Jakeintoledo
Well-Known Member
Folks,
I recently brewed two session beers that I just did NOT care for. it was my first swing at session beers, because my hangovers on saturday and sunday morning have gotten intolerable with the beers I brew that I enjoy--that happen to be higher alcohol.
And let's face it, I'm not cutting back on the AMOUNT I'm drinking, so I need to cut back on the alcohol content a little.
I want to brew a session beer that has the malt backbone and hop profile of ordinary-strength beers, just with less alcohol. I brewed up a session ESB and a session American Lager. Both came in at the low 40s (1.042 seems to ring a bell?). for the American Lager, I used Pilsen Lager 2007 from Wyeast, and for the ESB, I used London Ale Yeast 1028 from Wyeast.
In both cases, the mash was above 155 (157 I think for the American Lager) and yet at final OG, both came in under 1.010. I was hoping for 1.014 and instead it just tastes like diet beer.
So, questions for the group:
1) Would tweaking the grain bill make a difference? as in, adding more adjuncts with lower diastatic power? Adjuncts in both recipes were pretty high (2lbs adjunct to 6 lbs base) for this reason initially.
2) I mashed at a high temp. any reason to go higher?
3) Yeast pitch rate and type were the main suspects in the low FG, in my opinion. I pitched a full package, and thought after the fact that maybe cutting the amount in half would be advisable. Should I change pitch rate or yeast type?
I recently brewed two session beers that I just did NOT care for. it was my first swing at session beers, because my hangovers on saturday and sunday morning have gotten intolerable with the beers I brew that I enjoy--that happen to be higher alcohol.
And let's face it, I'm not cutting back on the AMOUNT I'm drinking, so I need to cut back on the alcohol content a little.
I want to brew a session beer that has the malt backbone and hop profile of ordinary-strength beers, just with less alcohol. I brewed up a session ESB and a session American Lager. Both came in at the low 40s (1.042 seems to ring a bell?). for the American Lager, I used Pilsen Lager 2007 from Wyeast, and for the ESB, I used London Ale Yeast 1028 from Wyeast.
In both cases, the mash was above 155 (157 I think for the American Lager) and yet at final OG, both came in under 1.010. I was hoping for 1.014 and instead it just tastes like diet beer.
So, questions for the group:
1) Would tweaking the grain bill make a difference? as in, adding more adjuncts with lower diastatic power? Adjuncts in both recipes were pretty high (2lbs adjunct to 6 lbs base) for this reason initially.
2) I mashed at a high temp. any reason to go higher?
3) Yeast pitch rate and type were the main suspects in the low FG, in my opinion. I pitched a full package, and thought after the fact that maybe cutting the amount in half would be advisable. Should I change pitch rate or yeast type?