Carbonation & sweetness

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.
AZBeer

AZBeer

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 30, 2010
Messages
235
Reaction score
111
Location
Tucson
So I am a whopping 3 beers into brewing. All extract, and all kinda bigger beers.

Beer 1 - Heady Topper clone brewed on 4/3. 3 weeks in primary@ 64 degrees, cold crashed @ 40 degrees for 3 days then bottled. Came in a hair under 9% ABV.

Beer 2 - Citra APA brewed on 4/23. 3 weeks in primary @ 64 degrees, cold crashed @ 40 degrees for 3 days then bottled. Came in at 7.5% ABV.

Beer 3 - CDA kit brewed on 5/21. 3 weeks in primary @ 64 degrees, cold crashed @ 40 degrees for 3 days then bottled. (have not cracked one of these yet)

No 1 tasted okay going into the bottles, No 2 & No 3 tasted really good going into the bottles. As of 2 weeks ago, No 1 was flat and sweet. I just drank a bottle of No 2, and it almost had some bulbs, really good Citra nose, but overall the flavor was a little too sweet.

Am I just being impatient? I know these are kinda big beers, but...

I am planning on brewing a Wit next week that should be around 4.5%. Maybe I will have better luck there.
 
Oop, sorry. For No 1 & No 3 I used the priming "fizz drops" from Northern Brewer. For No 2 I used 1 domino sugar cube per bottle.
 
#1 should be carbonated by now for sure. Did you add priming sugar?

What do you mean that #2 "almost had some bulbs"?

Too sweet could mean you are mashing too high or using too much crystal malt. Also could be a low attenuating yeast. What is your recipe and mash temp?
 
I will check No 1 next weekend. Yes, the NB "Fizz Drops." One per 12 oz bottle.

No 2 had a slight hiss when I opened it, and if I shook the glass I god a thin layer of foam, but no head to speak of.

For No 1 & No 2 I steeped the specialty grains @ 170 (not sure where I came up with that temp), No 3 I steeped @ 154. Then the rest of the additions were extract and hops. Didn't do any yeast starters, all dry yeast. Pitched @ around 70 degrees. Lots of activity for all three for the first 3 or 4 days.
 
It could be that the caps did not seal. other problems that can cuase poor head are soap in the bottles from not enough rinsing.
 
Since you're complaining of sweetness, what were your final gravities?

And what temperature are you storing the bottles at?
 
ChelisHubby said:
It could be that the caps did not seal. other problems that can cuase poor head are soap in the bottles from not enough rinsing.
Click to expand...

TBH I didn't even think about the caps not sealing. I guess it's possible, but if they weren't sealing, would I get any hiss when I opened up the bottles?


btbnl said:
Since you're complaining of sweetness, what were your final gravities?

And what temperature are you storing the bottles at?
Click to expand...

No. 1 - OG 1.089 FG 1.018
No. 2 - OG 1.073 FG 1.012
No. 3 - OG 1.064 FG 1.006

Bottles are stored int he mid 70's.
 
One cause of "too sweet" in extract beers is simply the size of the boil.

It's because of the boil and IBUs. What I mean is this- say you have a recipe for 80 IBUs. That assumes all the wort being boiled and hopped. But many times, equipment limitations like a small boiling kettle mean that brewers may do a "partial boil", boiling say 2 gallons of wort and hopping it and then adding water to get to 5 gallons.

That normally works really well for most beers, but not for IPAs in general. The reason is this- the max that hops oils isomerize is usually under 100 IBUs. So, even if you got 100 IBUs in the 2.5 gallons, adding 2.5 gallons of water with 0 IBUs means that the max that beer could have is 50 IBUs. Since the likely isomerization is less, more like 80, that means that a partial boil with 2.5 gallons of wort topped off with 2.5 gallons of water will be 40 IBUs, max.

That's generally fine for most beers, but IPAs and even APAs can be 'sweet' if they don't have enough bittering hops to balance it.

I don't know the details of your technique, as you didn't mention that, but it could be one possibility.

The lack of carbonation could be loose caps, but a 9% beer does sometimes take a very long time to carb up. Make sure it's at 70-72 degrees and the caps are not loose.
 
