Beer tastes more like wine?

I searched but couldn't come up with anything on this. Had some family over and thought I'd break out a brew that spent a little over a week in the primary, two weeks in the secondary, and about 10 days in the bottle. It was bottled with Carbonation Drops. Anyways, it tasted more like a sweet wine than beer... and no one liked it. Is this a sign of what you all are refering to as "green"? Is it so sweet because the yeast has not eaten enough of the priming sugars yet? Ruined? BTW, its an amber lager that I was able to lager at around 55~57 degrees and is very clear. There is "some" level of carbonation in the bottles but I was really expecting more.

Is there is anything I can do to help the situation. Could I slosh the bottles around some to re-disolve the yeast layer on the bottom of the bottles (there is a thin white layer of yeast at the bottom of each bottle)?

I really wasn't expecting too much from this batch as it is my first after a long hiatus, but I was at least hoping it would be drinkable...

What was your OG and FG?

How does it smell?

Did you use both priming sugar and drops???

The carb drops probably haven't been eaten completely. Slosh the bottles and give them a week at 70F. Then another two weeks before drinking.

Sephro said:

What was your OG and FG?

How does it smell?

Did you use both priming sugar and drops???

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Yeah, forgot this info... it started around 1.038 and finished around 1.05. It seemed to smell/taste OK and I don't remember any sweet taste to it at that time. Just carb drops as directed...

david_42 said:

The carb drops probably haven't been eaten completely. Slosh the bottles and give them a week at 70F. Then another two weeks before drinking.

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I felt like I might be rushing it just a little as I was going for the "1 week primary, 2 week secondary, 3 weeks in the bottle" rule... but I was just really suprised by how sweet it was. I swirled each bottle and remixed the yeast. Guess I've got another three weeks to wait befire trying again.

Thanks much

John Beere said:

Yeah, forgot this info... it started around 1.038 and finished around 1.05.

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Sorry, but somebody has to do it...the gravity went UP during fermentation?!


The under-carbonation will almost certainly sort itself out over the next couple of weeks. The sweetness may decrease a little because of this process. By the gravity, I doubt you used any unfermentable adjuncts...
Perhaps it is under-hopped. What hops did you use?

Shambolic said:

Sorry, but somebody has to do it...the gravity went UP during fermentation?!


The under-carbonation will almost certainly sort itself out over the next couple of weeks. The sweetness may decrease a little because of this process. By the gravity, I doubt you used any unfermentable adjuncts...
Perhaps it is under-hopped. What hops did you use?

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Heh... funny thing beer does to my typing skillz. I'm pretty sure this sweetness was added during the bottling process as I don't remember any noticible sweetness when I tasted it before bottling. This was my first foray into carbonation drops. I'll swirled up each bottle until the yeast cake disolved and will just give the batch another three or four weeks.

Thanks much