IPA help

[Ryan1003]

Hi, I'm new to the forum here. Ive been reading around on here for the last few weeks and it looks a like a great forum!

My question is that I have had an IPA in the primary for a week and went to take a SG reading to determine whether or not I should move it over to the secondary. I tasted the sample from the wort used for the hydrometer reading, and it tasted very watery. I'm not sure if maybe my boil time was too short but I'm not sure why it tastes so watery. I'm looking for any help, suggestions, tips etc. In order to give my beer more bite to it. I will take a reading here in a couple days to make sure the SG is consistent with today's reading before I transfer to the secondary. Thanks for any help!

OG: 1.058
Current SG: 1.019

Recipe:
1 can LME Muntons IPA Bitter
3lbs DME Golden Briess
20 min boil
Used the yeast that came with the LME
Makes 5 gal.

 

[Justibone]

It does happen sometimes that the "curse of 1.02" strikes extract brewers. Usually this is due to too long of a boil, but since you only boiled for 20 minutes, I don't know why it would have happened to you.

I'd say be patient, give the fermenter a gentle swirl, and take another reading later. If the gravity doesn't move then you have too many sugars that your yeast cannot eat. You can either bottle as is, or add in champagne yeast to dry it out a bit.

Also, remember that carbonation works wonders with pale-colored beer.

 

[ThereThere]

what's the "curse of 1.02"?

 

[Hockeyhunter99]

i am assuming a 5gal batch. i personally don't like to use pre-hopped extracts for this reason. especially when the product should be hoppy.

if you would want to stiffen the aroma up a little, try dry-hopping a week before you bottle.

Curse of "1.02" yeast don't quite finish and don't hit the exact FG. they aren't stalled it is just what sometimes happens with extract.

 

[breez7]

One week is way too short of a time to start worrying about a stuck fermentation, although the yeast that come with those kits can be old and not that great. What temp are you fermenting at? I would want that beer around 68*F. but anywhere from 65-72 should be fine. Also I wouldn't transfer it to a secondary, there is nothing your beer will benifit from doing so. Just leave it in the primary for another two weeks, take a reading and if you are under 1.015 bottle it up.

Welcome to HBT

Cheers

www.brewersnotepad.blogspot.com

 

[Skyforger]

Above posters: I think the OP is asking about flavor/body, not attenuation or when to bottle or anything like that.

OP: well, your gravity right now is still pretty high so it's not like you have overattenuation. There's enough sugar there for flavor. And the OG is on the lighter side for an IPA, but is plenty high to make good beer. Seems to me the issue has more to do with a lack of any flavorful malt. Malt extracts tend to leave very little mouthfeel or flavor in the beer; for this reason, most extract brewers will steep specialty grains unless they're going for a very light beer. It's a very simple step to add on. For an IPA, I would put some caramel malts into the recipe as a steeping grain.

For future recipes, look in our recipe database! There are lots of extract recipes of all styles. You can also ask us to critique a recipe before you use it in the forums. For the current beer...well, first I would advise waiting a bit longer before making an evaluation. Let the beer finish up a bit, then we can determine what it needs. You can add a bit of body back to a beer by adding some maltodextrin along with the priming sugar before you bottle it. That can help. Getting more flavor back in is tricky, but once it comes along a bit more and you know what you're looking for, we could try to figure something out maybe.

 

[breez7]

I have had beers taste watery and then once they got carbonated it completely changed the mouth feel.

 

[Ryan1003]

Thanks for the replies so far! breez7 - the primary is sitting at 69*F right now so I should be pretty close when it comes to that.

 

[munche]

A few different things, but I'll throw in my two cents:

- Gravity...my first extract IPA was something like 1.019 when I bottled it. Extracts just tend to be a bit less fermentable than grain. It'll be a bit sweeter/maltier, but not a game ruiner
- Watery taste....I would guess it's just that you're not used to drinking warm, flat beer yet. It has a bit of a watery feel to it because the lack of carbonation. When it carbs up it should be fine, you're really just looking for the bitterness vs. the malt flavor when you try the samples.

 

[Homercidal]

I'd have to agree with Munche. Extract beers sometimes get "stuck" a bit higher than AG beers, but usually that doesn't make them taste watery. However, young beers, with no carb can have that taste.

What I would do at this point is let it sit for another week or two, then carb it up. I think you'll be impressed with how much the flavor and mouthfeel will change over that much time.