Beer came out a little thin, what could be wrong?

[RJSkypala]

Hello all,

I brewed a beer with the following recipe on black friday using some left-over grains I had lying around...I was also curious to try out palisade as flavor/aroma hops. Here is the recipe:

11# 2-row pale
1# vienna
8oz. marris otter
8oz. munich

Mashed @ 154 for 60 minutes, was down to 152 by the end of the hour.

1.5 oz magnum @ 60 min
.5 oz magnum @ 45 min
.5 oz palisade @ 30
.25 oz palisade @15
.25 oz palisade @ 5

dry hop with 1oz palisade in the keg.

Safale S-05

Its been in the keg with the dry hops for about a week and 1/2 now, its not so much the hop profile that bothers me but the beer is very yellow and has almost no malt characteristic to speak of.

Also, it is my first kegged beer, I usually let bottles sit for at least 3 weeks before they hit the fridge and get opened. Maybe it needs some more time to chill, but what I am more concerned about is the lack of body.

I don't think it was an efficiency issue because I am usually a little bit above target OG.....


any thoughts?

 

[griffondg]

Are you sure your thermometer is correct? I had the same problem and then found out my thermometer was off by about 3 degrees so I was mashing lower then I thought.

 

[RJSkypala]

I have not checked it but I suppose I really should, I got a new thermometer this summer and brewed a bunch with it, every other beer i've done seems to have come out as I intended.

 

[zbonaker]

Thermometer was my first thought, also.

For a long time, I was using a dial thermometer (the kind that can "clip" to a pot) and it slowly fell out of calibration.

Turned out, it was more than five degrees too high. Thought I was mashing at 152, but was closer to 147. All the beers were extremely light and dry - finally re-calibrated my tools and everything is back to normal.

A few degrees here and there really makes a big difference...

 

[RJSkypala]

Yea I will definitely check it.....


I was hoping it was the grain-bill (hence the light color as well) and it would be a lesson learned in recipe formulation. Am I correct to say that for 11# of base malt there should probably be a little more on one of the specialty grains? Maybe 3lbs munich instead of a little of those three would have given me a little more maltiness.


Nonetheless, my friends are extra impressed cause it is coming from a keg and they are less discriminating than me--the beer will be drank.

Also the S-05 is notoriously dry of course. I will certainly check the thermometer too.

 

[azscoob]

I have gone overboard with my brewing thermometers, I have a digital probe thermo that has been waterproofed, I also have a k-type thermo and some dial ones as well. I had a thin dry brew a few back that was a result of calibrating a cheap dial thermo in ice water. after the brew I checked it in boiling distilled water, my dial read 194 at boil, this was why my beer dried out and tasted thin, I was way off on my mash temps, I now calibrate one dial in icewater for chilling wort, one in boiling for the mash and sparge, and cross check with the digitals, no more missed temps after that!!

 

[FlyGuy]

That seems like a pretty hoppy beer to me. I am not surprised that the malt profile is subdued or in the background.

And personally, I don't find that the mash temperature affects the malt flavour of the beer. The recipe determines that. I agree that you need more higher-kilned malts if you want to get a really strong malty nose and flavour. The mash temperature will be more of a factor determining the sweetness/attenuation of the beer.

 

[RJSkypala]

This is the exact one I have, purchased from my LHBS.

http://www.austinhomebrew.com/product_info.php?cPath=178_67_65&products_id=999

It is supposedly very accurate, ive gone through I bunch of other ones and I really like using this one.



Thanks FlyGuy,

Maybe I will even try the same hop schedule again with a different grain-bill just to put my mind to rest about this one. Maybe with 10# 2-row 3# munich and .5# cara-pils

 

[bigjoe]

I'm with FlyGuy it seems as far as the malt being subdued, and your hop schedule.

Check your thermometer as others have said. I went through a "phase" in which I was using a thermometer (bi-metal dial face) and I was getting very "thin" beer. Turns out the dial thermometer was over 5 degrees off (high). Plus I was using Nottingham yeast which attenuates like crazy. I was getting 1.008 Final Gravity readings on 1.056 beers, which is quite thin and a bit watery as you describe. Not bad beer really, but not what I was wanting. I haven't used S-05 yeast enough to offer an opinion about it though.

Just curious, what was your final gravity? You said your OG was right, but I didn't see any mention of the FG.

Are you sure your grain quantities were accurate?

 

[CharlosCarlies]

Also, it is my first kegged beer,

Have to ask since this is your first time kegging, but are you sure it's carbonated completely? I've had a couple beers taste "thin" until the carbonation finally came up to snuff.

 

[LexusChris]

All good suggestions!

I might also suggest some Crystal or Cara-Pils malt in the bill. Perhaps 1# of either, or 1/2# of each... That would add some body...

Good luck!
--lexuschris

 

[david_42]

You don't have much in the way of specialty grains, so both the color and body are low. You want malty, more Munich would do the trick.

You could add some maltodextrin to the keg to improve the body. Or steep a little aromatic and add it. Nothing says you can't make post ferment adjustments.