Beer has good head, but feels like water?

[HopHeaven]

Ok so I bottled my first beer about 3 weeks ago(Saison). My issue with it is that it tastes great but it "feels" kind of watery and does not have that mouth feel of beer. When I pour it theres a nice white head but it just feels like its lacking carbonation when you drink the beer. Heres a little background of my bottling process:

Put priming sugar into the bottling bucket(used a calculator to determine the proper amount for this style.Now I know I screwed up big in the actual bottling process(long story) but im not sure if this is what led to the watery feeling im getting. I did not use a bottling wand with the bottling bucket but instead used tubing down to the bottom of the bottles. I know this was totally wrong and its a really long story on why this had to happen, suffice it to say I know have a bottling wand. I know because of this method the beer was aerated a lot more than it should have been. After filling the bottles I let them sit for 2 weeks at about 70 degrees before I opened the first one. Beer tasted great, nice head, but felt watery. I waited another week and opened another and still the same.

Im thinking my problem was not using the bottling wand and aerating the beer during bottling. Will my problem be solved when I bottle my next beer? Could it have been something else in my process? I took very detailed notes so let me know if you guys need anymore info. Thanks!

 

[tre9er]

You put priming sugar directly in the bucket, dry? You need to boil that in a few cups of water for a few minutes, cool, then put that liquid into the bottling bucket, then rack beer on top of it (and I give a very gentle stir with sanitized mash-paddle/spoon being careful not to introduce bubbles/oxygen). Your sugar probably isn't fully combined so you'll have good bottles and bad bottles. Best thing to do is wait. The under-sugared bottles may carb eventually. Try turning the bottles gently upside down and then back up a few times to get any remaining yeast/sugar back into suspension. Then wait another week or two.

I wouldn't be surprised if you came across a bottle that WAS sufficiently carbed at some point though.

 

[a6ladd]

Are you an extract brewer? Even if you had aerated your beer it shouldn't result in a watery or anemic body, it would give it more of a cardboard taste. If you are an extract brewer try splitting your additions of malt extract, add half before the beginning of the boil and the other half 20 minutes before you end. The recipe you used would be a good place to look for the lack of body.

 

[tre9er]

Are you an extract brewer? Even if you had aerated your beer it shouldn't result in a watery or anemic body, it would give it more of a cardboard taste. If you are an extract brewer try splitting your additions of malt extract, add half before the beginning of the boil and the other half 20 minutes before you end. The recipe you used would be a good place to look for the lack of body.

Seems like he means lack of carbonation.

 

[TopherM]

How long have you been putting each beer in the fridge before you sampled them?? It sounds like maybe you aren't chilling them long enough before serving. When beer carbonates at 70F, most of the actual carbonation stays in the headspace of the bottle. Because of the warmer temp, very little of it is actual aborbed into the solution. It takes about 48-72 hours at fridge temps for that CO2 to absorb into the solution. If you are just chilling them for a few hours then popping them, you'd expect to have a good head, but not much carbonation in the beer itself. I think you just need to chill them longer.

As for the aeration, you definitely want to use a bottling wand next time, as oxidation will lead to a stale off flavor. However, oxidation off-flavors typically take quite a while to develop (somewhere on the order of 4-6 weeks), and is definitely independent of carbonation, so that doesn't sound like your problem.

 

[Draken]

I wouldn't be surprised if you came across a bottle that WAS sufficiently carbed at some point though.

If they aren't already chilled I wouldn't be surprised if a few of them explode at some point.

 

[a6ladd]

My issue with it is that it tastes great but it "feels" kind of watery and does not have that mouth feel of beer.

This is what I was going off of. It sounded like he had achieved a good amount of carbonation but was lacking mouthfeel in his beer.

 

[tre9er]

If they aren't already chilled I wouldn't be surprised if a few of them explode at some point.

The few yeast cells left in the bottle are also being exposed to alcohol at this point. I don't think they'll explode, but they could be overcarbonated.

 

[HopHeaven]

Shoot. I dont know how I missed boiling the sugar in water first before putting it into the bottling bucket. Ill try to re-suspend the yeast and let it sit a bit longer. As for the cooling, its usually in the fridge about 36 hours before I pop it open to try, so I will also try to wait(as hard as it is) and let it sit in the fridge a bit longer so the C02 can absorb into the beer. I read so much before starting and am realizing this whole thing is a learning process. Thanks for the tips guys. At least the beer tastes good...

 

[unionrdr]

Try leaving them in the fridge at leaast 7 days. Even two weeks can give thicker head & longer lasting carbonation. co2 absorption isn't a quick process.

 

[Draken]

The few yeast cells left in the bottle are also being exposed to alcohol at this point. I don't think they'll explode, but they could be overcarbonated.

Assuming most of the sugar ended up in only a handful of bottles. The yeast will eat it all. Just because there are only a couple left doesn't mean it won't happen. It will just take a little longer.

 

[wherestheyeast]

My experience (for whatever its worth):

My first batch was an extract-only wheat, where I topped off with WAAAYYY too much water (ended up with over 6 gallons in the fermenter); I never took gravity readings & didn't really pay attention to fermentation during the 2 weeks in primary. Mixed the priming sugar solution with the entire batch and bottled. Waited three weeks -- nothing. Waited four weeks -- nothing. I needed some bottles so I dumped half the batch; kept the rest in my pantry. Pulled out a bottle after 5 months and still nothing.

