Long conditioning time

I'm just getting started in my brewing career. I've brewed three batches, a porter and two IPAs, and they've all come out excellent. The question I have is that it is taking three or more weeks in the bottle for the sugary taste of the priming sugar to fully ferment. With my last batch I tried pitching a large yeast starter (1qt. in a 5-gallon batch), which greatly improved the primary fermentation rate, but doesn't seem to have improved the conditioning. At two weeks the bottles are nicely carbonated, and have a good head, but are still very sweet. Any thoughts?

They shouldn't be sweet at all, even with only two weeks in the bottle. They might not be conditioned yet, and still be "green", but shouldn't be sweet. Three weeks in the bottle is a minimum amount of time for conditioning. They should be at 70 degrees, if possible.

The only thing I can think of is maybe you bottled a bit early? Are the bottles overcarbonated at all? What was the FG when you bottled?

Yeah, look at almost ALL the threads here (including the Stone Cold Noob thread,) or the daily "is my beer infected" threads, and you will see the answer repeatedly..."Patience." Most new brewers don't have patience and start cracking the bottles after 2 weeks...Then they complain/panick if it's under/over carbed or tastes funky...

It takes a minimum 3 weeks @ 70 degrees for most beers to bottle condition, truly fully carb and start losing the off flavors. Some beers take longer than 3 weeks....It's really dependant on style...

Look here for a good explanation;

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showpost.php?p=558191&postcount=101

We aren't making koolaid, where we just add sugar, water and drink, we are working with the life cycle of a living thing (yeasts) and since it's alive it has it's own agenda...and timetable.

Also, I'd emphasize the "70 degrees" part of that. I made an IPA that's been in bottles for three weeks, and whilst it was conditioning I didn't noticed the cupboard where I was storing them had gotten cold. When I tasted one after three weeks the taste was fantastic, but the beer was almost totally flat, as I assume the yeasties had all fallen asleep. So I've moved them somewhere warm, but I now have to wait three more weeks for them to condition properly. Doh! Needing patience sucks.

FG when I bottled was 1.024, but I forgot to measure until after I had added the priming sugar, so I'm sure that's not accurate. It was in the primary for one week, bubbled like crazy for the first 2-3 days. Racked to the secondary for about two weeks. Conditioned in the bottle for 2 weeks. It sounds like patience may be my problem, that's not uncommon for me. The one I "tested" after two weeks was neither flat nor over-carbonated. Needing patience does suck!

Montag said:

FG when I bottled was 1.024, but I forgot to measure until after I had added the priming sugar, so I'm sure that's not accurate. It was in the primary for one week, bubbled like crazy for the first 2-3 days. Racked to the secondary for about two weeks. Conditioned in the bottle for 2 weeks. It sounds like patience may be my problem, that's not uncommon for me. The one I "tested" after two weeks was neither flat nor over-carbonated. Needing patience does suck!

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What was the OG? 1.024 is not done in my book..unless the OG was 1.09+..Even after the priming sugar was added this is too high...the priming sugar will not raise it more than .001. I would keep an eye on these and fridge them as soon as the carbonation is to your liking.. For the future check the FG before u rack to secondary...if it is 1.024 one day and again three days later than yes it is done but 1.024 is high..My 1.12 OG imperial stout finished at about the same 1.025, but that was expected.


And yes patience does suck..this is why we brew more..to forget about those that need to age more.
Jay

1.024 is your problem...they are not done fermenting...you bottled too soon...

What was the OG? Depending on your yeast's attenuation, I always use 75%, you should not rack to a secondary until it's done fermenting and there's a 75% drop from your OG.

The only other reason for the brew being too sweet would be you underhopped for the amount of malt you used (which is in direct proportion to over-malting for the amount of hops you used...).

I always preach patience. Fermentation is a natural process that cannot be fooled with without consequences...now you are experiencing one of those.

Yea I now have a beer (wheat ale) that didnt ferment very well - fg was about 1018 fair bit higher then it should have been - the result is the beer is pretty sweet. Just tried one after 2 weeks in the bottle and shes pretty smooth and sweet. Then again wheat beers are suposed to be fairly sweet anyway.

Chalk it up to a learning experience - and enjoy the sweetness

Cheers