Wort Seems Thin and Watery

[nicklawmusic]

Last night I did my first a BIAB. Generally, the whole process went quiet well but when I tasted the wort, just prior to pitching the yeast, it seems thin and watery.

I boiled a thick wort (which was 1.061 at the end of the boil), which I topped up with 7L of water, giving me an OG of 1.040 (I was shooting for 1.043, so not far off).

Here's my recipe and process, if it helps:

JONAH AND THE PALE
Pale Ale (BIAB partial mash)
3.5kg Maris Otter
200g Extra Light DME (added 15 mins before end of boil)
20g Willamette (45 mins)
20g Willamette (25 mins)
20g Willamette (20 mins)
2.5g Irish Moss (10 mins)
40g Willamette (3 day dry hop)

Single Infusion Mash 66C (90 mins) in 18L of water (mash out at 74C)

Pre-Boil Volume 14L of 1.061
Efficiency 74%

Post Boil Volume 12L
Fermentor top up 7L
OG 1.040

I did all the calculations in BeerSmith, all of which were fairly accurate. This is the first BIAB I've done for a full 19L batch, and the first pale ale I've made from one type of grain.

I just thought there might be a bit more body to the beer. I kinda hope that I don't end up with beer flavoured water because the brew itself went so well!

I did stir the bottle water which I topped this up with in to the wort from my FV, but not for long. Will that made a difference?

I'm looking at getting a 32L brew kettle (the stock pot I've borrowed only holds 18L).

Any ideas why it seems quite thin? Is this what diluting a thick sugary (and man, was that pre-boil wort sugary!!!) wort does? Will fermenting help this out at all? Anyone else with a similar experience?

(PS: If I get the bigger kettle, I will be doing a full volume boil, or very near)

 

[nicklawmusic]

NB: According to my notes, my post boil amount was 13L, so I only topped up with 6L of water.

 

[ong]

That's just going to be a pretty light-bodied beer. OG is low, and it's all base malt, aside from the bit of dextrine in the DME. And you mashed pretty low. You could try adding a bit of maltodextrine at bottling time, if you want to up the body some. Mild ales are often that OG or lower, but include a lot of specialty grains to leave more unfermentables, and often mash around 156 or 158 (Fahrenheit) to give more body and flavor.

 

[nicklawmusic]

Guess I could add plenty of hops at dry hopping stage to bring out hop character. How much would you recommend?

 

[ong]

I wouldn't go nuts -- overhopping a thin-bodied beer is just going to make it hard to drink. Maybe just figure it's more of a bitter than a pale, and let it ride? Not sure you need a dry hop for such a small beer, but if you do one, keep it in proportion .


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[nicklawmusic]

40g too much?

 

[nicklawmusic]

Pellet hops that is. Haven't done it yet. Do you think 40g is too much? Would 20g be better?

 

[ong]

No, that's a fine amount to dry hop. I just expect the beer might be a bit thin and the hop presence a bit strong. Give it a taste before you throw more hops at it, maybe!