Lacking malt character

Brewing Processes
1

Hey, y’alls. I’m having an issue with my beers lately. I guess the best way to describe them is “overly clean” or just plain “lacking malt character”. The beers are very drinkable, but just kind of missing something.

I use my tap water through a home RO system. The water is very nice and clean. I adjust water with Bru’n water spreadsheet. I usually shoot for the 50-75ppm range for calcium, chloride, and sulfate, adjusting, usually, with equal amounts of gypsum and calcium chloride in the mash and sparge.

Two things I can think of that would cause this: Too low of a mash temperature. I’ve been missing low lately, usually in the 148-150 range. So I’ve been mashing for 90 minutes because of it, instead of adding boiling water to raise or anything. I’m on a bigger system, so I’m getting used to higher water volumes.

Or, I’m not using enough calcium chloride in my water. It’s usually around 2g for 5 gallons of mash/sparge water for 7 gallon batches.

I should also mention that these beers were Brewing Classic Styles bitter, Northern English brown, and a couple others that I can’t think of right now. So they should have plenty of malt character, I’d think. Also the yeast was Wyeast 1335, which does indeed seem very dry and crisp, but it doesn’t seem like the beers should be lacking that much malt character.

Any thoughts as to causes for a thin, kinda watery, lacking malt character, beer? My pH in Bru’n water is usually figured for the 5.3 range, and shoot for 5.4-5.5 for darker beers.

Thanks in advance.

2

you’ve mentioned some of the culprits already.
depending on the beer, some munich, melanoiden can help.

3

I say use a tad more chloride, a little less sulfate and mash maybe151-152 for 60. And there’s always a few oz of Aromatic to bump it up a bit.

4

I also had an oktoberfest back in September that was VERY clean, it was the BCS oktoberfest. It was really good, but also lacked malt character.

5

ok- so as Jon mentions chloride bumped up and the mash temp should fix considering your grist selection is style appropriate.

edit: was your oktobefest mashed low temp also?

6

Thanks. I think I will in fact up the chloride and the mash temperature. Are there any other potential causes for lack of malt character?

The oktoberfest was step mashed: 30 minutes at 145, and 40 minutes at 155, I think.

7

other than what s been mentioned, all that pops out is yeast selection. some yeasts drive more of the malt characteristics than others.

think you’ll see a difference with the chloride and mash temp-i’d start there.

8

just a suggestion you can decide if you want to try -use a little melanoiden. its been described as cheating decoction in that the added melanoidens do what the maillard reaction does in a decoction.

9

My off-the-cuff troubleshooting:
A) Calibrate your thermometer
B) Use a warmer serving temp
C) Make sure you’re not overcarbonated
D) What base malts are you using? Are you using English/continental base malts as called for? The US stuff just isn’t close.

The BCS O’fest is malty, but not a malt bomb. Maybe you need to recalibrate your palate a bit? Try to find some fresh commercial examples of the styles you’re brewing and do a side-by-side tasting.

Side note - try swapping the CaraMunich in the BCS O’fest with some good (i.e., not Briess) Aromatic malt. That does a nice job of kicking up the Munichy goodness.

10

Jut a WAG, but I think it’s the yeast.

11

WL833/WY2487 is great for a malty beer, if you haven’t tried it.  WY2206 too, obviously.

12

Thanks, guys.

Eric - I’m using a Thermopen for measuring my mash, as far as I know, it’s been very accurate.
I do serve my beer pretty cold. I keep my kegerator at 38, but the beer comes out in the 35-37 range, with 10 PSI going in. Perhaps that’s part of it.
And for base malts, I’m using good German malts and British malts. Best and UK Pearl were the base malts for these beers.
Yeast for the oktoberefst was Saflager 34/70, which I’ve really liked. But perhaps it is too clean and dry for oktoberfest style…although a friend of mine brewed the BCS without the caramunich (forgot to add) with the same yeast and it was much maltier than mine. So that sort of points me to water. He used tap and I used RO with minimal additions. Mine was cleaner and more enjoyable, IMO.

So, it sounds like a combination of a bunch of things here: water (up the chloride), mash temp (mash a little higher, like 153-154), serving temp (serving a little cold maybe), and yeast (using yeasts that don’t accentuate malt character).
Anything else you guys can think of that I’m missing?

13

Try 1450

14

Yep, great yeast.

15

Actually, I have a pack of 1450 in my fridge for my next series of beers. Haven’t brewed with it in a couple years, looking forward to it.

16

Are you actually taking pH readings or going off Brunwater?

17

2 things:

1). I like to mix up my sparge water additions in about a quart or two of 170df water before adding to the mash during sparging - the CaCl doesn’t seem to dissolve well.

2). if i remember, you serve your beers lower carbed, right?  I found when my carb levels were too high on maltier beers, some of the carbonation ‘hid’ the maltiness.

18

rabeb25 - I’m not actually measuring and going off of Bru’n water. I know that’s a bit of a crutch, but it’s worked in the past…I suppose it’s not bullet proof.

Paul - I don’t serve super low carb…it’s in the 2.4 volume range. I think serving as cold as I do might be part of it. The beer is in the 35-37F range out of the tap usually. I’ll let some warm up tonight and see what I think.

19

I would get a ph meter and check… you have a TDS meter on the RO?

20

managing PH (taking readings) is good practice, however IMO that’s not your issue-otherwise I would have expected to hear a list of problems related to mash PH.

i wont take PH readings on familiar brews based upon my experiences. whenever i make variations or do something new, im taking a reading.