I decided to make this thread after tasting an APA I brewed side-by-side with a fresh Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. My recipe was: 86% Light DME 9% Munich LME 5% Wheat DME Horizon for bittering, Cascade and Centennial for flavour and aroma. Fermented with Wyest 1056 @ 66F 39IBU OG: 1.048 (taget 1.050) FG: 1.016 (target 1.011) ABV: 4.5% (target 4.9%) Tasting the beers side-by-side, my wife and I agreed that the SNPA was better, primarily due to having a richer, more complex malt backbone and a fuller body. I entered the pale ale in a competition run by my homebrew club and got similar feedback - the beer is a little sweet for style but lacking in body. The carbonation is moderate with fine bubbles and despite the high-for-style gravity, the beer finishes quite dry. In appearance the beer is gold - noticeably paler than SNPA and slightly hazy. What this leaves me to ask is why does my beer seem to lack body, while the final gravity is in fact a little higher than desired? I've checked the accuracy of my hydrometer and it reads 1.000 for tap water, so seemingly no problem there.
I suggest you view this thread, entitled How does one thicken their beer? (Click on the arrow to the right after Hopopotamus53 said: or on the blue title above will take you to the thread.) It should answer your question. My advice is adding Malto-dextrin as a powder at the end of the boil, or Cara-pils malt or flaked wheat during mashing. However, I notice you used only DME & LME, which while very quick and requires no mashing, leaves few unfermentable sugars behind, which is what lead to the thin mouthfeel. I personally can't stand beer with a thin mouthfeel, and prefer a very thick mouthfeel for even an IPA, so I add the above, or add Melanodin malt, though it alters the flavor to be a little sweeter/maltier, really adds body. This is a German malt I've fallen in love with (I live in Germany, so it's a common addition) to increase body by adding 100 or 200 grams in the mash.
Definitely check out the above thread. However, since you're not mashing the main advice of raising temp will not assist you. I might try steeping some oats to add proteins, which as noted in the above thread also assist greatly in creating good mouthfeel. Not sure if steeping oats will lend the same effect as mashing so it might be time to try a simple partial mash in a bag with some crystal malts and flaked oats. Not trying to re-write what seems like a fine recipe just throwing out some suggestions.
Very few unfermentables as compared to what? Extracts are generally less fermentable than based-malt derived worts. In fact, DME normally contains a portion (5% maybe?) of carapils. (Not sure if LME generally does or not.)
SNPA has a relatively large portion of caramel 60L malt in it (maybe around 10%, not exactly sure...) which aids in body and malt flavor. Their house yeast is a beast of a fermentor, which allows them to use large amounts of caramel malts and still get balanced beers with good hop expression. Using a yeast originally sourced form them (like 1056) makes it hard to get a good amount of body without taking measures to build body, like carapils, caramel malts, lots of wheat, rye, oats, or other malts like those. If you are doing extract, I would definitely recommend steeping some carapils and maybe light caramel malt for more body and malt flavor.
The advice to use a good portion of C60 is spot on. A pound of C60 in a 5 gallon batch is what I remember. This was the 2000 AHA Big Brew recipe. http://www.brewtoad.com/recipes/nearly-nirvana-pale-ale
The fact that you used only malt extract and got attenuation in the mid-60's suggests that there may be a fermentation issue. With 1056 you should have gotten down to 1.010 with no problem. Did you make a starter? Was the smack pack old or stressed? Agree with others that you need some unfermentables from crystal malt to improve perception of body. Sounds like you've got residual unfermented maltose and no dextrins, giving a thin, sweet impression to the beer.
there is no way of knowing the amount of unfermentable within any given extract. it is probably the biggest drawback to using an extract, you can't do much about it except try a different brand to see what works best. so, if you believe your beer is thin and blame the extract you can do a few things. 1, use a different extract. 2, partial mash. 3, go to a full mash. 4, add lactose or another non or little fermentable. 5, use a lazy yeast that does not attenuate as much. though 4 and 5 are going to change the beer more than just adding body. i think it's Daniels Designing Great Beers that has a section about how independent testing has showed that even extracts labeled All Malt are in fact using quite a bit adjunct. the few analysis reports that are available are not accurate according to the independent study. then the author goes on to bitch, rightfully, that the study does not name names. Cheers.
Thanks for the feedback, people. I used a fresh (about 1 month old, refridgerated the whole time) pack of Wyeast 1056 in a 2 litre starter and pitched the entire started into the wort. Fermentation temperature would have had small fluctuations but stayed in the 65-67F range, but I always ramp the temperature up a couple of degrees towards the end of fermentation to ensure that it is complete. After 10 days in the primary I racked the beer of the yeast and bottled it, priming with dextrose for about 2.25 volumes of CO2. A finishing gravity of 1.016 is about what I expect from a 1.050 ale using the extract I use. I know Briess DME is more fermentable than the extract I use (it's imported by Bintani and produced in Switzerland), but it is also twice the cost. With higher gravity ales I add some simple sugars to help bring the final gravity down. I haven't previously had problems with the body of my beers, but this is one of few beers I've brewed with entirely extract - I usually use some steeping grains. For example, my latest RIS has a luxuriously thick body and is made with the same DME, plus lots of roasted, chocolate, special b and caramunich. I think next time I do a pale ale I'll use some Crystal 60L in addition to the other malts and see how much that helps. I don't think adding Carapils or Maltodextrin powder would help, as the gravity is already on the high side.
Perhaps what you're interpreting as lack of body is really something else. In any case, C60 is not going to add more body than carapils or maltodex. Now if you want it to taste more like SNPA, by all means add C60 (if that's how SN makes it).
