My first brew of recent times was a kit IPA (John Bull's India Pale Ale) which I used, more than anything else, to stir my brewing muscles out of their decade-long dormancy. I chucked in a kilo of light spraymalt instead of sugar and used the kit yeast and fermented for three weeks before adding some gelatin and letting it settle for a further week. After two weeks in the bottle it was not-too-badly carbonated but tasted very thin and watery.
"NEVER MIND," thought I, "it was just a rehearsal."
In the meantime, I'd knocked up and started a back of a beer-mat stout. I steeped 1lb dark malt, 10oz crystal, and 8oz roasted barley in 4L at around 70C for thirty minutes. I made this up to 10L in another pot and chucked in 5.2 lbs of light spraymalt*. At the end of the boil I added 500g of maltodextrin powder ("Body Bru"). OG was 1.052.
Fermentation went off like a rocket and I had to install a blow off tube. It levelled out pretty quickly and over the next four weeks in primary it got down to 1.012. Tasting it at this point it was very tasty, rich and muscular, and exactly what I want from a stout. So I was pretty excited.
I then transferred it over to a secondary vessel (kept siphon tube at the bottom to avoid oxidation, &c) because I wanted to add a bunch of vanilla pods. It's been in that vessel for one week now, and I just pulled some out for curiosity's sake. OG is now 1.010 and the beer tastes very thin and watery, just like the "rehearsal" IPA! No off-flavours, just very insipid. Nothing like it was a week ago when I pulled it out of the primary. I had to add 1.5L of water (boiled and cooled) to the secondary to top it up to reduce headspace, but that shouldn't really destroy a 5 gallon batch of beer, should it?
I know I haven't bottled and carbonated it yet. And I fully intend to bottle it in a week and let it fill with gas. But it's such a change in just one week that I'm concerned.
What's gone wrong here? Could both of these brews had a similar problem, or is it just coincidence?
"NEVER MIND," thought I, "it was just a rehearsal."
In the meantime, I'd knocked up and started a back of a beer-mat stout. I steeped 1lb dark malt, 10oz crystal, and 8oz roasted barley in 4L at around 70C for thirty minutes. I made this up to 10L in another pot and chucked in 5.2 lbs of light spraymalt*. At the end of the boil I added 500g of maltodextrin powder ("Body Bru"). OG was 1.052.
Fermentation went off like a rocket and I had to install a blow off tube. It levelled out pretty quickly and over the next four weeks in primary it got down to 1.012. Tasting it at this point it was very tasty, rich and muscular, and exactly what I want from a stout. So I was pretty excited.
I then transferred it over to a secondary vessel (kept siphon tube at the bottom to avoid oxidation, &c) because I wanted to add a bunch of vanilla pods. It's been in that vessel for one week now, and I just pulled some out for curiosity's sake. OG is now 1.010 and the beer tastes very thin and watery, just like the "rehearsal" IPA! No off-flavours, just very insipid. Nothing like it was a week ago when I pulled it out of the primary. I had to add 1.5L of water (boiled and cooled) to the secondary to top it up to reduce headspace, but that shouldn't really destroy a 5 gallon batch of beer, should it?
I know I haven't bottled and carbonated it yet. And I fully intend to bottle it in a week and let it fill with gas. But it's such a change in just one week that I'm concerned.
What's gone wrong here? Could both of these brews had a similar problem, or is it just coincidence?
