Over Fermented?

[dirty mac]

Hi guys, I am not a happy man. I have a stella style lager that has been bottled for 10 days. This was my process.
Brewed at 12C with saflager dried yeast. for 2 weeks.
Racked to secondary and left for a further 1 week at 12C
Rested at room temp for 24 hrs.
CC'd at 2C for 2 weeks.
Then brought back to 12C slowly in fridge and left for another week (didn't have time to bottle straight away)
I then bottled with carbo drops and they are conditioning in fridge at 12C

Now after cracking one just to see if it was going to be OK. It tasted not only sweet but almost like champagne

Is it possible that the brew has over fermented???

I'm seriously f***ing dirty about this as I've put a lot of blood, sweat and tears and not to mention a shitload of time. (I even bottled the 23L into 330ml nice hahn premium bottles...over 60 of the bastards :angry: )

Will this beer get better over time or am I stuck with this horrible alcoholic grapetise? My only theory that I've come up with is the carbo process is taking much longer being at 12C and the sugar taste is there cause It hasn't been eaten up yet.

Any advice would be good cause I am very dissilusioned about brewing a lager again.

 

[DarkFaerytale]

10 days isn't very long, leave it another week IMO, even 2, there will be a big taste difference

-Phill

 

[Voosher]

The sweetness would more indicate underfermentation rather than overfermentation.
I find my lagers can take a little time to balance.
Post your recipe. That will help a little more with a diagnosis.

 

[DJR]

Yup, just leave it. Lager yeast is slow as to carb up bottles, especially after most of the beasties drop out in the cold conditioning phase. Sometimes when i bottle i add half a sachet of dry ale yeast to the bottling bucket when i bulk prime, leave it at room temp for a week or two and it's good to go. The ale yeast doesn't affect the flavour since it's only fermenting a small amount of sugar.

You may find that the "sweet" taste is just extract tang, which some people can't stand, and some don't mind. Personally i hate it and that's why i went AG, but fresh wort kits or getting the freshest kit/extract you can find can help it go away.

Did you add just 1 sachet of saflager or 2 sachets, if you're pitching at 12C then 1 sachet is not enough, the yeast won't multiply enough and you'll get strange flavours.

 

[dirty mac]

The sweetness would more indicate underfermentation rather than overfermentation.
I find my lagers can take a little time to balance.
Post your recipe. That will help a little more with a diagnosis.

It was a muntons premium pilsner kit with saflager yeast and a brewblend (I never use these anymore cause I don't know exactly whats in them. I wised up since then and now boil up hops and steep grains and use malt etc)

So in short-nothing really out of the ordinary. Quite boring really, gee...what I know now compared to then.

 

[dirty mac]

Did you add just 1 sachet of saflager or 2 sachets, if you're pitching at 12C then 1 sachet is not enough, the yeast won't multiply enough and you'll get strange flavours.

Yep I added 2 satchets.

 

[Voosher]

The sweetness would more indicate underfermentation rather than overfermentation.
I find my lagers can take a little time to balance.
Post your recipe. That will help a little more with a diagnosis.

It was a muntons premium pilsner kit with saflager yeast and a brewblend (I never use these anymore cause I don't know exactly whats in them. I wised up since then and now boil up hops and steep grains and use malt etc)

So in short-nothing really out of the ordinary. Quite boring really, gee...what I know now compared to then.

Then just give it some time.

So long as sanitation is sound there's nothing significantly wrong with your process. I normally give a slightly longer diacetyl rest (at least 48 hrs) and normally towards the end of primary. Slightly longer conditioning would help a little as well but that's no biggy either.
Lager yeasts can highlight any recipe flaws or 'extract tang' because they give a cleaner tasting ferment. I can't comment personally on the Muntons kits but that could be the source.
You're clearly on the path to better beer if you want to control your ingredients. That's the best way to make sure you're giving your hard work the best chance.
RDWHAHB.

 

[warrenlw63]

The worst thing most kit brewers seem to encounter is the misguided notion that the kit in question is going to make an exact replica of the beer in question ie; Stella. My hunch is the brew ehancer kit the HB store gives you tells you this. In reality it should tell you that you'll get something similar but by no means exactly like Stella. <_<

Open the bottle and finding you have something that is nothing like Stella is probably a disappointment OTOH give the beer a bit of time to age as others have said and you will still have something enjoyable.

Just don't make a kit and brew enhancer combo expecting an exact clone of the real McCoy. Ain't gunna happen.

I'd suggest your sweet/champagne descriptor to be a lack of fresh malt, probably too much sugar and a complete lack of hops.

Warren -

 

[AngelTearsOnMyTongue]

I had a bfew brews earlier this year that took about 2 months to lose the sweetness and become suitably carbonated.

Patience Grasshopper...........patience

 

[dirty mac]

I had a bfew brews earlier this year that took about 2 months to lose the sweetness and become suitably carbonated.

Patience Grasshopper...........patience

Yes master....but I am firsty....he who drink commercial cat piss will surely end up wif headache.. :lol:

 

[Wortgames]

I totally agree that 10 days is WAY to early to be worrying about this brew.

If you want to be tasting this beer at its best, give it at least a month and maybe 2 months as close to 'cellar' temp as you can get (say 12C).

Also, try to have them in the fridge for a week or two before opening - this means you need a decent amount of fridge space or a clever rotation technique, but it is well worth it.

 

[DrewCarey82]

As an ex mad dog kitter, I found that beers should be left for the barest minimum for 1 month and even then I should be only a sample of 1. And leave for 2.5+ for best results.

The taste difference is absolutely astounding.

 

[JasonY]

So was the sample you had carbonated at all? As everyone has said 10days is not long and at 12degC it is damn short. The sweetness you are tasting is most likely unfermented carb drops! I would leave em out of the fridge for 3 - 4 wks to let the yeast carbonate it up then fridge em and drink em. Sure they will be fine given time.

If you are going to do diacetyl rests you should do it before racking as its the yeast that clean up the diacetyl and after racking you have reduced the amount of yeast. Don't think you will have a problem with that however.