too much mouthfeel & caramel

[farmer brown]

Hey all,
Last night I tried a black ale I brewed 2 months ago and felt it had too much mouth feel and was a little too sweet. I maybe getting the sweetness mixed up with a strong caramel taste and was just wondering if I have used too much Cara Gold? Also, I did an overnight mash so would this have given me a lot of unfermentable sugars?


4500 pale malt
300 crystal
300 torrified wheat
650 cara gold
150 chocolate
100 carafa 3

50g bobek 90mins
40g bobek 15mins

Yeast - WPL005
OG 1072
FG 1016


Any help much appreciated!

 

[RobWalker]

it's a lot of caramel...what was your starting mash temp?

 

[farmer brown]

It was 68c and dropped to about 55 overnight over 9 hours?

 

[farmer brown]

I just read that cara gold can be used instead of crystal.. Maybe combining the two malts was a little caramel overkill.

 

[RobWalker]

high mash temp might be a reason for high amounts of dextrine - your base is basically a recipe for a malty full bodied ale, nearly 900g of crystal malts and body/colour speciality malts...most of the stuff converts in the first 60 mins, so setting mash temp is important even on an overnight mash! what sort of ale were you aiming for?

so yes, I would probably say overkill - caragold is designed for a caramel character in light ales without colouring much. :

 

[farmer brown]

I went through a phase some time ago experimenting with black ale recipes with a more sweet character which is why i increased the caramalts..

Ive now calmed down a little and sticking to recipes that work

 

[RobWalker]

we all do it. don't worry :drunk:

if you wanted to do a sweet stout or something along those lines, look into using lactose, high mash temps. graysalchemy is particularly fond of flaked oats in stout and will probably be ranting on about them in a minute. :thumb:

 

[farmer brown]

Ive been reading about breakfast stouts and lactose so Ill get some ordered! Many thanks everybody... Time to get rid of my experiment I think :whistle:

 

[graysalchemy]

I don't rant rob :rofl: . Best stout is an oatmeal. I even put oatmeal in my pale ale and heavy. It gives good head :whistle:

However I don't necessarily think it makes it sweeter, smouther perhaps.