First AG - Water problem - is my batch recoverable?

[PintOfPlain]

Hi

I am a newbie AG brewer (only did 2 extracts before also)

I went with Randy Mosher Yellow Diamond Belgian Pale for my first AG.

I live in China, so I went with bottled water. Wasn't a problem with extract, now I am thinking this water is probably distilled. So I used 0 minerals.

The main problem I have is "Watery" flavour.
The beer looks great. Hit my OG.
No bad or off flavours, just no flavour. strange, because I even have orange and coriander in there.


>>> 4 lbs Belgian pale ale malt
>>> 3 lbs Belgian Munich Malt
>>> 1 lb Belgian aromatic malt
>>> 6 oz Belgian medium crystal
>>> 1.5 lb unrefined sugar (e.g., demerara), added to brew kettle
>>> Mash at 152 for 60 min
>>> Hops:
>>> 1 oz Norther Brewer (6.5 AA) at 90 min
>>> 0.67 oz Saaz (3% AA) at 90 min
>>> 1 oz Saaz (3% AA) at 15 min
YEAST: Wyeast 1214 Belgian Abbey
>>> End of boil:
>>> 1 to 2 oranges, zested
>>> 0.5 oz coriander, crushed

My method:
I did a stove top mash. Have a big 8G pot. Mashed that for an hour as directed at 152F
First mistake I did was add all the grains to the strike temp water, rather than add the water to the grains step by step. since I had both my pot and sparge pot full, I forgot that part..

not sure if that upset the grains or not.

then after an hour , I transfered to the lauter tun and lautered out about 6.25G, sparging a couple of times. I measured SG at this stage, was looking good at about 1.040, before adding the sugar into the boil.

Then boiled for 90mins. this was my second mistake I think, I then did not boil off enough or high enough boil, so I ended up with just under 6G, when the recipe called for 5G final. so this is one reason for possible watery taste and lack of flavour..anyhow, the OG was still ok at about 1.055

Third mistake, I forgot to add the orange peel + coriander to the end of the boil, so i just added it into the pot as it was cooling in the ice bath. was still hot enough then. so maybe this accounts for lack of orange flavour.

I have the brew fermenting now in a 6.5G glass carboy, right under the aircon. no temp problems there, is at about 18C .

Ok so I went around to my local tofu guy and got a load of gypsum powder. Also got epsom salts , baking soda and salt ready.

Question 1: HOW CAN I RECOVER SOME FLAVOUR INTO MY BREW AFTER 2 WEEKS BREWING?
Can I add a teaspoon of gypsum and salt? then give the fermenter a wee shake?
Shall I steep some oranges in vodka or something?

Question 2: For my next batch, what should I add to pure distilled water?
I can buy some natural spring water but its not so cheap here.


Thanks!
Brewin' in the Far East

 

[Dan]

Great first post and many good questions! Welcome to HBT! It's around 12:40 AM here is CA so probably won't get numerous responses just now, but some will be reading so you're good.

I can't offer sound advice for your existing brew but can point you in a direction for the next in regards to water salts. Check out the thread I'm posting below. EZ Water Calculator. I've used it in the last few brews and it does seem to help. Takes a little playing around with it but pretty easy to use.

Sorry I wasn't able to help a whole lot. This community has some very educated brewers here who are more than willing to give you expert guidance..

Cheers! Here is the link. -Dan https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f128/ez-water-calculator-3-0-a-261001/

 

[LouBrew13]

You said that you added grains to boiling water. Should be much lower temp.

 

[billl]

You can add orange and coriander to the fermenter. Just soak them in some vodka and then toss them in - vodka and all. I'd use 1oz if each and then start sampling it after a few days.

For the next brew, you should look at your fermentation temps. 18C = 64F. Most belgian yeasts aren't going to give their characteristic flavors at those temps. You'll get a very "clean" taste without much belgian funk.

If you are going to try to add any salts, dissolve them in water first and go VERY slow.

 

[afr0byte]

For the next brew, you should look at your fermentation temps. 18C = 64F. Most belgian yeasts aren't going to give their characteristic flavors at those temps. You'll get a very "clean" taste without much belgian funk.

Sixty-four is a good temperature to pitch at for a Belgian, though. Also, Westmalle Dubbel is fermented at 68 degrees, so one can certainly get a Belgian yeast character at 68.

 

[billl]

Wyeast's recommended range for this yeast is 68-78. 64 is obviously quite low to hold the temp for the entire fermentation.

 

[afr0byte]

Wyeast's recommended range for this yeast is 68-78. 64 is obviously quite low to hold the temp for the entire fermentation.

You'll notice I said "pitch at." I didn't say one should ferment at 64.

 

[PintOfPlain]

You'll notice I said "pitch at." I didn't say one should ferment at 64.

Oops! Ok good advice thanks. Should have left the temp rise a bit then.

My next one is a wyeast French saison, I know this one works well at higher temps.

 

[PintOfPlain]

You said that you added grains to boiling water. Should be much lower temp.

Sorry I meant I threw all the grains into the strike water temp of 165F

 

[afr0byte]

Oops! Ok good advice thanks. Should have left the temp rise a bit then.

My next one is a wyeast French saison, I know this one works well at higher temps.

Indeed that should do well.

 

[LouBrew13]

Well if after your boil you were a gallon over, I'd say that your initial volumes were indeed too high resulting in a watered down final product. But your og was on so scratching my head.

 

[PintOfPlain]

Cheers! Here is the link. -Dan https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f128/ez-water-calculator-3-0-a-261001/[/QUOTE]


Thanks for the link Dan.

I made sure to buy some mineral water for my next batch, not distilled. But since it didnt have the full mineral water breakdown, I couldnt use this calculator properly.

So I just added 1 tsp of gypsum and 1/4 tsp of table salt.

This second AG so far has gone real smooth, hit my target OG of 1.061 (just 0.001 off!) and is now bubbling away.

Lets hope the taste is great !