4% Yellow Soda Water! My first BIAB experience.

[coltelfer]

Hi,
I have been brewing for about 2 years and recently tried to brew from grain for the first time (I had always used kit brews with reasonable success). I bought a 20L urn and 5kg of castle Pilstener cracked grain. I mashed in 12.5L of water at 68 degrees for 90 mins. I squeezed as much "sticky likor" as I could from the bag back into the urn and boiled for 90 mins, adding Cascade and Nelson Sauvin hops at the start and at 60 mins into the boil. I transferred to the fermenter, added 100g maltodextrose and diluted to 23L with cold water. I added dry enzyme and pitched US 05 Safale yeast at about 26 degrees.
Brewing proceeded as normal, I kegged after 8 days, chilled to about 4 degrees C and then gassed after another 3 days. The look was a little paler than I'm used to, head was great, mouth feel great... but absolutely no taste whatsoever.
Anyone know what I did wrong? Or how many things I did wrong!
Col

 

[lukiferj]

What was your OG and FG?

 

[super_simian]

maltodextrose (maltodextrin?), dry enzyme, 26 degrees? Why?

 

[rbtmc]

I would say diluting to 23 litres would be your issue here.

 

[Nick JD]

I added dry enzyme and pitched US 05 Safale yeast at about 26 degrees.

Anyone know what I did wrong?

This.

 

[citizensnips]

I did the same thing except I messed up my water amounts and ended up with half as much, diluted and came out like tooheys extra dry, tasted like nothing

 

[stakka82]

Also no flavour addition hops ie hops in the last 30 odd mins of boil.

 

[iralosavic]

You may just have made a Carlton dry clone! On a serious note, now that you are biabing, use mash temperature to control dryness. I have all kinds of digital and fancy thermometers, but always find myself reaching for a $5 lab thermometer and I suggest you get one so you too can quickly check temps accurately and calibrate other equipment.

As the fellas have alluded, you should pitch us05 colder and I'd avoid sugars unless the style has a particular place for it: in this case it will have served to further thin out the flavour.

Some if the best beers I've made we're 5kg pilsner and nothing else (but water, hops and yeast)

 

[Bribie G]

CUB are going to have to kill you.

 

[Dan Pratt]

Don't worry about it. Plan your next brew, make some changes based on what you have read/researched since and apply accordingly.

I'm curious, what style of beer were you trying to make?

 

[jlm]

So, just a few points on your process in a nutshell. You've mashed at a high-ish temperature which should leave more unfermentable sugars in the wort, then added maltodex.......a small percentage but more unfermerntables..... both of which should leave more "body" in your beer, then added the dry enzyme (which I've never used so don't quite know how effective it is) who's purpose is basically to eat more sugars and "dry" out your beer. So you're sort of contradicting your brewing process there.

Without knowing your OG and FG I'd assume you've got a pretty poor extract to start off with (don't worry, happens to most people first brew) and then fermented the shite out with the added boost of the enzyme (perhaps nearly down to the point of water), leaving you with not a lot left due to the nature of the yeast, US05 being very clean.

 

[goomboogo]

You've mashed with 2.5 litres of water per kilo of grain. This is a fairly standard ratio if there is additional water passed through the grain bed at the conclusion of mashing. The absence of this sparging step will have resulted in fermentables being left behind in the grain. There are threads outlining the appropriate method for the equipment you have.

 

[coltelfer]

Awesome! Thanks for your advice everyone. I'll have another go and maybe introduce a sparge stage, and maybe a better thermometer.
The reason I add enzyme is that I if I drink beer it has to be low carb (diabetic) so using kit beers in the past I have had success adding one sachet.
Eventually I am trying to end up with a low carb Little Creatures Bright. I almost got there using kit concentrates but BIAB is a whole new ball game - a very enjoyable one I might add. I'd have to check my brew book but I think my OG was 1030 and my Fg 1000.
Thanks again all!

 

[stuchambers]

Beer is low carb most of the KJ content is in the alcohol. If you really want lower carb beer drink low alcohol beer.

 

[stuchambers]

I might be a little off here, these blonde beers appear to be lower in actual carbohydrate but the over all KJ is still lower in a low alcohol beer.
HERE

 

[manticle]

In the case of diabetes, it's the processing of the sugars rather than concern for calories that is relevant - the only example I can think of where lo-carb actually has merit.

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

Up your insulin, maybe?

I had an old guy (in his 60s) i worked with and he never worried about low carb beer, he just adjusted his insulin accordingly (he was on the DAFNE method). From what I remember of the notes, alcohol has the effect of sending blood glucose lower than other foods of equivalent carb. I was always worrying he'd have a hypo in the middle of a work 'function' because he didn't hold back when the Page-155 was free.

My 5 year old (she's had it since she was 2) is still over (I hope) a decade away from having to worry about BGL vs booze, so my knowledge of it is scant (ask me about fruit drink anyday though!). We use a version of DAFNE relative to a child's carb intake and increased activity. Her HBA1C's are finally under control.

(edit: it sounded a bit Stalin).

 

[iralosavic]

Low-gi would be more how a diabetic shops and I can think of many situations where reducing carb intake is a good idea, given that we are inherently carb intolerant as a species, but don't let me start an OT debate!

Unfortunately, low carb and well balanced home brew don't really go hand in hand, but the challenge to produce something comparable to what's commercially available - or somehow better- is a worthy one.

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

Low-gi would be more how a diabetic shops and I can think of many situations where reducing carb intake is a good idea, given that we are inherently carb intolerant as a species, but don't let me start an OT debate!

Unfortunately, low carb and well balanced home brew don't really go hand in hand, but the challenge to produce something comparable to what's commercially available - or somehow better- is a worthy one.

True, it's like trying to produce good tasting GF beer. I was trying for a mate in Bris (who's coming down in Sept to here to have a visit) and sorghum is awful.

 

[coltelfer]

Yep, low carb beer really means lower carb beer. It's the resultant sugars in beer that send a diabetic's blood sugars up so adding dry enzyme helps enormously. Not easy to make something worthwhile though but I managed with kits so I will keep trying with BIAB method. I am so over blonde and super dry!