Watery Dunkelweissen!!!

[greggreg66]

Hello all.

I'm new to this forum (though have referred to it many times) and this is my first post!

I'm currently brewing loads of beer (all grain) for my wedding in August. One of the beers is a kind of Dunkelweissen beer. I adapted the recipe from one I found on the ibrewmaster app. However, the recipe was for an 18l batch, and mine was 23l. This means that the extra 5l really watered down my beer and the OG was 1.040.

I've just tried it after almost 2 weeks in primary (I haven't done a gravity ready just yet) but it tastes quite watery. It really isn't that flavourful.

So, I'm asking to see if anyone might have any suggestions as to what to do with it. I'm doubtful whether its going to develop a stronger flavour. My gut reaction is to rack it to secondary and stick loads of raspberries in there (some boiled up fresh raspberries with maybe some extra concentrate).

So, if I do stick some raspberries in there, how much do you think I need for a 22l batch (I'm anticipating losing a little bit when racking to secondary... and I've had a bit of it too).

Thanks!!!!

Greg

 

[periwinkle1239]

I've found that tasting my AG brews so early tend to give you misleading watery flavors like you are describing. Plus you are sampling it at about room temp and not carbed which is deceiving. After a little more time I bet it will finish out and taste pretty good when its cold and carbed. Unfortunately 1.040 is somewhat low, but what's the gravity now? I don't know what your recipe is, but I've make dunkels and they are usually pretty light in body anyways.

Hindsight is always 20-20 but maybe adding some extract to offset the low gravity would've been a good idea.

Either way relax and don't worry about it.

PS - I don't think I would do anything drastic like add raspberries...yuck!!

 

[greggreg66]

Hey. Thanks for the reply.

This is the first beer I've had that's come out watery (out of about 20 or so batches... but the first that's a wheat. I'll post the gravity & SG later (bit busy now).

I think you're right though, I've decided to just bottle it and let it sit... adding raspberries could really wreck it!!

Hindsight might dictate to have some DME or extract on hand in case this happens again!!!

 

[ReverseApacheMaster]

Well you are a gallon's worth over in water in the beer. That's quite a bit. Adding sugar or fruit isn't going to help that; actually adding fruit will make it more watery because fruit are full of...water.

The only way to really fix that is to brew another batch of the same beer with all the same grains or extract but 5l less water so it's high gravity. Ferment it out then blend the two together. If it is an extract recipe just leave 5l out of your top up water. If you're brewing AG then leave 5l's worth of some of both the mash and sparge water out.

 

[greggreg66]

ReverseApacheMaster... that's a great idea!!!!

I was wondering whether I could do something like that, maybe I'll do just that!!!!

My worry about carbonating it up now is it no longer tasting watery but tasting of soda water!!! Even worse!

Thanks!!

 

[mugzz819]

I made a batch around Christmas and somehow not only came out with a gallon or so extra, I also realized after the fact I forgot a pound of crystal 60 (probably drinking too much homebrew while brewing!). I thought it was the worst beer I've made due to how watery it was so I basically threw the cases in the basement and forgot about them. It wasn't until we had a friend over who became a pain in the a$$ if she drank too much that I even remembered I had them. I started giving them to her since the alcohol was so much lower than my other brews and she ended loved them. I decided to give it a try and it turned out they weren't so bad after a few months of aging. They were still lighter than my usual brews but had some flavor and didn't seem watery. I say just forget about them for awhile and see what they become. Summer is coming so it may turn out to be a good beer for super hot days..

 

[ShinyBuddha]

I agree that making a stronger batch then blending the two could help alleviate your problem....if you're able to leave the 1st batch in a secondary to wait for a bit.

 

[greggreg66]

Haha, super hot days?? I live in London, UK, its been raining more now than Winter!!! But yeah, you do have a point.

I think I'll leave it in secondary for a while and try and find some time to brew a really strong one to blend with it.

The current gravity is 1.010 which is what I was expecting as FG so its not tooooo bad.