Aristotelian said:
Those are some big beers you are making. Looks like you overshot your gravity too. I am going to guess #3 is going to be fine but I am guessing your yeast in #1 and possibly #2 are at the limit of their alcohol tolerance. They will take longer to carbonate, 6 to 8 weeks per this thread, maybe longer.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=139839&page=2
Click to expand...

Thanks for the link.

I wasn't intending on doing these big beers right out of the gate...honestly I didn't know when I ordered the two kits (No.1 & No.3), and didn't realize what the effect of brewing a big beer when I grab ingredients for No.2.

Out of curiosity, any links that discuss low vs high OG?

Yooper said:
One cause of "too sweet" in extract beers is simply the size of the boil.

It's because of the boil and IBUs. What I mean is this- say you have a recipe for 80 IBUs. That assumes all the wort being boiled and hopped. But many times, equipment limitations like a small boiling kettle mean that brewers may do a "partial boil", boiling say 2 gallons of wort and hopping it and then adding water to get to 5 gallons.

That normally works really well for most beers, but not for IPAs in general. The reason is this- the max that hops oils isomerize is usually under 100 IBUs. So, even if you got 100 IBUs in the 2.5 gallons, adding 2.5 gallons of water with 0 IBUs means that the max that beer could have is 50 IBUs. Since the likely isomerization is less, more like 80, that means that a partial boil with 2.5 gallons of wort topped off with 2.5 gallons of water will be 40 IBUs, max.

That's generally fine for most beers, but IPAs and even APAs can be 'sweet' if they don't have enough bittering hops to balance it.

I don't know the details of your technique, as you didn't mention that, but it could be one possibility.

The lack of carbonation could be loose caps, but a 9% beer does sometimes take a very long time to carb up. Make sure it's at 70-72 degrees and the caps are not loose.
Click to expand...

Small batch, full boil. Don't think that is it.

I will continue to give it time.
 
Beer No. 1 still flat.

Beer No. 2 is carbed, and tasty!

20160625_144052_zpsvssunwfd.jpg
[/URL][/IMG]
 
AZBeer said:
Oop, sorry. For No 1 & No 3 I used the priming "fizz drops" from Northern Brewer. For No 2 I used 1 domino sugar cube per bottle.
Click to expand...

I've been using the NB fizz drops too....they are fairly expensive compared to the sugar cubes. Did you notice a difference between them? Thanks!
 
Well, so far the NB fizz drops have not carbed my beer. But the one that I used them one is a 9% IIPA. I have also used them on a Black IPA, but not sure how it will turn out...it's not quite ready yet.

FWIW, the domino sugar cubes seem to be just about perfect. I'll probably use those going forward for bottling.
 
AZBeer said:
Well, so far the NB fizz drops have not carbed my beer. But the one that I used them one is a 9% IIPA. I have also used them on a Black IPA, but not sure how it will turn out...it's not quite ready yet.

FWIW, the domino sugar cubes seem to be just about perfect. I'll probably use those going forward for bottling.
Click to expand...

Thanks, btw do you use just one sugar cube?
 
AZBeer said:
Well, so far the NB fizz drops have not carbed my beer. But the one that I used them one is a 9% IIPA. I have also used them on a Black IPA, but not sure how it will turn out...it's not quite ready yet.

FWIW, the domino sugar cubes seem to be just about perfect. I'll probably use those going forward for bottling.
Click to expand...

I just opened my first beer with sugar cubes vs fizz drops. Gotta say it's a world of difference. Great head retention.....no more fizz drops for me. Plus, sugar cubes are about 1/3 the cost of fizz drops. Thanks for the tip.
 

Similar threads

P
Should I cold crash?
Replies
10
Views
896
bailey mountain brewer
bailey mountain brewer
C
First Beer medicine aftertaste
Replies
16
Views
745
Castro
C
_Keven
Just tried my first ever home brew and it tasted great but had a slight bitter after taste
Replies
1
Views
762
RM-MN
R
Denis2121
Racking to secondary with krausen
Replies
8
Views
432
hottpeper13
H
S
Under Carbonation
Replies
26
Views
771
Johnny2
J

Latest posts

Back
Top