I corrected my mistakes (measure water volume, take gravity readings) and brewed again.
My third batch was Midwest Supply's Lawnmower de Saison, which I did everything correctly during brew-day. I paid attention to fermentation & took gravity readings as needed; once FG had been reached (and stabilized) I racked into my bottling bucket on top of sugar solution, but didn't stir. After 3 or 4 weeks I started trying them and found some were carb'd & some weren't. I let 'em sit for a while longer, and now that I'm out 6-8 weeks, all bottles are carbed nicely & the beer is great!

From now I will be gently stirring the beer-priming sugar mixture in the bottling bucket.

Hope this helps!

-WTY

 

[tre9er]

Assuming most of the sugar ended up in only a handful of bottles. The yeast will eat it all. Just because there are only a couple left doesn't mean it won't happen. It will just take a little longer.

Not sure that's always true. Prolonged exposure to alcohol makes yeast fall out, yes?

 

[Reno_eNVy]

Not sure that's always true. Prolonged exposure to alcohol makes yeast fall out, yes?

Nope.

Lack of food/nutrients causes yeast to go into a dormant state and fall out.

 

[HopHeaven]

Will do. One more question regarding chilling the beer. After teh initial 2 weeks of letting the bottles sit out, should all of them go into the fridge to chill at once, or can I put them in as batches and when I finish one batch(or close to it) put in the rest. Putting 50 bottles of beer in the fridge, while an awesome sight, would pose an issue with the rest of the stuff thats in there.

 

[tre9er]

Nope.

Lack of food/nutrients causes yeast to go into a dormant state and fall out.

Why am I hearing certain yeasts aren't as alcohol tolerant then? Why do some yeasts stop working after the ABV get's to a certain point, even if it's not terminal gravity for the style/recipe? Someone explain this to me?

 

[Draken]

Why am I hearing certain yeasts aren't as alcohol tolerant then? Why do some yeasts stop working after the ABV get's to a certain point, even if it's not terminal gravity for the style/recipe? Someone explain this to me?

They don't stop working, they start dying.

 

[Reno_eNVy]

Why am I hearing certain yeasts aren't as alcohol tolerant then? Why do some yeasts stop working after the ABV get's to a certain point, even if it's not terminal gravity for the style/recipe? Someone explain this to me?

That's alcohol tolerance. Every living thing has thresholds of survivable conditions.

Yeast continue to ferment sugars as long as they are available... however some are less alcohol tolerant than others and will be halted at some point. But this has absolutely nothing to do with the length of alcohol exposure

 

[Draken]

Why am I hearing certain yeasts aren't as alcohol tolerant then? Why do some yeasts stop working after the ABV get's to a certain point, even if it's not terminal gravity for the style/recipe? Someone explain this to me?

Although you might be referring to attenuation, which is more to do with how well yeast can devour longer chain sugar molecules, not the abv.

 

[unionrdr]

The yeast we use can't convert long chain sugars. They are basically what give color,aroma,& flavor from the malts.
Attenuation percentage is how much of the available simple sugars are converted. Alcohol tolerance is the level of ABV% reached before the yeasties start dying off from alcohol poisoning.
In most cases,the priming in the bottles isn right,or it's too cold where they're left to carb & condition. Or it settles out & must be put back into suspension if just sugar is used rather than solution.

 

[tre9er]

I guess it makes sense. A mid-gravity beer in the bottle won't be at a high enough ABV for the yeast to die yet, so they'll keep eating. Essentially a yeast tolerant of your current ABV will eat ALL fermentable sugars until they are gone or your ABV reaches their threshold, right?

I learned something new today.

 

[Reno_eNVy]

I guess it makes sense. A mid-gravity beer in the bottle won't be at a high enough ABV for the yeast to die yet, so they'll keep eating. Essentially a yeast tolerant of your current ABV will eat ALL fermentable sugars until they are gone or your ABV reaches their threshold, right?

Correct! Also temperature plays a role but that's a whole other lesson.

However, yeast are living things so there are going to be some exceptions. I have a barleywine that's been in bottles for over two years. It is 16% ABV and I used regular dry Nottingham yeast to carbonate.

Granted, it took for friggin ever for it to properly carbonate since 16% is past Notty's upper-threshold.... but that doesn't mean there weren't a few thousand cells left that managed to stay alive and very very slowly chomp through the priming sugar.

 

[tre9er]

Correct! Also temperature plays a role but that's a whole other lesson.

However, yeast are living things so there are going to be some exceptions. I have a barleywine that's been in bottles for over two years. It is 16% ABV and I used regular dry Nottingham yeast to carbonate.

Granted, it took for friggin ever for it to properly carbonate since 16% is past Notty's upper-threshold.... but that doesn't mean there weren't a few thousand cells left that managed to stay alive and very very slowly chomp through the priming sugar.

I guess I knew roundabout the rules of thumb, but hadn't bothered to investigate the inner workings of it all. Never had to worry about it! Glad I figured this part out. Thanks for the assist.