Maltiness Improver ?

[The_Duck]

Hi All,

Just tasted my hydrometer sample and found a very hoppy brew that was a tad on the watery side. OG was 1052 and current gravity is at 1006. Style is a USPA.

I pose the following question to the enlightened minds in this forum:

Is it worth trying to find something in the grain bucket and doing a mini mash with something malty... Melanoidin springs to mind... or chalk it up to experience and drink it as a summer quencher ?

Are there any other options ?


Duck

 

[manticle]

If it's still in fermentation vessel, you can add whatever you want. Sanitation is key and hopefully the yeast is still up to the task.

I have added sugar, minimashed wort, DME and lactose at various points of ferment and fruit to sour beers after months of fermentation and ageing.

 

[MattC]

Thats almost 90% attenuation, what yeast did you use and what was your recipe?

 

[The_Duck]

Yeast was US-05.

I dropped the yeast pack after I had opened it and lost some but I stupidly did not weigh the pack to determine how much I lost. I bought a new one the next day and dumped about 1/2 into the fermenter.

Recipe was:

Fermentables:

Weight [gms(lbs)] Type Gravity [SG] Weight %
250.00 (0.55) Carared Malt (Weyermann) 1.002 5.56%
500.00 (1.10) Crystal Malt Pale (Bairds) 1.005 11.11%
500.00 (1.10) Extra Light Dry Extract 1.008 11.11%
250.00 (0.55) Melanoidian Malt (Weyermann) 1.002 5.56%
3000.00 (6.61) Pilsner (Joe White) 1.030 66.67%

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hops:

Hop Utilisation Method: Tinseth - No chill cooling method

Weight [gms(lbs)] Type AA% IBU IBU% Time[Mins]
15.00 (0.53) Columbus 12.00% 19.47 65.61% 60.00
15.00 (0.53) Cascade 5.80% 6.20 20.90% 5.00
15.00 (0.53) D Saaz 4.30% 4.01 0.00% 0.00

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yeast:

Type Atten % Min temp [C(F)] Max temp [C(F)]
Saf Ale S-05 75.00% 15.00 (59.00) 24.00 (75.20)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Miscellaneous:

Name Type Use Amount Time[Mins]
WhirlFloc Fining Boil 2.00 (0.07) [gms (oz)]

I obviously got a slightly better efficiency in the brew process but everything else lines up I think.

Duck

 

[jakub76]

1.006 seems very low. I'd suggest that you don't re-use that yeast cake, sounds suspect.

I've not attempted this but you could theoretically try 100-150 grams of lactose. This will of course add some sweetness as well as body...perhaps experiment with a small sample, comparing it to a small unadulterated control sample.

 

[The_Duck]

1.006 seems very low. I'd suggest that you don't re-use that yeast cake, sounds suspect.

I've not attempted this but you could theoretically try 100-150 grams of lactose. This will of course add some sweetness as well as body...perhaps experiment with a small sample, comparing it to a small unadulterated control sample.

No can do.

Allergic to dairy products. Lactose is probably a bad thing for me.

Duck

 

[Tony]

Id just drink it.......... dont mess with it.

low FG doesnt mean it will be "watery".

think of the glass is half full and go with...... it will make the hops POP!

lower fg will make the hop bitterness and flavour/aroma stick out a lot more.

One other thing to remember is carbonation adds body to the beer when you drink it. Many times i have tried a beer from the fermenter and thought........ oh no its thin. Get it carbed up and in the glass and its great!

dont mess with it... your more likely to ruin it!

cheers

and dont use lactose........... its an unfermantable that adds sweetness, not body!

 

[The_Duck]

The good thing is... it does not taste bad at all. Considering it was a brew that I did with what was left in the grain bucket and some free chinese hops, I am surprised it is even palatable.

I do believe Tony is right. Probably best to just bottle some for giggles and posterity and keg the rest and see what happens.

I have a 40th to go to in a few weeks. Might take this with me if it has cold conditioned well enough by then.

Duck

 

[rotten]

You already made up your mind, chalk it up to experience. Light bodied beers aren't that bad. If it ain't broke, don't fix it!
Cheers. My 2c

 

[Banshee]

Add a touch of salt.

 

[RdeVjun]

Your mind is probably made up by now but I'd reinforce the 'leave it' vote. You'd be surprised the changes that take place with carbonation, hydrometer samples are just a guide and certainly not worth wagering the house on. Its not as though this is the batch to end all batches as you'll brew again and will have learnt from this, so it has been valuable regardless of how it turns out. What you'll be learning I'm not quite sure, but it may become clear later!

5% Melanoidin is probably the maximum I'd use, well for my main styles (UK Bitters and Pale Lagers (evidently)) so I certainly wouldn't add any more of it, but if you did it would just need steeping, but then definitely boil what ever you add briefly, cool then add to the ferment. Agree with Tony that a low FG doesn't necessarily mean poor quality, not at all.

I'd also check your hydrometer in plain water at the hydrometer's calibrated temperature, just to be sure- an apparent extreme attenuation like that would have me checking the fundamental measurements (indeed it did when I had one early in the peace). Include your scales and volumes in that too, otherwise any error may persist.

Hope that helps, good luck with it! :icon_cheers:

 

[katzke]

Sounds like a mash temp problem. US-05 does give me low final gravity. I adjust my mash to get closer to what I want.

Time to check the mash thermometer?

 

[The_Duck]

Sounds like a mash temp problem. US-05 does give me low final gravity. I adjust my mash to get closer to what I want.

Time to check the mash thermometer?

You may be onto something there katzke.

I normally use a digital thermometer with a stainless probe. I think I recall the probe dipping into the mash possibly a bit too far ie past the metal and onto the cord bit. I am wondering if this may have messed with the thermometer accuracy in some way ? I'm pretty sure the thermometer told me that my mash temp had dropped too far and so I cranked up the burner for a few mins. Maybe that pushed it too high ? or maybe even the mash temp was too low all along and I got an incomplete conversion ?

Who knows.

With the AUD$ vs the greenback at the moment, it might be time to by a Brewmometer for my keggle as well as a good digital backup.

Cheers for all the suggestions.


Duck

 

[Bribie G]

Doesn't do any harm to check even your supposedly bulletproof probe thermometer. The other day I was cooling a pan of cooked rice down from boiling to 75 degrees to do a cereal mash and reckoned I'd leave it for 20 mins. Only five minutes later I gave it a stir and stuck the probe in to see how it was going and it was 75 already. This has to be wrong, I thought, so stuck it in a kettle of boiling water, and it read 100.1
I'd had a nasty moment there, thre's nothing like being able to trust your measuring gear as it's all we've got apart from sticking your hand in like they used to do in medieval times :wacko: