I’m having some trouble. I’ve brewed more than a handful of extract beers but I’ve only liked a couple of them. My favorite batch was a Chinook IPA. I feel like all my brews turn out lacking body or a malt backbone. The last batch I brewed was an Amber Ale on Jan 13th. It was the second attempt at the kit. At 10 weeks I don’t notice any off flavors but it has the taste of a session IPA that lacks body and finish. I know good beer doesn’t happen overnight but I’m putting in hard work only to come out with sub par beer. I haven’t brewed since the Amber ale. I need some encouragement. I enjoy the process but it isn’t fun waiting to find out the beer wasn’t what I expected.
Might be able to get some help here. Describe your brewing process for the amber ale.
Yeast
Number, billions, of cells pitched
Primary time
Fermentation temperature
Bottle conditioning temperature and time
Final gravity
Volume in the fermentor
How do you measure fermentor volume to make sure it is correct for the recipe size?
Was this Northern Brewers, American Amber Ale? One of my favorites.
NB Amber Ale Kit
Rehydrated 1 packet of US-05 in 110ml of water
Primary 3 weeks ambient 62 the fermentor was at 62-64 for the majority of the time peaked at 66 during very active. Not sure what the final gravity was I need to buy a hydrometer.
Primed with 3.7 ounces of corn sugar measured by weight. To yeild 2.3 volumes of C02.
Bottle conditioned for 4-5 weeks at 68.
Volume in fermentor was 5 gallons. I adjusted the gallon marks by measuring weight of 2 quarts of water at a time.
I’m guessing the ABV must be low. But would that cause a lack of body and finish. The mouth feel did seem a little thin and watery but carbonation was good. I guess having a hydrometer would have helped. I don’t think 1 packet of dry yeast would cause over attenuation. I didn’t have any gushers or infections that I can detect. Primary fermentation seemed normal. Maybe bumping up the gravity points with some fermentable sugar might help.
Palmer has a section in How to Brew on this very subject:
Adding sugar won’t help your mouthfeel. Conversely it will dry the beer more because of it’s high fermentability.
Here’s a link to an article in BYO about extract brewing. https://byo.com/hops/item/10-10-steps-t … ct-brewing
I had the opposite problem when brewing extract I couldn’t get a dry finish to any of my beers till i started adding table sugar.
Low ABV is a result of less fermentables. Boosting the body of a beer involves having an increased amount of unfermentable sugars left in your beer. If you are producing beer with less fermentables that would also mean less unfermented sugars. In extract, a lot of that body comes from your steeping grains as well as the extract. What’s your process for steeping the grains? Knowing the FG would help a lot. This will give you an idea of how many unfermented sugars are left in the finished product. The higher the FG, the more body the beer will have.
[quote=“mhall2013”]NB Amber Ale Kit
Rehydrated 1 packet of US-05 in 110ml of water
Primary 3 weeks ambient 62 the fermentor was at 62-64 for the majority of the time peaked at 66 during very active. Not sure what the final gravity was I need to buy a hydrometer.
Primed with 3.7 ounces of corn sugar measured by weight. To yeild 2.3 volumes of C02.
Bottle conditioned for 4-5 weeks at 68.
Volume in fermentor was 5 gallons. I adjusted the gallon marks by measuring weight of 2 quarts of water at a time.
I’m guessing the ABV must be low. But would that cause a lack of body and finish. The mouth feel did seem a little thin and watery but carbonation was good. I guess having a hydrometer would have helped. I don’t think 1 packet of dry yeast would cause over attenuation. I didn’t have any gushers or infections that I can detect. Primary fermentation seemed normal. Maybe bumping up the gravity points with some fermentable sugar might help.[/quote]
Your technique is almost the same as mine for this same kit, with two exceptions. I have found that fermenting with US-05 below 65°F will cause a peach flavor. This is more noticeable in a lightly hopped beer, like the dry Irish stout, than an amber ale or IPA. I now keep the fermentation temperature between 66°and 68°F. The peach flavor, in the background, could give the perception that the beer is watery because of the reduced malt flavor.
I also carbonate a little higher, using 4.5 ounces of corn sugar. More carbonation would not increase increase the mouth feel and may even decrease the malt finish.
My best amber ales, even with late extract addition to reduce color, were when using WY 1056 and the beers finished at 1.010 to 1.011. I am having a problem with the FG now. Generation 3 to 6, of this same yeast, has been dropping the gravity to 1.006. I’ve been calling them an amber pale ale because there is a definite reduction of malt flavor in the body. I have also, on two ambers, bumped the ABV with 8 ounces of extra light DME. No change in the flavor, and the FG was still 1.006. (Maybe I should have used a darker DME. Next brew I will because the yeast will be generation 7.)
It is possible the US-05 has taken the FG to low. After you get a hydrometer fill the test tube, let it go flat, and check the SG. The background peach flavor may also be contributing.
Wish I had something more definite to say which would help out.
.75 gallons of water heated to 150 degrees steeped 1 pound of grains for 20 mins between 150-165 degrees. I know some people steep for 30 mins.
[quote=“flars”]It is possible the US-05 has taken the FG to low. After you get a hydrometer fill the test tube, let it go flat, and check the SG. The background peach flavor may also be contributing.
[/quote]
I did read a bunch of post with people noticed a peach flavor with low temps and US-05 but not everyone reported this flavor. I didn’t notice any peach notes. If US-05 is indeed going too low would just pitching the yeast onto the wort with out rehydrating help. Is there a similar strain with lower attenuation? Notty?
I think the first step, to giving you a good diagnosis, is the know what the SG is of your bottled beer.
My friend has a hydrometer that I’m going to see if I borrow it tonight and I will let a beer go flat and test it.
Maybe it’s just a lousy recipe. You said the chinook came out good so your technique may be fine. Try another recipe.
If you’re looking for a good Amber Ale recipe from NB, then let me suggest Denny’s Waldo Lake Amber. Good body, nice hoppiness. Reminds me of a pumped up Irish Red with the addition of wonderful C-hops character. And definitely get the WY1450 yeast option.
