Want to fix my beer.

[Fudd]

I have this taste that has been in both batches of beer I've made. I am assuming it is the taste of malt, but maybe I'm wrong. It is kind of sweet and I find that it dominates the taste of the beer so that I miss out on all the grainy goodness. My recipes call for 6.6 lbs of LME and 1.5lbs of DME. Is that an excessive amount? If not is it because I didn't do a secondary ferment? Or does the flavor even out after awhile. I read in another post, by Walker I think, that hop flavour is the first thing to go when aging, so if it's going to get worse than I'll start drinking now and stop saving it.

Oh, or maybe it is my high ferment temperatures...It stays about 72 degrees F and one time in the summer I saw it at 75 degrees.

Last beer I made was a stout. Here is the recipe:

6lbs Dark English LME
1 1/2 lbs light DME
12oz. roasted barley
First flavouring: 1 1/4 oz Northern Brewer
Second: 1/2 oz of Fuggle
Aromatic: 1/4oz of fuggle
2 tsp gypsum
1 tsp irish moss
Wyeast Irish Stout whatever yeast
4 oz brown sugar(for priming
Let it sit for three weeks.

So maybe the flavour will improve?

 

[david_42]

Most yeasts leave some maltose unconverted, that might be what you are tasting. The secondary fermentation would probably help. Set a couple bottles aside (at room temp.) and try them in a month or two. If the taste goes away, you've found the source. Letting your ale age can be a tough thing to do.

 

[Dragonfly]

what kind of beer are you making? That's not an overly excessive amount of malt - but maybe you're not balancing it out w enough hops? How long have you let your brews condition in the bottles?

 

[Walker]

That's a pretty high amount of extract, IMHO. 1lb of LME per gallon of beer is a light body beer (general rule of thumb).

So, converting your DME amout into an equivalent amount of LME gives you a total of something in the ballpark of 8.5 of LME in that recipe. That's going to be a full bodied beer, and full-bodied beers are typically sweeter due to the high amount of sugars in there that do not ferment.

You would want to have a good bit of bittering hops in there to balance all of that maltiness, else it's going to taste malty and sweet (not necessrily a BAD thing, but maybe not what you are after.)

-walker

 

[gibfried]

I don't know about everyone else, but any homebrew I've tasted is very much fuller bodied - so much so it can seem a touch sweet compared to the commercial beers we have become accustomed to.

Last night I brought a couple of bottles of Porter over to my Aunt and Uncle's. They loved it! When ussually they would gag at storebought beer.

I hope that they weren't just being nice.

 

[Walker]

I personally like dark, malty brews. I'll even go so far as to buy Laaglander DME, which is HIGH in dextrins for my stouts and porters. It leaves a lot of body at the expense of some alcohol.

If I want the 'thickness' without the sweetness, I'll up the bittering hops or throw in some roasted grains for that burnt-like taste.

-walker

 

[homebrewer_99]

All beer is sweet until you balance it with hops.

As already recommended, you need to up the bittering hops a bit to compensate for all that sugar.

 

[justbrewit]

i don't think thats too much, the batch that i have in my primary has 9.3 lbs of LME in it. its starting gravity was 1.074. i like the BIG beers!!! LOL

plus it has a bunch of hops in it

 

[homebrewer_99]

i don't think thats too much, the batch that i have in my primary has 9.3 lbs of LME in it. its starting gravity was 1.074. i like the BIG beers!!! LOL

plus it has a bunch of hops in it

We are referring to the amount of malt versus the amount of hops...there's nothing wrong with big beers as long as you remember you need more hops.

 

[justbrewit]

true, true, my bad!!! just tell me to shut-up every so often!! LOL

 

[Truble]

i don't think thats too much, the batch that i have in my primary has 9.3 lbs of LME in it. its starting gravity was 1.074. i like the BIG beers!!! LOL

plus it has a bunch of hops in it

Just brewed last night with 7 lbs combined (4lbs LME, 3lbs DME) and 1.5lb of steeping Crystal (1lb 40l,.5lb 135l)..got a 1.054 and a really nice color, flavor and aroma.

 

[homebrewer_99]

true, true, my bad!!! just tell me to shut-up every so often!! LOL

OK, but if I do just remember you gave me permission to....

 

[justbrewit]

lol deal, i'll remember