That stripper must have snuck out...

[sts]

Brewed an extract batch with the darkest of dark extracts and some specialty grains. It's come out surprisingly watery and thin on mouthfeel. I don't think it's simply watery though, partially because the color is brutally dark (no seeing through this baby). So my question is- where could the body have gone?

Here's the ballpark recipe:
4 oz. black malt
4 oz. chocolate malt
4 oz. roasted barley
7 lbs. dark dry malt extract
2 oz. baker's chocolate
Coupla hops
1 shot rum infused w/ vanilla beans
London Ale Yeast WLP013

It's basically become a very drinkable, dark 8% beer. Almost cool but not really.

[BenTheBrewer]

Wow! That's a good question. It's just a guess, but it could be the extract. That is proof that you can never really be in control of what your extract is going to produce. It is possible that the extract wort's mash temp was really low and produced a ton of fermentable sugars. This would make since if your 8% beer is very dry.

[sts]

Thanks Ben! Yeah, I'm pretty stumped by it too, but the extract does seem to be likely. I used a combination of Munton's liquid and dry just because it was what I had. I've seen a bunch of people combine them without any off results though. Maybe it was just a strange batch of extract? Who knows!

[ApresSkiBrewer]

Give us a little more info... what was your OG, FG first off?

[sts]

Sorry for the late reply, I've been out of town for a solid minute. OG: 1.075 FG:1.014

Would the fg have something to do with it then? I'm assuming that's a tad low for something as big as a stout and the lack of sugars translates into a lack of body?

[siwelwerd]

When I brewed extract, I always found I could achieve better results using extra light extract (made from just pale malt), and adjusting color myself with steeping grains. Notice there is nothing in your recipe to build any body other than the dark extract (which should nominally contain some crystal); if you use the extra light extract, you can add crystal malts, flaked barley*, oats*, etc. to get the body and mouthfeel where you want it to be, without guessing as to what that dark extract is going to give you.

*Flaked barley and oats need to be mashed, but most extract brewers explore a mini-mash before too long.

[TheTodd]

Is the roasty, chocolatey flavor still there? I had a similar experience with an extract Mild except that it wasn't drinkable at all (unless you consider brown water drinkable). There was no body, no mouthfeel and no flavor whatsoever.

In my case, I think I let my steeping water get too hot too quickly and denatured all of those enzymes before they were extracted. An infection is not out of the question though.

+1 on using pale or extra light extracts. Your results will be much better if you control body and flavor with steeping grains.

[sts]

Thanks guys. Is there a good way to go about converting from darker malts to specialty grains? Not that it matters a whole lot since this recipe isn't working out so well, just curious.

And Todd, it's pretty much what you're describing. No real flavors to speak of. And according to my notes the grains sat at 170 for several minutes before I could get the temp down, so that seems really likely. That way color would come through but less sugars would be converted?