[Tylerpayne]

This is my second batch to brew. The first one I only drank a few because the beer tasted watered down. I have brewed my second batch, going with a witbier this time. And I just tried it after getting the gravity reading as I was putting it into secondly for another week and it taste watery as well. Any advice is much appreciated. The recipe is as follow:

Water:
Bottled 5 gallon jugs from the local 50 cent fill station

Steeping grains:
1 lb Avangard Pilsen
12 oz avangard wheat
12 oz flaked oats
8 oz flaked wheat

Extract:
3 lbs Briess Pilsen DME
1 lb Briess Wheat DME

Yeast:
Wyeast 3944

Hops/Spices
1 oz German Perele @ 45 minutes
1/2 oz Coriander 1/2 oz orange peel 2 grams Chamomile @ 5 Minutes

Grains steeped for an hour
60 minute boil

OG: 1.040
Gravity after primary for 1 week: 1.010


Will the beer get any better after secondary and carbonation or am I stuck with a watery beer again.

Thanks for your help.

[natebrews]

Carbonation will change it a lot.  It is a funny thing where if you have too little, it is watery and if you have too much it is thin and fizzy, but just the right amount will make it full. 

This is something that commonly is seen with low gravity beers like you made (1.040), and you will see reference to it for english bitters and some other low gravity styles.  If you look at the carbonation levels for those beers, they tend to be in the low carbonation category. 

If you have one of your other beers, and it is pretty carbonated, try taking a chop stick or something and wisk out some of the carbonation and try it, then do it again and so on with attention to how the mouthfeel presents itself.

Good Luck!

[dmtaylor]

Shoot for 1.060 instead of 1.040.  That might do the trick.

Also, steep or mini-mash in the 150s F for just 30-40 minutes instead of 60 minutes.  This will leave more unfermentable dextrins in the wort compared to a full hour mash.  If you were steeping in the 140s for a full hour, the enzymes from the pilsner malt will be doing cartwheels and jumping jacks in your wort.

[Tylerpayne]

Shoot for 1.060 instead of 1.040.  That might do the trick.

Also, steep or mini-mash in the 150s F for just 30-40 minutes instead of 60 minutes.  This will leave more unfermentable dextrins in the wort compared to a full hour mash.  If you were steeping in the 140s for a full hour, the enzymes from the pilsner malt will be doing cartwheels and jumping jacks in your wort.

I steeped the gains at 150 for 1 hour. So that may have affected it.

In order to get the higher OG do I modify the recipe? I bought this as a kit from my LHBS.

[dannyjed]

Shoot for 1.060 instead of 1.040.  That might do the trick.

Also, steep or mini-mash in the 150s F for just 30-40 minutes instead of 60 minutes.  This will leave more unfermentable dextrins in the wort compared to a full hour mash.  If you were steeping in the 140s for a full hour, the enzymes from the pilsner malt will be doing cartwheels and jumping jacks in your wort.

This^^. Most beer at 1.040 is going to taste thin.

[Joe Sr.]

This is a wit beer. I don't think you want to go too much over 1.040. It's a light bodied beer. If you're tasting it flat that is the main problem. Get it carbed up and you should be fine.


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[Phil_M]

As heretical as this may sound, some lower gravity/low carbonation beers well seem thin if served cold. Maybe try taking one out of the fridge for 10-15 minutes before pouring? If over carbonation is the issue this will make things worse though.

[santoch]

Witbier is a style that should be highly carbonated. This helps elevate the mouthfeel, giving it a light and spritzy feeling, increasing the aromatics, and adding carbonic acidity, which adds a light tartness.

1.040 is below the low end of the style, which according to the 2015 guidelines goes 1.044 up to 1.052.
If its still in primary, I'd boil up about 1.25 lbs of wheat DME in about 3/4 gallon of water and a 1/4 oz of Styrian goldings or a noble hop like Tettnanger or Hallertaur, and add that to the primary. You'll get more volume than a 5 gal batch (which is why I suggest overshooting the gravity a touch and adding a few more hops).

One other thing you can do is get some maltodextrin powder and add about 1/3 cup of that when adding the extract.

HTH-

[edit] Be sure to use a blowoff tube if you are increasing the volume you have going in the fermenter.

[zwiller]

It will take time to figure out how small a beer you can brew before it gets "watery" to you.  For me, it's around 1.044 but 90% time I am around 1.050.  That said, I agree that carbonation will really help and it could very well be just fine.  I don't like to doctor beers post ferment so I suggest you leave it be.  Someone much wiser than me suggested to start planning your next brew rather than obsess about your current one...  Not sure if you are doing full wort boils or partial and topping up, but I think partial boils can also contribute to a watery/diluted flavor. 

[Joe Sr.]

It will take time to figure out how small a beer you can brew before it gets "watery" to you.  For me, it's around 1.044 but 90% time I am around 1.050.  That said, I agree that carbonation will really help and it could very well be just fine.  I don't like to doctor beers post ferment so I suggest you leave it be.  Someone much wiser than me suggested to start planning your next brew rather than obsess about your current one...  Not sure if you are doing full wort boils or partial and topping up, but I think partial boils can also contribute to a watery/diluted flavor.

I don't agree that topping up would cause watery beer. I suppose it could depend on how much water you add but if you top up to your intended gravity there should be no effective difference from a full boil (assuming hopping and color is accounted for in the recipe).

I agree that leaving it alone is probably the best route. Adding dme at this point would be an effective way to boost the gravity but that also changes the beer from the intended recipe (assuming 1.040 was where you wanted to be).

[jrdatta]

Add calcium chloride to your brewing water.  Like 3-5 grams.  Should fatten the body right up.  Also wait for it to be carbed.  Just because it is low gravity doesn't mean it has to taste watery.