Just Add Lime!

[RobH]

Recently did my first all extract brew (i.e.: non pre-hopped kit) using the following:
2kg Coopers Dried Malt
1kg Coopers Brewing sugar
Cascade 10g @ 45mins
Czech Saaz 10g @ 45mins
Cascade 10g @ 30
Czech Saaz 10g @ 30
Cascade 10g @ 15
Czech Saaz 10g @ 15
US-05
22 litres water

fermented at 20 - 22c

OG: 1052
FG: 1012

kegged after 2 weeks

1 week after kegging, still rather cloudy, and lacking in flavour, fairly bland actually & dissapointing ... lightly carbed

to try and clear it up I turned the fridge up to freezing point ... turned my beer into a slushie for 24 hours & then brought it back up to about 5c ... that was sort of an experiment & didnt seem to make much difference to the cloudyness (24 hours later ... mayber it will settle over the weekend)

So, tonight I thought hmmm maybe some lime might help, and it really makes all the difference - I now enjoy a brew that was a first for me & have learnt from the experience that what I did, did not produce a tasty beer, but can still enjoy the result with a bit of lime added!

 

[Aus_Rider_22]

Recently did my first all extract brew (i.e.: non pre-hopped kit) using the following:
2kg Coopers Dried Malt
1kg Coopers Brewing sugar
22 litres water

For that volume you should have 3kg of malt and less of dextrose in my opinion. That would be why it would be tasting watery. The dextrose would simply add alcohol and no body/sugars. I would be betting it was down on alcohol though if it matters?

It's good to hear you are enjoying it now.

Drinking and learning is what it's about. I always started with 3kg of extract plus any spec grains and maybe some dextrose for less body and or higher alcohol.

Good to see you getting into extract. So much more variation/customisation than tins of coopers etc. B)

 

[Lecterfan]

1.052 to 1.012 sounds pretty good - not really "down on alcohol" - but I agree wholeheartedly that less dex might add more character.

However it is difficult to comment on the lack of flavour without knowing the freshness and AAU of the hops that you used Rob. 20gms of low bitterness hops at 45mins is setting yourself up for a fairly low IBU beer (not necassarily a bad thing, just a comment). If you are happy with the bitterness levels I would have tried the next hop addition at maybe 20 mins and saved the final hop addition at flameout.Or you could keep the schedule you did but then add some at flameout as well. Personally I would have then dry hopped at secondary as well, but I am a hop fiend and have used the saaz/cascade combo a couple of times and found it nice. Not as nice - to me - as the Motueka/cascade combo but still good.

One thing I found when I made the jump to extracts and partials is that you really have to learn about hops and what you like in a beer, otherwise the whole thing is still going to taste a bit out of balance. Experiment and enjoy...hopefully you won't have to resort to adding lime to the next one :icon_cheers:

cheers

 

[Gavo]

Good to get an extract under your belt... the next one will have to be better.

The cloudiness is most likely from the use of LDME, I had the same problem with my first extracts and found the problem was chill haze. Do a search on it and you will find plenty of info. To find if it is chill haze just let a sample warm up and if it clears then it is chill haze and is easy to fix for the next brew with the use of polyclar.
You should have some flavor with the hop additions you have made although I would have moved the 30 and 15 min additions later in the boil like 15 and 0 min and adjust the bittering addition to suit. What was your boil volume and did you add all of the fermentables at the start of the boil as a concentrated boil will lower hop utilization i.e. you will get less extraction from the hops.

Good luck with the next one.

Gavo.

 

[Pennywise]

Yeah I get alot of haze if doing all DME brews (or mostly), I think it's because the dry malt we use isn't really made specifically for brewing, but more so for the confectionary industry, and I guess there'd be protiens in it causeing haze for which the manufacturers have no reason to remove. I don't think the Coopers stuff is any different or "specially made for brewing". Happy to be proven wrong though as this is just IMO