How to fix my "Empty" beer

[Thirsty Boy]

So, the main person who drinks my beer apart from me is my wife. She has a pallet thats at least as good as mine (not that thats too damn impressive) but not haveing been geeking out on homebrew information for the last 8 months, doesn't have the range of descriptors that I have to talk about beer. Still, she picks up flavours that I sometimes miss and certainly knows a good beer when she drinks one.

She says that all the beers I have brewed so far lack "body" and seem a little empty. When I had a bit of a talk to her about what she means, I think that its not really body that she thinks is missing, I think its mid pallet and finishing maltiness and/or malt complexity. They taste good at first, but then fade away a bit until the bitter finish kicks in, and then its a bit unbalanced and too bitter. She finds them a little bit unsatisfying. Less so on the hop focused beers, because the hops are doing their job. But somethings still missing. I think its malt complexity!!

So far almost all my beers have had really simple malt bills. Base malt and a little bit of crystal. I've been trying to learn the craft and didn't want to make things to complex. Except for one batch of Jamils robust porter. The porter was apparently "Much better"

The next beer I am brewig is a Pale Ale which was going to be a 19litre batch and have a malt bill of 96% pale malt (Powels Australia) and 4% Crystal 30L.

I was thinking of swapping out a kilo of the pale malt for munich instead. and maybe just a touch of melanoidin. OR

Is there something I can do in my process that will enhance the percieved malt character. I know that Jamil and John P have talked about maltiness and how to get it in a couple of the style shows. Malt billl seemed to be the answer, but if people can brew good malty beers with pretty much just pale malt or pilsner malt, what are they doing to make that happen.

Yeah I know, decoction is the answer in some cases, but not in all of them.

Or should I just stick in some munich/victory/vienna/biscuit malt and be done with it?

I dont want empty beers. If the wife doesn't want to drink them, I'm not doing it right!

Thirsty

PS. I am angling for Ray Daniels book for x-mas. Until then I am relying on the brains and stunning good looks of my fellow BNers for advice.

[bub]

Try tweaking your mash temps too.
BUB

[mykafone]

Try tweaking your mash temps too.
BUB

you don't mean adding crystal meth do you bub????

[Who is John Malt?]

Try tweaking your mash temps too.
BUB

you don't mean adding crystal meth do you bub????

Just the audio version, for brewing, of course.

[Thirsty Boy]

Try tweaking your mash temps too.
BUB

BUB,

I assume you mean in the upwards direction. Higher temp> less fermentable wort> more left over dextrines etc = somewhat sweeter beer with more body???

I'll definately do that next brew, but from listening to JZ and Jon P talk, thats not really going to help the maltiness. Or is combining a bit of extra body with a bit of extra actual maltiness from the Munich etc going to enhance the perception of the malt that is there?

Thirsty

[Speyedr]

Try tweaking your mash temps too.
BUB

BUB,

I assume you mean in the upwards direction. Higher temp> less fermentable wort> more left over dextrines etc = somewhat sweeter beer with more body???

I'll definately do that next brew, but from listening to JZ and Jon P talk, thats not really going to help the maltiness. Or is combining a bit of extra body with a bit of extra actual maltiness from the Munich etc going to enhance the perception of the malt that is there?

Thirsty

G'day!

Upping the mash temp won't increase the REAL maltiness, that's correct, but it WILL effect perception. The "bigger" body will leave more residual sugar behind on the tongue, and that will increase the perception of maltiness as the malt that is there will linger longer.

Adding the Munich will help too. Per the decoction show, give yourself about 10% specialty malts to help "fill in" the blanks.

Good luck!

Rob

[eric_lord]

one thing you can try is pulling back on the bittering hops. use less for bittering and more for flavoring. For me, this gives the maltyness I am looking for.

ie. when making a dry stout the ibu's are real high, 1.0 BU/GU. which aids with the dryness. but if you use 50-60% of your IBU's for your bittering, and the rest for flavor and aroma, the perception changes.

my .02

eric

[DannyW]

Perhaps it's your base malt.

I switched from US/Canadian pale 2-row Harrington to British Maris Otter, Optic, Golden Promise, and Pearl. This one change really helped the overall complexity of my beers.

Whether this information is useful to you way down there, I have no idea!