Just tasted my first All Grain Home Brew beer!! Not much taste?

[BigEasy43]

So I just tasted my first All Grain Beer that I did, but there isn't a lot of taste. Beer looks good and has a good smell, but feel like it's missing taste. Why is that? I did a German Hef as my first all grain brewing. Any info would be great.

 

[theseeker4]

So I just tasted my first All Grain Beer that I did, but there isn't a lot of taste. Beer looks good and has a good smell, but feel like it's missing taste. Why is that? I did a German Hef as my first all grain brewing. Any info would be great.

We can't tell you anything unless you give us some details about the recipe, your processes, how long since you brewed, how long it has been in the keg/bottle, etc.

 

[doug293cz]

How about some details on recipe and process. No one can give you any useful advice without that information.

Brew on

 

[BigEasy43]

Sorry, recipe is attached. I let grain sit in mast tun for 60mins and then did a run off to the kettle. I boiled for 90 mins then used my wort chiller to bring it down to 70F. I let it sit in the fermented bucket for 3 weeks and then moved it over to bottles for another 3 weeks. Cracked open the first one tonight.

 

[squaremile]

Did you hit the numbers that were expected in the recipe? Gravity, attenuation, etc?

 

[blackbeer]

to me that looks like a light ale recipe with very low malt or hop character. probably a perfect "lawnmower" beer. i do a 50/50 american 2 row/american wheat 25 ibu cascade with s05 that is very similiar. nothing stands out. just a clean, light ale. if it has no off flavors and a clean finish, it sounds like you hit the mark.

also, since this is your first AG, you will notice that AG does not typically have that extract twang you sometimes get. thats the beauty of AG.

 

[JonM]

And what was the fermentation temperature? How well does your mash tun hold temperature? Do you know what the mash temp was at the end of the 60 minutes?

Also, you didn't, say, eat a plate of mega-spicy buffalo wings or other palate-killer before sampling, right?

 

[BrunDog]

Might be a little green.

 

[ShineonCrazyDiamond]

So I just tasted my first All Grain Beer that I did, but there isn't a lot of taste. Beer looks good and has a good smell, but feel like it's missing taste. Why is that? I did a German Hef as my first all grain brewing. Any info would be great.

Dont sweat it! It's probably just green. My first beer ever was an All Grain German wheat. First one was, watery, tasting. But a week or 2 on the tap the flavors started to melt together and became more pronounced.

Edit: Posting with Big dog bruin.

 

[Qhrumphf]

What was the mash temp?

What was the fermentation temp?

Hefeweizens are a difficult style to get right, especially when it comes to fermentation. I've found if the pitching rate and fermentation temp aren't right, it lacks the expected strong banana/clove. And with that kind of beer, the malt is subtle, especially if you just us a single infusion mash, and there's little hop to speak of, so as a result the end up bland.

I've found repeatedly that Hefes will benefit from a step mash (I do 45 mins at 110, 5 mins at 128, 60 mins at 152, and then 10 mins at 168), and I actually prefer them decocted, although most don't think it's worth the effort. However, for your initial all-grain batches that's likely biting off more than you can chew.

But with fermentation, I've found repeatedly that only by underpitching and fermenting cold (I fermented my Weizens at 60-62F) can I get the balance of banana and clove that I want. I've never used WB-06 (I like Wyeast 3068), but I'd assume it behaves like the other Hefe strains, fermenting too warm inhibits the clove phenolics, while overpitching inhibits the banana esters. End result is weak beer.

And with that gravity and a full pack of dry yeast, in this case you probably overpitched.

 

[BigEasy43]

My mash temp was 154F for the full 60mins and the fermentation temp was between 62F-64F for 3 weeks.

 

[JonM]

I don't know that particular dry yeast and I know that mfgr's recommendations don't always go as planned in practice, but Danstsr says that yeast should be in the 70s for the banana/clove phenolics to develop.

 

[acidrain]

All Pilsner and wheat... 15.1 IBU's... you got exactly what you bought.