Sweet Beer?

[Vanoontour]

I am drinking my first two AG brews now and they seem to taste unusually sweet? Now because these are my first I readily accept fault, but the question is why.

The first was an attempt at a pilsner (bestmalz pils malt and B Saaz), S-23 yeast. This was fermented warmer than I would have liked, at 18 deg. Bottle primed with raw sugar. The carbonation isn't great with very little hiss when first opening a bottle. Is the sweetness yeast related or not using the sugar during carbonation?

The second was a Dr Smurtos Golden Ale, this fermented out well, using US-05 yeast at 18 degrees again. Again used raw sugar, and carbonation isn't great as well.

I am leaning towards the sugar not being able to be fully fermentable leaving residual sweetness. Is this plausible?

Would a warmer mash show up as sweetness? Warmer fermenting?

Cheers for any advise, vanoontour.

 

[Supra-Jim]

More details are required here.

Do you have the following:
Mash temp for each
OG and FG for each beer
How long were they in the bottle before trying them

Cheers SJ

 

[manticle]

If the beer is not carbed there will be sweetness from the unused sugar.
You may also get some fruitiness from lagers at high temps.

SJ's questions will help, especially mash temperature (and are you 100% confident in your thermometer) and Final gravity/attenuation. Any unfermentables, lots of crystal malts etc?

 

[Bongchitis]

How long have they been in the bottle?

Edit: Sorry, last Q by Suprajim

 

[Vanoontour]

SJ,IIRC the Pils was mashed at 66deg and the DSGA was a bit warmer at 68deg.
The pils OG wasn't measured but I suspect it to around 1055 going by previous readings and attempts with a FG of 1010. The DSGA was diluted to 1050 and FG was 1012. The pils has been in the bottle for about 3 weeks and the DGSA (which currently has more carbonation) has been in the bottle for around 2 weeks.

Manticle, On regarding the thermometer, I was confident until recent times when it shat itself, but it did indicate correctly during the brewing, and was compared to a second as a confirmation.

 

[manticle]

Wait and see when they are carbed properly if the sweetness dies away.

If not then re-visit.

 

[Bribie G]

For a pils, try a hochkurz mash - 62 for 40 mins then 72 for 40 mins then raise to a mashout at 79
66 is ok for a single infusion mash, but if your thermometer is a wee bit out and (hypothetically) you actually mashed at 68 that would account for a sweeter final beer.

 

[mikk]

2 & 3 weeks isn't enough, i reckon. Wait 4 weeks before casting judgement!

 

[Vanoontour]

Cheers all, will taste again in a few weeks and report back, vanoontour