my ipa is to sweet ah help

Hey guys this is my first batch..beer turned out good but there is one major prob. My ipa taste like a Belgium ahhhhhhhh and I hate Belgium . It's just to sweet I am guessing its from the dextrose for priming but hey this is not time to point fingers lol what I need to no is how do I fix it???? Could I go buy a oz of bittering hops and dump it into my beer ? ... my beer is 100% done I was going to keg it this week but not tasting like this helpppp lol

I think we need a little more info to help you. Recipe? Process? OG and FG?

I'm confused about your use of dextrose for priming if you are going to be kegging it this week. Priming sugar is added at the time of packaging. Maybe you haven't given the dextrose time to ferment out??

More details would help too. What was your recipe and gravity measurements?

also when you say it tastes like a Belgian, do you mean fruity? Make sure you include your yeast and fermenting temps.

Not sure of the recipe came with a kit from true brew tosed it all out I did everything they said. I had it fermented for 3 weeks bottled in 1.5 gallon jugs for 12 days to carb and the beer has been sitting another 3 weeks. And yes its fruity like a Belgium . My yeast was muntons standard and I fermented at 68/70 f

sick-cadaver said:

Not sure of the recipe came with a kit from true brew tosed it all out I did everything they said. I had it fermented for 3 weeks bottled in 1.5 gallon jugs for 12 days to carb and the beer has been sitting another 3 weeks. And yes its fruity like a Belgium . My yeast was muntons standard and I fermented at 68/70 f

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"Fruity" is different than "sweet". "Fruity" is likely a fermentation issue - too warm and/or yeast issues (I am not familiar with Muntons yeast). If the room temp was 70°F, the fermentation was likely closer to 75°F. The warmer the temp, the more fruity esters produced. And some yeasts are more fruity than others

Did you take any gravity readings?

Also, I'm still confused about your bottling/kegging process. 1.5 gallon jugs? Were you also somehow planning on moving this to a keg now?

sick-cadaver said:

I hate Belgium

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What did Belgium do to you? Steal your girlfriend?

lasted checked it was at 5%abv and i bottled the beer in 1.5 gal jugs and i bought a coors light home draft keg and i was going to put my brew into the lil keg. and lol i just dont like Belgium i had prob over 20 different kind they just make me sick.

JLem beat me to it. Sounds like you have esters from yeast issues - high temps, type of yeast, possibly underpitching. May not be a lot you can do with this batch if that is the case. For next time try a clean yeast like S-05, WL001, then ferment mid 60's (BEER temp, not ambient), pitch enough yeast.

I too don't get what you're doing there with your carbing/kegging. Not sure what a coors home draft keg is, but I would think you want to carb right in it - not try to transfer from jugs. I hope those jugs are rated for bottle carbing - can get some major bombs if not.

what exactly were the OG and FG?

and it barley was ever 70 i kept it in my closest witch was more likely low 60s just on a hot day it might hit 70 tops

lol my kit came with dextrose for priming i primed the beer and put the beer into 1.5 gal jugs now its all done i was going to put into a coors home draft keg..

as was pointed out 70 ambient could be 75+ beer temp which is way too hot for what it seems like you want (clean tasting ale without fruity esters).
do you have your OG and FG readings?

yes i have the right jugs and the coors home draft is a 1.5 gal keg that runs off c02 tubes like a airsoft gun its pretty neat... u can carb in it but i didt have it at the time and i didt see the hard after it was all done to transfer i seen it done a 100 time.. and for the og i am going to re test that in the am my kid cracked my test tube for the hydro so i am going to have to fix that

sick-cadaver said:

lol my kit came with dextrose for priming i primed the beer and put the beer into 1.5 gal jugs now its all done i was going to put into a coors home draft keg..

