Low FG, but very sweet taste

Yakima 728
Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
H

heywolfie1015

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 16, 2009
Messages
523
Reaction score
13
Location
Los Angeles
In general, has anyone ever experienced this? And what could cause it? After a recent success using Wyeast 3787, I started doing some experimental batches with it. The first, a SMaSH with Belgian Pale and Hallertau, went from 1.075 to 1.008. IBUs (based on Beersmih) are about 20. Nevertheless, it just went through 3 weeks of carbonation and is sickeningly sweet. (thi is after first being in the fermenters for 3 and 5 weeks respectively.)

any ideas why this might be, and if the flavor might mellow out?
 
I just bottled a barleywine....3 weeks in fermentor. 1.097 OG and 1.012 fg ...tasted very sweet to me.
 
homebrewer_99 said:
Without seeing your recipe I'd say you underhopped (or over-malted...).;)
Click to expand...

Sorry about that. 14.5 lbs. of Belgian Pale and 2.15 oz. of Hallertau (3.1% AA) for 60 minutes. Mashed at 149 for an hour and gravity went from 1075 to 1008.

I know the IBUs are pretty low (11-ish), but that was intentional since I was going for a slightly sweeter beer. With the gravity drop from 1.075 to 1.008, i would have thought sweetness would be balanced at least slightly by that bittering hop addition.

EDIT: Since the yeast is a Belgian Trappist yeast, I was definitely trying to "over-malt." :)
 
It's happened to me. English IPA with a SG of 1.081 finished at 1.012 and did come out very sweet. I'd say it tasted as sweet as Bigfoot which finishes around 1.024. This is a mystery to me.
 
mithion said:
It's happened to me. English IPA with a SG of 1.081 finished at 1.012 and did come out very sweet. I'd say it tasted as sweet as Bigfoot which finishes around 1.024. This is a mystery to me.
Click to expand...

How weird, especially with an IPA. Wonder what's happening here.

Did the sweetness fade at all over time?
 
heywolfie1015 said:
Sorry about that. 14.5 lbs. of Belgian Pale and 2.15 oz. of Hallertau (3.1% AA) for 60 minutes. Mashed at 149 for an hour and gravity went from 1075 to 1008.

I know the IBUs are pretty low (11-ish), but that was intentional since I was going for a slightly sweeter beer. With the gravity drop from 1.075 to 1.008, i would have thought sweetness would be balanced at least slightly by that bittering hop addition.

EDIT: Since the yeast is a Belgian Trappist yeast, I was definitely trying to "over-malt." :)
Click to expand...

I'd look into balance value: http://beercolor.netfirms.com/balance.html

and this chart: https://cdn.homebrewtalk.com/gallery/data/1/medium/hopsgraph.jpg

if your IBU's are really sub 20, its no wonder it came out so sweet according to both
 
heywolfie1015 said:
How weird, especially with an IPA. Wonder what's happening here.

Did the sweetness fade at all over time?
Click to expand...

It's been bottled since December and the sweetness hasn't subsided. I'm starting to wonder if there isn't a bit of residual sweetness from the priming sugar. I left it at room temperature for at least 3 weeks but maybe it needed more time?
 
I just wanted to provide an update. One week later and the flavor I noticed completely mellowed out. There is still a noticeable sweet malty flavor to the beer, but that was expected since the bu:gu ratio was about 1/4. The cloying sweetness is gone, replaced now by a minor hot alcohol flavor that I expect will also mellow with time.

3787 is a weird strain, I'll tell you what.
 
I bet it was priming sugar. I just tasted a double IPA that I primed and bottled a week ago, carbonation was a little low. OG = 1.091, FG = 1.011...and it had a sweetness too it. Probably from the extra residual unfermented priming solution. Your beer will dry out in the bottle and be nice I bet.
 
The other thing to remember is the difference between apparent attenuation and real attenuation. Because there is a lot of alcohol in your beer which is lighter than water, the sugars in your beer are much higher than what you'd get by adding sugars to water to get 1.008 SG wort. In fact, your beer has the same sugars as 1.020 SG wort. So, part of the answer is that it really is sweeter than most 1.008 beers because most 1.008 beers don't have all that alcohol bringing down the FG.
 
heywolfie1015 said:
The first, a SMaSH with Belgian Pale and Hallertau, went from 1.075 to 1.008. IBUs (based on Beersmih) are about 20.
Click to expand...

I don't know, to me the simple answer is that a 1.075 beer with 20 IBUs is just totally underhopped. I'm glad it's getting better, but it will be sweet since there aren't enough hops to balance out all the malt.
 

Similar threads

Chalkyt
Using Fuji juice to make sweet carbonated Cider
Replies
1
Views
506
Chalkyt
Chalkyt
M
9.2% BGSA bottle conditioning inconsistency 3 months after fermentation began, 2 months after bottling
Replies
1
Views
168
JohnSand
JohnSand
mashdar
Chocowheat Dry Session Stout
Replies
0
Views
500
mashdar
mashdar
G
Fermentis BR-8 dry Brettanomyces Experiences
2
Replies
62
Views
7K
Miraculix
Miraculix
T
Battle of the Ardennes: WLP550 v WY3522
Replies
5
Views
2K
tripelthelightfantastic
T

Latest posts

Back
Top