It's like a brewed a Coors Light

[TheTodd]

Anybody know what happened here?

I brewed the extract version of booboo's Mild out of Zymurgy a week-and-a-half ago. I steeped the grains for 1/2 hour at 170. I brought it to a boil; turned heat off; added 4lbs LME; returned to boil; added hops; boiled for 60 min instead of the recommended 90.

Target Gravity: 1032 My OG: 1034 Target Final: 1012 My FG: 1012

Cooled to 75. Added yeast. Within two hours was down to 68. When I checked the next morning, had good fermentation action. Primary ended on Sunday, but I didn't get it racked into a keg until Tuesday. Tasted the sample from my hydrometer and didn't think there was much flavor. No secondary.

Flushing my keg killed my CO2. Got new canister the next day. Had a leak. Got it fixed after Christmas. Hooked up CO2 on Saturday. Tapped a sample to see how much damage was done, if any.

The beer has no flavor, no body. While a bunch of little things created problems through the process, none of them jumped out as the cause. Any advice.

Thanks.

[Elbone]

I've had beers (especially low-gravity beers) that tasted like water out of the fermenter and became wonderful after cold-conditioning and carbonation. Keg it, carb it up and be patient. It'll probably be great. Don't pour it out.

[beltbuckle]

Same here. I brewed a pale ale that I was very unimpressed with tasting it just after kegging it. Tasted like beer water. Two weeks later and it was delicious, and it peaked around 6 weeks in the keg. Give it some time to develop so character.

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[BDawg]

Maybe next time you can add a bit of Maltodextrin or use some Carapils in the steeping grains (I never have, not sure if that even works). As far as the flavor of a Mild goes, keep the carbonation a little low and serve on the warm side.

+1 -- 2 volumes should be good for this style.

Also, you should get in the habit of steeping at around 152F. 170F is the point where tannins will start to extract from the grain hulls if the water pH is low enough OR you have a very high water to grist ratio (> 2 qts per lb).
Steeping at 152F will get you in practice of temp control and that will prepare you for a mini-mash if you ever want to try the next steps. (152F is the "magic" temp where you tend to get a balanced, medium body, medium attenuative beer).

HTH-

[TheTodd]

Maybe next time you can add a bit of Maltodextrin or use some Carapils in the steeping grains (I never have, not sure if that even works). As far as the flavor of a Mild goes, keep the carbonation a little low and serve on the warm side.

+1 -- 2 volumes should be good for this style.

Also, you should get in the habit of steeping at around 152F. 170F is the point where tannins will start to extract from the grain hulls if the water pH is low enough OR you have a very high water to grist ratio (> 2 qts per lb).
Steeping at 152F will get you in practice of temp control and that will prepare you for a mini-mash if you ever want to try the next steps. (152F is the "magic" temp where you tend to get a balanced, medium body, medium attenuative beer).

HTH-

Thanks everyone. It's slightly better after a couple of days, but still very thin. I'm shooting for between 1.5 and 2 vol. carbonation.

I only steeped at 170 because of the recipe. I think I will rebrew lower next time. I intended to do a mini-mash, but my homebrew shop hasn't been able to get brown malt for a while and I was on a bit of a deadline for the day I had available to brew. I'll probably go to one of our fine sponsors and get what I'm missing from them.

[The Big Hopper]

I've always found session beers to be the biggest challenge to brew well with extract. You have no idea if the extract you're using was created at a low temp mash, and will produce a thin, well attenuated beer, or if it was created at a higher temp mash, and will be too cloying... I guess I got to know my extract pretty well after awhile, and for me, a lower temp mini mash is the way to go. A whole bunch of brewing books seem to say mash at 160, but I definitely prefer closer to 150 - 154 (I saw 152 mentioned in an earlier post as well).

If the beer doesn't have enough mouthfeel or body, you can add some Carapils (dextrin) malt, or just add straight up maltodextrin. And I second the lagering period on almost any beer, they seem to come into their own at some point, but keep tasting it periodically to be sure.

What about water chemistry? I think I remember that soft water is best, and depending on what your water is like, maybe you could do a Burton salts addition?

The only other thing I can think of is to get your hands on a good commercial example of a mild and see if you can pinpoint what you think your beer is missing. At least here in my neck of the woods, milds are awfully hard to come by though... Hope you're in a better area than me!

[brewinhard]

Just brewed and kegged a mild myself a few weeks ago. After spending 12 days in primary, I kegged and carbonated in one week. Tasted after 1 wk. and the beer was good, but still kind of thin and not well rounded. After 2 more weeks continued tastings has lead to a complex, malt oriented, and full bodied beer that I feel will only get better even in a few more weeks due to the addition of roasted grains. Be sure to keep your carbonation down and try to serve the beer almost at room temp to enhance the flavor/aroma.