Learned about OG, will I have water beer?

[skelrad]

I'm only a few batches into brewing (BIAB) and up until this point haven't paid much attention to my OG. I had enough other things on my mind and just didn't get the importance of it yet. Now I think I get it. I just bottled a batch of strawberry blonde the other day, tasted it, and thought "man this is weak!" Not until I went back to my brew sheet did I realize why. My grain bill was for a 3 gallon batch. I had no way of determining how much was in my boil kettle after 60 minutes of boil. I cooled it, poured it into the primary, and what do you know, had almost 3 1/2 gallons. The estimated OG was 1.053 and I was at 1.039. Unfortunately, I didn't know what to do about it since the wort was already cooled and in the primary, so I left it. Looking back, now I realize I should have added some DME or something.

Needless to say, my FG was supposed to be 1.015 but came out to 1.006. Sure, I got a few extra bottles, but it tastes like strawberry flavored water. I'm hoping it'll firm up a bit during conditioning, but realistically, probably not enough.

Lesson learned. I now understand how the pieces of the puzzle work together a little bit better. Nuts.

 

[malkore]

Honestly, 1.039 is a perfectly reasonable gravity for a blonde ale. That style can be made as a 3% abv session beer which is in the low 1.030's for an OG.

It sounds like your mash temp was on the lower end, giving a very fermentable wort (1.006) and thus not a lot of body and a dry finish.

I bet carbonated, it'll be a lot better. Carbing adds mouthfeel. It'll probably still be a decent summer/lawn mower beer

 

[BryceL]

Your other option instead of adding extra DME would be to boil longer to reduce the overall volume of your wort. Of course, this requires checking the gravity during your boil. I've done a couple brews in the 1.040 range that turned out pretty good, so I'm not sure why it would taste like water. But I usually do prefer a beer with a bit more body to it...sounds like you do too.

 

[skelrad]

Okay, good to know! Maybe things will be alright after all. I'll let them condition for 3 or 4 weeks and see what the outcome is. I have been drinking heavier beers lately, so maybe I just haven't adjusted my taste buds to hot weather beer yet!

 

[jonmohno]

I made a pale ale with this gravity(accidentaly) and despite the citrus from the hops being too much as more gravity would have balanced it turned out to be a pretty tasty beer. I had the same exact final gravity, should be a dry crisp easy drinker.Pretty ok then for the summer?