Partial Mash,-first taste water then the flavor

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fdemt84

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I did a partial mash of fat tire amber ale clone. From what I can tell I did everything right by the recipe. I popped one of the bottles about a weekago to check on carbination and flavor. Carb was good but the flavor started out as almost straight water taste then the flavor came in. Flavor was great once it come to. Any idea what cauzed this?

The recipe was-
2lb 3 oz Light DME
.5lb Munich Malt
.5 lb Carapils
.5 lb crystal malt
6oz biscuit malt
1. oz chocolate malt
1 oz willamette 90min
.5oz fuggle 20min
.5oz fuggle 0min
1tsp irish moss
Wyeast 1272


steep at 154 for 30 min ( i did walk away for a min and when I came back temp had reached 165)
rinse 170
boil 60 min
fermentor bring water up to 5 gal. (took me a little longer to get to pitching temp about an hr)
pitched yeast at 70 deg
fermented at 68 degs for 10 days transfered to sec. fermt for additional 7 days. bottled on the 5th of March.

Will this water flavor go away and blend in with the flavor over time? or did I go wrong some where...I almost have to laugh and wonder if I should have conditioned the bottles on their side like it says too...
 
More than likely its just because it needs a little longer in the bottle. The first few beers (since I can never seem to wait!) always seem a little watery to me, then once I've let it sit for a while longer they do improve.

If it still tastes watery in a bit, however, I'd ask what your gravity readings were. That doesn't seem like a lot of malt/grain for a 5 gal batch. If I'm putting it into my program correctly, its only coming out to 1.027. Plus, with only a 30 min. mash you might not have gotten complete conversion of your partial mash, which would make that even lower. Its possible that your gravity was just a little low and you fermented it out pretty dry.
 
I did not have a hydrometer for this batch so I couldnt tell you what the readings are. And I did skip that there was .3 lbs of DME added at 15 min left in boil also....The last line in the recipe states to "Lay the beer down for at least a few months to mellow ad mature for best results."
Maybe this is the noob in me, but I thought all the flavors would be as they are now... just more refined I guess in a couple months after maturing... Could it eliminate that watery taste in the begining? ( sorry i know I use a lot of .... bad habit)
 
Yeah, often a little bit of time will heal all wounds ;). Not sure why they would say to lay the beer on the side. I guess you would increase the surface area, which might increase carbonation times, but most people store theirs right side up. This also allows the yeast to form a nice compact layer at the bottom of the bottle that would have to be resettled if you aged on its side.

That's not to say that the flavors you taste now are going to be completely different. I like to taste my beer along the whole process, from right after the boil through fermentation until its in the kegs/bottles. If you get a hydrometer, it gives you an excuse to pull a sample every now and then to see where its at, then you get to taste it! Now it will change over time, but you can start to get a feel for how things are going to change. Of course, no one ever tells you that you never really figure it out, and even if you start to the next batch could be completely different!
 
Thanks for the quick responses... Ya from what I gathered the laying on the side doesnt really do much but cack your yeast on the side and the nyou have to deal with getting to the bottom.
I have the hydrometer now and am planning 3 2/12 gal batches of a kellertrübe bier.. I have a recipe Im trying to mimic without knowing the recipe... So im going to try a couple different styles and methods in brewing.
As for this one I'll wait a couple more weeks and try it after I get back from the field and see how its doing.
Happy brewing
 
Bump... SO I found out why my taste was off. I was short on the recipe due to a typo in the recipe. Recipe came from BYO clone issue. O well, atleast I know it wasnt something on my end...
 

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