Watery, light brew - what next?

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

evolutionary

Supporting Member
HBT Supporter
Joined
Jan 31, 2021
Messages
102
Reaction score
83
We just kegged an AIH Guinness clone (Gooder than Guinness) after just over 3 weeks in primary, and the result is a watery, brown ale - image attached. We are nearing 50 brews in and this is only the 3rd brew that has been disappointing. We missed OG by .06 and yeast got us to an ABV of 4.1%, which is fine but the result is watery with just a hint of what Id expect for style - the color is more of a weak brown ale as well. This is only the 4th kit we've used and 2/4 are disappointing so far.

Long story short, what can we do to help resuscitate this 5 gallon batch? We've saved a so-so doppelbock by pitching onto a fresh mixed fermentation cake, but any ideas here?
 

Attachments

  • IMG_8316.jpg
    IMG_8316.jpg
    3 MB · Views: 3
More brew day details are going to be needed to be able to help much. I’m assuming it was the AG version since you said you missed your OG. What is your brewing process? (BIAB, multi-vessel, etc). Do you mill your own grains or order them milled? I don’t think you’ll get a nice black (dark ruby) beer like Guinness only using 12 oz. of 300 °L roasted barley that they list on the ingredients sheet.
 
It was AG - BIAB and milled through AIH (just got mill a week after so starting that kit). Haven't used their kits before but have 3 brewers best ones under our wings at this point and did ok with those. Got this kit as an xmas gift but disappointed. We've spiced up a recent bland parti-gyle 2nd runnings brew with some planned xmas spices (came out pretty nice) but looking for some guidance on ideas of what to do with this - not really looking on how to improve process/etc, as our own recipes have been good, as well as the ones I've blatantly stolen from here have been.
 
thanks for replying. I've only gone with addition of the mixed fermentation cake from a few batches but haven't tried anything else unplanned this late ever. if all else fails, I have a light, lower calorie brew for my friend trying to lose weight.
 
Once it's carbonated it shouldn't taste watery any more, maybe even carbonate a little higher like 2.75 volumes. You could also try adding lactose to add some thicker mouthfeel and some sweetness. You could dryhop it and call it a brown ipa, contradictory name be damned.
 
I haven't done it, but under the circumstances listed above, I would consider just boiling a pretty concentrated batch of dark or extra dark DME, cool, & add. It will have to ferment all over again but should just be 1-2 weeks and may get you a lot closer to what you were aiming for. Alternatively, you could ferment the DME batch separately & then mix to taste.
 
do you bottle, or keg? if you bottle, maybe use molasses? it might not quite be 'gooder' then guiness, butt, it'd have more mouth feel..
 
We just kegged an AIH Guinness clone (Gooder than Guinness) after just over 3 weeks in primary, and the result is a watery, brown ale - image attached. We are nearing 50 brews in and this is only the 3rd brew that has been disappointing. We missed OG by .06 and yeast got us to an ABV of 4.1%, which is fine but the result is watery with just a hint of what Id expect for style - t
Just drink it like it is, there are some things you can do to make it less "watery" but you might make the beer worse. Note that Guinness is a below 4% ABV beer. If you keep some DME on hand, you can add it at the end of the boil if you aren't hitting your OG. You'll need to pull a small sample and chill it down to get a gravity reading. Its too late for that now, also what was your mash temp?
Going forward, skip the kits and follow established recipes and then you can tweak them on re-brews to suit your taste.
 
Back
Top