Beer Too Sweet

What went wrong? Was this supposed to happen? Should I throw it out? What do I do now?

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unlicensedbrewer
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Location: Tucson, Arizona

Beer Too Sweet

Post by unlicensedbrewer »

I recently brewed a beer that was supposed to be in the style of a Classic American Pilsner. On bottling day, I took a taste test before and after adding the priming sugar. It had a really great flavor before the sugar was added, but when I tried it after I had bottled the beer, it tasted/and smelled really sweet. Just wondering if it will balance out after a few weeks, or I'm stuck with a sweet brew.

Ingredients Used:

6# X- Light DME
.5# Crystal Malt 10*L
2oz Crystal plugs (3.5AA;45min boil)
1oz Mt. Rainer (6.4AA; 5min boil)
Nottingham Ale Yeast

Proceedure:

I added the grains to 2.5 gallons of cool water, then added to heat. Steeped at 155* for 15 min. I removed the grains at 200*, waited till boiling, then added DME. Did a 60min boil, adding the hops for 45 and 5min boils. Cooled and added to fermenting bucket, filled with water to 5 gallon mark. Pitched yeast at 72*F

OG= 1.057
FG= 1.015

I transfered to carboy after 7 days, and it stayed there for another 7 days; never having temperatures above 72*F.

I boiled 5oz priming sugar in 1 liter of water for 5 min, cooled and put in bottling bucket, and siphoned beer from carboy.

Could it have been the ingredients, my proceedure, the yeast, added too much priming sugar?
Any help would be greatly appreciated...
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slothrob
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sweet beer

Post by slothrob »

How long has it been since you bottled? It can take 2 weeks or more for the yeast to use up all the bottling sugar.

1.015 is a little high for a Pilsner (this is actually a Blond Ale), part of that is due to the Crystal Malt. In the future, using less than 0.5# will lower the FG and make a less sweet beer.

More 60' hops (or in this case 45',) will increase the bitterness and therefore decrease the perception of sweetness, as will boiling them for 60' instead of 45'.

It can be difficult to get a really dry beer using extract. You can research for extracts that attenuate more, start with a lower OG, or exchange sugar for some of the extract to get the beer to finish drier.
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unlicensedbrewer
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Sweet Beer

Post by unlicensedbrewer »

I bottled it on Thursday. I tried it again today, seems to have good head retention already. Tastes, and smells a bit like wine.

What type of sugar would you recomend using? Corn sugar?

Thanx for the help!
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brewmeisterintng
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Sounds like a good Ale

Post by brewmeisterintng »

The beer probably turned out the way it was suppose to but not what you expected. To make a pilsner you must ferment at lager range temperature with a lager yeast strain. Lagers/ pilsners usually require additional equipment which includes a temperature control unit. They ferment slower (usually two weeks in the primary).
To answer your question though, corn sugar is priming sugar and you used the proper amount for a five gallon batch.
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slothrob
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Re: Sweet Beer

Post by slothrob »

unlicensedbrewer wrote:I bottled it on Thursday. I tried it again today, seems to have good head retention already. Tastes, and smells a bit like wine.

What type of sugar would you recomend using? Corn sugar?

Thanx for the help!
Corn sugar or table sugar are good, you just need to use less table sugar.

It's going to be a bit sweeter than the final until it's carbonated. 2 weeks or more.

Some of that winey smell is due to the yeast they gave you. You may want to set a few bottles away for a few months after they're carbonated. This kind of beer will generally smooth out quite a bit if aged, especially if aged cold. Many beers won't really hit their flavor peak until about 8 weeks after brewing. This is a beer that may continue to improve after that, even.
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