Sweet Beer

[chuckydeg]

I have done about 8 kits now and I'm experiencing most of the batches have had a sweet taste that isn't my cuppa.
I've done a Gold clone, Extra dry clone, Thomas cooper draught all of these had a sweet taste, draught was a lot better but still there.

I live in Darwin have been brewing at room temp which has been between 26-30.
I usually use coopers brew enhancers and or light malt.

I have done a couple nice brews using similar procedure and ingredients so I'm stumped.

Maybe it's normal, Do some brews just turn out that way??

any tips/advice would be great.

 

[Renegade]

Three words to have tattooed on your kettle:

ADD
MORE
HOPS

Next time you place an order with your local brew shop, get a hundred grams each of a couple of hop varieties. Then boil up some water, add a bit of the syrup from your tin to that water, throw in about 10 grams of hops, then after 1/2 hour of boiling throw in another 10 grams, then 15 minutes before the end add another 15 grams. Then see what you think of the beer that you will eventually produce.

It will add to the cost of your brew by about six bucks. Not bad over 30 bottles

By the way, your temps are waaaaaaay too high. If you can knock 8 degrees off that you'll at least have less hangovers. But I dont know if that attributes to the sweetness.

 

[haysie]

Chucky, the high ferment temp will be producing fruity flavours or as you taste "sweet". Try get that ferment temp down around 18 for your ales and 10 for your lager.

p.s, pitch your yeast at your ferment temp too

 

[manticle]

I have done about 8 kits now and I'm experiencing most of the batches have had a sweet taste that isn't my cuppa.
I've done a Gold clone, Extra dry clone, Thomas cooper draught all of these had a sweet taste, draught was a lot better but still there.

I live in Darwin have been brewing at room temp which has been between 26-30.
I usually use coopers brew enhancers and or light malt.

I have done a couple nice brews using similar procedure and ingredients so I'm stumped.

Maybe it's normal, Do some brews just turn out that way??

any tips/advice would be great.

High temperatures can supposedly contribute to apple or cider like flavours. As the above have said, pull your temperatures down to something between 18 and 22 and you will get better beer that tastes more like beer. You can put the fermenter in a tub of water with ice bricks to cool it during the day while it ferments. It will take a bit longer but be much more worth it.

Also malt will leave more residual sweetness than either brew enhancer or dextrose. (Malt will also add body and aid head retention though whereas simple sugars give drier, thinner beers and can affect head). You might want to play around with using malt extract and dextrose until you find a balance you want. Adding some extra hops won't hurt but unless you start doing a boil you won't get much bitterness. You could make a hop tea or use some isohop extract for that instead though.

 

[Screwtop]

Chuckydeg,

What FG did the beers finish at, high gravity = unfermented sugars = sweet mouthfeel. If your beers are finishing around 1.010 then they are not sweet just out of balance. Sweetness/Bitterness balance, so if they are finishing at 1.010 but you perceive them as sweet then you need to increase the bitterness. If they are finishing high maybe up around 1.016 - 1.018 then they are sweet, even more bitterness or add some table sugar to drop the gravity.

Screwy

 

[Phoney]

If I was living in Darwin id be scouring the local paper for a cheap second hand fridge. Best investment you could ever make I reckon!

On the one hand im bloody jealous of you - sitting here shivering my tits off in Sydney. But on the other im kinda glad, looking at my fermenter sitting there at 18C on the kitchen floor

 

[chuckydeg]

thanks for all replies, it seems my temps are to high.
local brew shop reckons the temps are ok, maybe thats what they are use to up here.
i will try to get a fridge and a temp controller for it.

OG usually gets around 1010 so should I be using extra hops to even it out ??

thanks again.

 

[chuckydeg]

thanks for all replies, it seems my temps are to high.
local brew shop reckons the temps are ok, maybe thats what they are use to up here.
i will try to get a fridge and a temp controller for it.

OG usually gets around 1010 so should I be using extra hops to even it out ??

thanks again.

I meant FG damn newbies!!

 

[3GumsBrewing]

Ok I am posting this here cause i might get in trouble for a new topic!

I brewed this recently - Linky

Mashed at 66 for 90 min.
It started at 1.055 and finished at 1.002. Now i thought that would make a pretty dry beer, but god damn this is sweet.

Any ideas for next time, i now have heaps of this yeast and i reckon the brew could be a winner if a bit drier.

Cheers
DK

 

[rosswill]

This is a bit of a head scratcher. I have done around 100 AG's and never had a FG as low as 1002. Are you sure your hydrometer is accurate? It can't be the yeast, because it has done its job and got the FG down to 1002. There should be almost no residual sugar left. Bugger all crystal/cara malts. With the exception of the Amarillo aroma inclusion, the hops are not overly fruity, so should not be adding to the perception of sweetness.
I dunno. Some more experienced brewers on this site may have more answers.

 

[Fourstar]

Ok I am posting this here cause i might get in trouble for a new topic!

I brewed this recently - Linky

Mashed at 66 for 90 min.
It started at 1.055 and finished at 1.002. Now i thought that would make a pretty dry beer, but god damn this is sweet.

You sure it didnt finish at 1.020?! With that yeasts standard attenuation you should have been a 1.011 - 1.015. Although it has a high flocculation rate there is a chance it could have finished up early and stuck on 1.020. If you are adament it did finish @ 1.002 then im stumped! You either have an app attenuation of 96 odd % or maybe an infection?

 

[EK]

chuckydeg, is this 'sweet taste' a port-like taste? I had a number of kit brews turn out like this and after some research I found that this could be the result of an infection in the beer. The culprit was my sanitation, after changing the sanitation regime, I have fixed the problem.

The sanitation I am referring to is not my bottle sanitation but rather the fermenter and its associated trappings (tap, o-ring, grommet, airlock...). I have always used Sodium Metabisulfite and have not had problems with the bottles. I know this as I have changed my fermenter sanitation, not my bottling sanitation.

:icon_cheers:
EK

 

[warra48]

Another issue is the hops used, and the bitterness level of the brew.

You made a brew with an OG of 1.062, which is probably higher than average.
You used Saaz and Amarillo hops, both of which are smooth and gentle hops, to a total IBU of 27.3.

I'd say your issue is one or more of these:
1. As mentioned above, your FG might in fact be 1.020? If so, you may welll have lots residual malt sweetness.
2. Too little bittering. What was the IBU/SG level of your brew?
3. If your FG is 1.002, then you could be perceiving the rather high alcohol level as sweetness.
4. Your recipe has 4 kg of Pilsner malt. This is inherently somewhat sweeter tasting than ale malt.