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I don't know about the home draft keg, but you need to be careful about where you carbonate your beer - as chickypad mentioned, the glass bottle/jug you carbonate in needs to be rated to hold the pressure, otherwise you it could explode. Where did you get the 1.5 gallon jugs?

yea i think ur right guys i think i am going to dump this out since i dont no any Belgium drinkers. next time i going to keep it a lil cooler in baltimore the temp is up and down one day 45 the next 60.so its hard to keep a steady temp untill i build a nice set up. i was hoping i could save this buy going and buying a very bitter hop like Columbia since the alfa in it is between 14/16 and it would take the fruityness out of it

sick-cadaver said:

yea i think ur right guys i think i am going to dump this out since i dont no any Belgium drinkers. next time i going to keep it a lil cooler in baltimore the temp is up and down one day 45 the next 60.so its hard to keep a steady temp untill i build a nice set up. i was hoping i could save this buy going and buying a very bitter hop like Columbia since the alfa in it is between 14/16 and it would take the fruityness out of it

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Unfortunately, I don't think this would work. You'd just end up with a bitter, but still fruity beer. Actually, I'm not sure how much bitterness you would get anyway since hop bitterness requires boiling.

i got the growler jugs from a wine factory they are rated to hold pressure for beer thats what there made for

well alot of people dry hop there beer such as rouge and stone and dogfish head they just put hops right into there done beer and let it sit to make it more bitter witch i lovee bitter lol .. i might as well try lol

sick-cadaver said:

well alot of people dry hop there beer such as rouge and stone and dogfish head they just put hops right into there done beer and let it sit to make it more bitter witch i lovee bitter lol .. i might as well try lol

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Dry hopping doesn't really add bitterness. It gives a wonderful hoppy aroma and some flavor. You need to boil hops to get bitterness.

sick-cadaver said:

i got the growler jugs from a wine factory they are rated to hold pressure for beer thats what there made for

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growlers can hold beer that is already carbonated, but are not really rated to hold a lot of pressure, so shouldn't be used to carbonate beer in. Generally, growlers are filled off a keg, so pressure doesn't really build up inside.

yea ur right i was not thinking have to boil to get the yellow lupulus powder to make it bitter.. man i guess down the drain it goes lol

sick-cadaver said:

and for the og i am going to re test that in the am

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You would be testing the final gravity at this point, and you want to do that before you carbonate. I think you're going to have to let the sample go flat before getting a reading (never done it that way).

As per JLem's post, please be sure the growlers really are rated for carbonating, not just holding already carbonated beer. Most wine bottles are not, and can explode.

i did test it before i carbed it i have to go look at my log book.. and yes the growlers i bought where made to carb my beer

The pale ale should have SOME esters, but they shouldn't be over pronounced. As others have stated, it sounds like a fermentation issue. I would try a 1056 yeast with a big starter at 61 degrees. Raise the temp to 64 during conditioning after dry hopping. You did dry hop right? For some reason I have seen a lot of posts lately where new brewers are making pales and IPAs and not dry hopping. I don't know if it's the chinsey instructions that come with kits or what

squirrelly said:

The pale ale should have SOME esters, but they shouldn't be over pronounced.

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Err... no.

I mean, any beer will have esters *present*, but in a APA it's permissible for them to be sub-threshold (i.e. undetectable.) If a brewer wants to make a totally neutral pale ale, that's well within the style guidelines.

squirrelly said:

You did dry hop right? For some reason I have seen a lot of posts lately where new brewers are making pales and IPAs and not dry hopping. I don't know if it's the chinsey instructions that come with kits or what

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Again. Dryhopping isn't necessary either. This goes for IPAs and *especially* pales. Totally optional.

There are to many "lol"s for me to keep interest. Muttons yeast is not the best. Ideal beer needs; yeast pitch control, fermentation temp control, and oxygen. The rest is ip to you and your house process.

I suppose I'm partial to west coast pales and IPAs, but most judges I judge with and talk to will score the beer down or not to style if a dry hop nose is not noticeable. The beer should be very balanced, but a hop bitterness and aroma should be prominent.

As far as esters go I agree esters should never come out to noticeable, but if you had a pale (or any beer) with no esters it would be pretty bland. The esters should be way in the background and if noticeable at all, they should be complementing the citrus notes in the hops.

Would making a hop tea (boiling the hops in water) and adding to the keg correct this, Or would this ruin the beer?
Or adding a primming yeast to the keg, just a small amount like the brewers do after filtering?