My very first beer I ever brewed was an extract Mac & Jacks African Amber clone from BYO magazine. It didn't turn out anything like Mac & Jacks, but wasn't bad beer either.
Two weeks ago I wanted to try brewing it again, but do it all grain this time. So I pulled out the recipe from BYO again (found here https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/mac-jack-amber-recipe-needed-33281/) and followed it TO A TEE! I hit my temps ok, but I did get terrible efficiency 54% ugh (normally I get 70-73%). Two weeks of fermentation it has tapped out and is at 1.016, but when I tasted the sample it was REALLLLLLY light in body. I mean, miller lite kinda light body! It has the nice malty hoppy flavor of M&Js, but just realllly reallllllly light body. When we made it, we also remarked at how light the color was too.
Why would this be like this? Fermentation temps were between 62-65º for the first 5-6 days, then I let it run up to 70º to finish out.
P.S.And I am SURE we got the right grains.
Two weeks ago I wanted to try brewing it again, but do it all grain this time. So I pulled out the recipe from BYO again (found here https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/mac-jack-amber-recipe-needed-33281/) and followed it TO A TEE! I hit my temps ok, but I did get terrible efficiency 54% ugh (normally I get 70-73%). Two weeks of fermentation it has tapped out and is at 1.016, but when I tasted the sample it was REALLLLLLY light in body. I mean, miller lite kinda light body! It has the nice malty hoppy flavor of M&Js, but just realllly reallllllly light body. When we made it, we also remarked at how light the color was too.
Why would this be like this? Fermentation temps were between 62-65º for the first 5-6 days, then I let it run up to 70º to finish out.
P.S.And I am SURE we got the right grains.