john from dc
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jan 17, 2008
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hi all,
this came up in another thread so instead of completely derailing that one i thought i'd start another. apologies in advance for the wall of text.
sweetness, and conversely dryness in beer are qualities that most of us understand on a qualitative level. in addition, there are certain methods employed during the brewing process that have been proven to make the finished beer sweeter or drier. mashing temp, yeast selection and additives seem to be the big ones.
but the components of a finished beer that make it sweet or dry are a little less obvious. clearly, unfermented sugars and dextrins will add to sweetness, and i'm of the opinion that higher alcohol flavor adds to a perception of dryness.
other flavors like maltiness and fruitiness can enhance the perception of sweetness and hop bitterness can cover it up.
mashing low creates high amounts of short chain sugars and those sugars are metabolized by the yeast leaving less residual sweetness in the finished beer. but residual sweetness is a tricky thing, because the longer the chain of dextrin, the less sweet it tastes. it seems like there's a sweet spot (no pun intended) where the molecule is long enough to be unfermentable, but still short enough to sweeten the final product. in practice, these molecules seem to be favorably produced when mashing in the high 150s farenheit.
i've seen charts that assign different levels of sweet or dry to ranges of final gravities (1.003-1.008 very dry, etc.) but final gravity seems to be more of a guideline than a reliable measure. a beer with a ton of alcohol and residual long chain dextrins will be drier than a low alcohol beer whose final gravity consists mostly of unfermented short(ish) chain dextrins, and it's quite possible the two could have the same fg.
i guess i'm just wondering how people think about sweetness and dryness, and what other methods folks might employ to change the sweetness of their finished beer.
this came up in another thread so instead of completely derailing that one i thought i'd start another. apologies in advance for the wall of text.
sweetness, and conversely dryness in beer are qualities that most of us understand on a qualitative level. in addition, there are certain methods employed during the brewing process that have been proven to make the finished beer sweeter or drier. mashing temp, yeast selection and additives seem to be the big ones.
but the components of a finished beer that make it sweet or dry are a little less obvious. clearly, unfermented sugars and dextrins will add to sweetness, and i'm of the opinion that higher alcohol flavor adds to a perception of dryness.
other flavors like maltiness and fruitiness can enhance the perception of sweetness and hop bitterness can cover it up.
mashing low creates high amounts of short chain sugars and those sugars are metabolized by the yeast leaving less residual sweetness in the finished beer. but residual sweetness is a tricky thing, because the longer the chain of dextrin, the less sweet it tastes. it seems like there's a sweet spot (no pun intended) where the molecule is long enough to be unfermentable, but still short enough to sweeten the final product. in practice, these molecules seem to be favorably produced when mashing in the high 150s farenheit.
i've seen charts that assign different levels of sweet or dry to ranges of final gravities (1.003-1.008 very dry, etc.) but final gravity seems to be more of a guideline than a reliable measure. a beer with a ton of alcohol and residual long chain dextrins will be drier than a low alcohol beer whose final gravity consists mostly of unfermented short(ish) chain dextrins, and it's quite possible the two could have the same fg.
i guess i'm just wondering how people think about sweetness and dryness, and what other methods folks might employ to change the sweetness of their finished beer.