• Welcome to the new forum! We upgraded our forum software with a host of new boards, capabilities and features. It is also more secure.
    Jump in and join the conversation! You can learn more about the upgrade and new features here.

How come my beer is so sweet?

dabeer

Brewer
Joined
Oct 9, 2009
Messages
49
Reaction score
0
My last two patches of beer came out sweeter than I would have likes.  Oatmeal stout, and nut brown ale.  Suppost to be somewhat sweet but I don't think this sweet.  Is it to young still, too much extract, FG not right.  Confused.
 
    What was your Original Gravity (OG) and how much yeast did you use?
Did you use a yeast starter, what was your fermenting temp?

Most times it depends on the type of yeast your using
the temperature your fermenting at
and the amount of yeast your starting with.

If you can give us some more info, we can narrow it down.
stevemwazup
 
At a minimum we need the OG, FG and the yeast used to best determine if the yeast did what it was expected to do.  Subtract the OG from the FG (for ex, 1.055-1.015 = 40) and divide 40/55 and that is the attenuation achieved.  Here it would be 72%.  Then compare that to the yeast's typical AA%. 

Significant differences could be caused by numerous things, so the more detail provided the quicker potential  causes can be eliminated, leaving a most-likely culprit. 

Old package, no starter, too cold, temps fluctuating, high ratio of crystal grains, moon phases, etc.
 
SG 1.042 FG 1.010 Used Activator smack pack yeast, no starter, temp was pretty steady around 68.  Primary for 12 days, secondary for two weeks. Kegged let it chill, and tasted. 
 
32 diff/42 OG = 76% attenuation, which is good.  And FG of 1.010 is fairly dry.

Both an oatmeal stout and nut brown ale would call for grains that would leave some residual creaminess or sweetness.  Did you have flaked oats in the stout and some crystals in the NBA?  The numbers imply ingredient sweetness more than an attenuation/yeast issue.  People's palates are different; you could be sensitive to sweets. 
 
Yeah looking at the recipe it mentions sweetness.  Which obvious I overlooked.  I also steeped grains for the full 30 minutes, which if I knew the grains would cause the extra sweetness, I would have only steeped for 10 minutes or so. Thanks for the input, at least it wasn't my brewing technique that screwed things up, just have to look at the recipe more closly before choosing a beer.
Thanks,

 
Back
Top