First Brew Party Last Night + Question

We enjoyed our first brew last night. We did the AHS Belgian White for our first ever attempt. I have to admit I was scared it wouldn't turn out given how much of a process went into brewing, fermenting and then force carbonating the beer but it all pulled out ok. It looked exactly like the picture and pretty much exactly like other Belgian Whites I'd had in the past. The carbonation process went well also and it was done just right.

However the beer was quite sweet. I was pretty sure the fermentation process was done based on the behaviour of the airlock and the hydrometer readings. We did use an alcohol booster and I suspect that might've been the reason for that being that it's just extra sugar. Any suggestions or tips on this would be appreciated?

It's ok though. Everyone enjoyed the experience. The first glass was great but most had trouble drinking more than two because of the sugar. Women liked it alot since it was so sweet.

If you degass a sample of beer, you can take the finishing gravity. This won't tell you the alcohol content (you'd need to know your original gravity for that as well), but it will tell you how "sweet" the beer really is. I doubt the alcohol booster is the culprit.

As for the "fullness", don't let the sweetness fool you. Homebrew, or any unfiltered brew for that matter, will be very filling.

Normally, I go to the brew pub and leave very satisfied after 2 standard 16 ounce beers. If I'm drinking german beer, I have1.5-2 Liters. I dunno what it is, but the unfiltered beers make me feel more full. I guess that's a good thing though, since I drink to enjoy. :cross:

Homebrew (and craft beers) have more complex carbohydrates and residual protein than the typical commercial brew. These produce a feeling of fullness. It is not unusual for homebrew to be a bit sweeter than a commercial beer, getting good attenuation and drying out a brew is more difficult for us.

The boost, however, is a simple sugar & will have fermented out completely.

That's pretty interesting. I hadn't heard of "finishing gravity" yet. We're still pretty green to the process and I haven't had time to read entirely through the "How To Brew" book or pick up any other literature on the subject.

We were basically using Blue Moon beer as a comparison to what we brewed.

Any suggestions on how to adjust or compensate for being too sweet? If the booster is out as a culprit and we were pretty darn sure we got the brewing process correct then what else is there?

Typically the reason for sweet beer is incomplete fermentation. Without a hydrometer reading, you cannot be sure fermentation was complete, regardless of how little airlock activity you had. Just because the airlock is quiet does not mean it is fully fermented. You could have a stuck fermentation or it was actually still going just not producing audible bubbles in your airlock.