooler with bazooka screen, no mash out, batch sparge with vorlauf before 1st and 2nd runnings, 60 min boil after hot break, rapid chill through CC and plate chillers into conical fermenter, oxygenate with pure O2 for 1 min, pitch yeast starter, ferment in temperature controlled upright freezer, usually primary for 1-3 weeks, no secondary but dump most of yeast after primary complete, transfer to keg purged with CO2, force carbonate, drink.
I use beersmith and generally hit my target volumes, gravities, mash pH, and temps. Use a refractometer (have both analog and digital and double check measurements), digital pH meter, and digital thermometer, and regularly recalibrate all.
A couple of thoughts I have:
1. I usually err on the side of a slightly larger yeast starter according to Mr Malty. Begin about 3 days prior, let my starters fully ferment, chill, then decant off and pitch on brew day. Could I be overpitching and therefore over attenuating?
2. I use whirlfloc tablets which supposedly bind proteins - any correlation with flat beer with poor head retention?
3. My thermometer is a cheap $15 one from NB. I calibrate it with an ice bath but is it really accurate? Thought about buying a lab grade one for better accuracy on mash temps.
Sorry for the long post, but I figured you would need the info to understand what might be going wrong. Any additional thoughts or insights would be greatly appreciated. Here's a copy of my last brew, an Irish red kit from NB.
Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 7.23 gal
Post Boil Volume: 5.98 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.00 gal
Bottling Volume: 4.75 gal
Estimated OG: 1.044 SG
Estimated Color: 9.9 SRM
Estimated IBU: 26.2 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 80.5 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes
Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
7 lbs 8.0 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) US (1.7 SRM) Grain 1 85.7 %
12.0 oz Belgian Cara 8/Caramel Pils (8.0 SRM) Grain 2 8.6 %
4.0 oz Special Roast (Briess) (50.0 SRM) Grain 3 2.9 %
2.0 oz Biscuit Malt (28.0 SRM) Grain 4 1.4 %
2.0 oz Chocolate Malt (450.0 SRM) Grain 5 1.4 %
0.75 oz Williamette [5.30 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 6 15.0 IBUs
0.75 oz Goldings, US [5.20 %] - Boil 30.0 min Hop 7 11.3 IBUs
0.50 tsp Wyeast Yeast Nutrient (Boil 10.0 mins) Other 8 -
1.00 Items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 5.0 mins) Fining 9 -
1.0 pkg American Ale II (Wyeast Labs #1272) [125 Yeast 10 -
Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Medium Body, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 8 lbs 12.0 oz
----------------------------
Name Description Step Temperat Step Time
Mash In Add 17.12 qt of water at 165.9 F 154.0 F 60 min
Sparge: Batch sparge with 2 steps (Drain mash tun , 4.03gal) of 168.0 F water
Notes:
------
MASH:
4.25 gal DI water, 2.4 gm CaCl2, 1.1 gm CaSO4, 5.0 ml 10% phosphoric acid, mash pH = 5.38
SPARGE:
4.0 gal DI water, 2.2 gm CaCl2, 1.0 gm CaSO4
VOLUMES/GRAVITY:
Pre-boil: 7.5 gal, 9.2 brix, 1.036
Post-boil: 5.75 gal, 11.2 brix, 1.045
Fermenter: 5.0 gal, 11.8 brix, 1.047
FERMENTATION:
Day 5: SG = 6.0 brix, 1.011
Day 6: SG = 6.0 brix, 1.011
Day 7: 12 oz yeast dump
Day 10 6 oz yeast dump
Day 13: 4 oz yeast dump
Day 15: 5 oz yeast dump
Day 19: 6 oz yeast dump, cold crash to 34 F
Day 20: 8 oz yeast dump
Day 21: Keg
Created with BeerSmith 2 - http://www.beersmith.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------