r/Homebrewing • u/WZOLL5 • Aug 21 '26
Question Help with watery beer
I just cracked my first beer brew. Simple 1 gal. all grain Hefeweizen recipe: 1lb Pilsner, 1lb wheat, hand milled and mashed for 1 hour. 0.25oz hallertauer hops boiled for 1 hour. Munich yeast, 2 weeks fermented and 2 weeks bottled so far. Lacking carbonation so far but crystal clear.
The flavor is very close to a real German Hefeweizen (weihenstephaner) but is overall thin and watery. Looking for help on how to improve my next batch.
Some things I think went wrong:
Grain not milled properly: I crushed the grains with a rolling pin in a bag but maybe I didn’t crack them enough and they didn’t fully extract. Going to try and use the electric mill at the local brew store.
Mash temp too low: started around 155 but dipped to 135 for a bit when I wasn’t paying attention. Did I possibly not extract enough flavor for the wort?
Too much boil off: After boiling the hops for an hour, I lost about half my wort volume and topped it up with water back up to a gallon. I would think the boil off would just concentrate the wort so adding water back to the original volume wouldn’t be an issue. Is this wrong?
Thanks for the opinions!
3
u/Aggressive_Mix_137 Aug 21 '26
My guess is that as you said The abstraction efficiency for the grain was low. What I would have done after the boil is do a gravity and add the required water to get to the desired reading. (My guess is that you may have only needed to add a little water you would have made less beer but it likely would have been much nicer.) But everyone's preferences are different.
Did you do any gravity readings?
2
u/WZOLL5 Aug 21 '26
Unfortunately my hydrometer hadn’t come in yet. I have one now so I will definitely make sure I have a good starting gravity. That’s a good point to go off the OG and not volume.
1
u/Halichoeres_bivittat Aug 21 '26
I would also consider a refractometer. It's easier for measuring pre-boil wort so you can get an idea of sugar extraction from the grains, and can be found for quite cheap if you search online. Kettle (pre-boil) gravity should typically be a few (around 5-7) gravity points below original (pre-fermentation) gravity depending on boil time/vigor. If it's much lower then you likely have an extraction issue.
More efficient milling may also help. Break your malt bill into smaller quantities to ensure more cracking and breaking of the grains. You could consider keeping some dry malt extract on hand in case gravity dips low again.
2
u/WZOLL5 Aug 21 '26
Thanks for the pre boil gravity tip. I first got a hydrometer but quickly realized it’s much too tall for my small 2 gal pot so I got a refractometer also. A refractometer also uses a much smaller sample which is nice. I’ll pick up some dry malt at the brew shop tomorrow just in case. That’s a good idea.
1
u/Halichoeres_bivittat Aug 22 '26
You can also get a sample glass (tall and narrow) for Hydrometer samples.
1
2
u/hqeter Aug 21 '26
What were the specific gravities of the wort at different points of the process? And what was the calculated ABV of the finished beer?
The main thing that will impact mouthfeel if the final gravity of the finished beer. Generally this relates to unfermentable sugars and these are dictated by choice of grains and mash temp. The higher the mash temp the less fermentable sugars within the temp zone for mashing.
Carbonation will also change the mouth feel so taste it carbonated before you change too much.
2
u/Puzzled-Attempt84 Intermediate Aug 21 '26
Swirl all that good stuff at the bottom of the bottom before you pour into a glass. For this style, you’ll want all that.
1
2
2
u/Own-Jeweler1883 Aug 23 '26
You need something to measure start and final gravity. You brewed a session weizen. Drink it fast it won't last long. Low alcohol and little hop.
Don't use clear glass bottles! Just a few seconds of sunlight will alter the beer in a bad way. The beer you made looks good for a beer without measuring! A weizen is a complicated beer to start with because it's so simple. You will taste mistakes easy.
2
u/WZOLL5 Aug 23 '26
I know I shouldn’t use clear glass, it’s just what I already had. I’m carful to keep them covered in a closet so that they don’t skunk. I just made a new batch using a refractometer today. After mashing the grains the OG was only 1.035 so I added some wheat DME. Accidentally mis-calculated and ended up with an OG of 1.065 going into the fermenter. The recipe OG was supposed to be 1.050. I didn’t want to dilute more so we will see how it turns out.
1
u/smores27 Aug 22 '26
I had a similar issue. Make a goggle fogger clone with step mash. I’m wondering if I left it at the lower temp too long. The real thing is so rich. But now I’m wondering if my mill is set too coarse….
1
u/ldh909 Aug 22 '26
FYI, you can buy a corona mill for about $50 that is more than adequate for small batches. I've had one for 20 years. Only mill I've ever owned. I do all grain on small batches, but I usually do partial mash on larger batches.
1
u/EconomyAd6478 Aug 22 '26
Yep. How you crush your grains and your mash temp determine how much sugar is pulled out. The boil off is normal.
Always worth keeping some malt extract on hand as a backup.
1
u/yzerman2010 BJCP Aug 23 '26
I am assuming your BIAB..
Mash temp matters the first 30mins after that is minimized returns. Look at using a Sues Vide to manage your mash temp.
Rolling pin isn't enough, you need to mill the grain properly to get proper extraction
For small batch, design your recipe around 1.5 gallons so the sediment/hops and stuff is left behind.
Your base recipe should be about 2.5 gallons of water.
9
u/2_dog_father Aug 21 '26
You are correct, crush the grains correctly and keep your mash temp in check. These were the problems for your hefe being too thin. The boil off was just H2O, so correcting it did not contribute to your issue significantly.