Just transferred my “mistake” beer into the keg. I sampled before I transferred to the secondary, and I took from the top. When kegging was done, I had a little volume left in the bottom. The trub wasnt too disturbed, so I transferred a little bit to a glass.
After primary it tasted decent. Definitely a while ale, dry, but good flavor. I added some ground coriander, some dry hops, and some orange zest (all sanitized in vodka), and let it sit for another week.
I cold crashed yesterday, and then kegged as mentioned. Today’s sample tasted very watered down, not great at all. Could sampling from different spots in the fermenter, or sampling after a cold crash, make such a flavor difference? I obviously didn’t want to shake it up and disturb the trub, but I can always shake the keg a little just in case it’s just a matter of uneven distribution.
I’d be hard pressed to think stratification would happen after the fermenting is done… BUT…cold crashing takes a few days… I’ve followed this with my tilt… Room temp to 32*F took almost 3 days… So cold crashing is also time that can’t be rushed too…
Sneezles61
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Mine didn’t take so long. Maybe I got lucky, maybe I have a good keezer. It only took a few hours to hit 34, then again i fermented on the low side anyways so I had less distance to travel.
My only hope is that maybe I got a little trub in the final sample, but I won’t hold my breath
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So… Nevermind in a way I guess.
Just hooked up a picnic tap to the keg, just to pull some out and test. Shook the keg up a bunch, pulled a sample… Still very watery.
Again, this was my mistake beer. The gravity was muuuuch lower than expected, so I am not surprised it tastes watered down. I’m just bummed because when I pulled that sample a week ago, it definitely was not as watery. Once it’s carbed, I imagine it will taste like those new low carb beers, probably low in calories too. I guess my wife can drink it, I’ll just have to brew again much sooner than expected so I can actually have a good beer in a keg
Yet, learning to brew a small brew with tasty character is also a skill to hone in on with home brewing… You can’t hide Jack… Even water gets a very close, scrutinizing eye… Be very wary…
Sneezles61
Oh I know, I pay attention to water chemistry and all that jazz. I’m no expert but I try to immerse myself in learning as much as possible. I’ve learned quite a bit over the years, often by making mistakes. this brew was not thought out properly ahead of time. I used too much sparge water, thus collecting too much pre boil, thus diluting the sugars too much. at that point I probably should have just extended the boil out longer until I had ~5.5 gallons, but I just stopped at the 60 minute mark, collected a little over 6 gallons.
Once that happened, I knew it was not going to be great. Figured there was no use in throwing it away, who knows how it could turn out. So went thru the process, and here I am. Oh well
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I actually had a similar experience trying to make a session beer when I first started. I thought it was tasteless and week but after I carbonated it it wasn’t bad. Get it carbonated and see
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Well, take the lump and plan ahead better next time… But now, over carb the watery brew… SHAZAAM!!! Seltzer kinda thingy… Perhaps…
Sneezles61
Carbonation adds more than just bubbles it also adds carbonic acid which helps round out the taste of your beer along with the added mouthfeel of the bubbles. Suspended yeast has a flavor and mouthfeel as well which is mostly missed when beers are cold crashed.
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This was the beer with the really low OG right? So shouldn’t be a surprise I guess…but wasn’t it 1.050ish? and if you ended a low FG it won’t be lower than about 5% abv and taste of course will be dependent about your grist and hops choices. I’d wait until it’s carbed to pass judgment. I have a sub 4% lager that is boring as hell on tap right now so I can relate.
Yea that’s correct, that’s why I was calling it my mistake beer. I expected nothing out of it, that’s why I’m not bummed. The only thing that got my hopes up was that the sample I tasted after primary ended actually tasted pretty good. Definitely tasted like a decent white ale. Now, those flavors are super muted, so I was more curious if anyone had any ideas why it wasn’t always muted.
My wife is really into the new low carb beers (ufo and blue moon make new ones), so at the very least she can drink this stuff. I’m going to make myself a black IPA next weekend just so I have a good beer on tap.
