used too much crystal -- beer too sweet. ideas?

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RBlagojevich

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This batch (a mutt: a russian imperial stout fermented with a belgian ale strain) is sweeter than I'd like. I'm pretty sure the sweetness is coming from too much crystal malt.

What do you think about adding some brett?
 
imo a beer can't be too sweet for me.. as long as it is high in abv

I have the opposite problem.. my beer is too dry so Im thinking of boiling a pound of laxtose sugar and putting it in the secondary
 
Whats your OG and FG? I guess thats moot if you want to add brett. That will dry it right out. Just be prepared to wait a year.
 
i'm assuming it's still in the fermenter?

it simply might need more time. try warming it to 70-72 and rousing the yeast by gently lifting and swirling the carboy.

I would wait first. then go for the brett if it doesn't eventually get where you want.
 
This batch (a mutt: a russian imperial stout fermented with a belgian ale strain) is sweeter than I'd like. I'm pretty sure the sweetness is coming from too much crystal malt.

I have the opposite problem.. my beer is too dry so Im thinking of boiling a pound of laxtose sugar and putting it in the secondary

Why don't you two get together and blend your beer. It may turn out just right.:)
 
I've heard oaking can fight some sweetness.
I tried it with my Baltic Porter.
It didn't work :(
 
well, i added the dregs of a couple of orvals. We'll see what happens! (i hope it doesn't take a year). this is a pretty high gravity beer -- how does brett do with that?
 
just an update on this beer: It's been aging in a carboy for several months, since I wasn't happy with the sweetness. Two weeks ago, I added the dregs of two bottles of Orval. There hasn't been any visible activity -- no pellicle, and the airlock activity is so minimal that it's impossible to say whether it's just temperature changes at work.

But I took a sample and tasted it a couple of days ago, and I think it's less sweet! It tastes good to me now. No noticeable brett funk yet, but I'm hoping that over time it'll start to happen.

I hope it's not too alcoholic; the beer is around 10-11% ABV.

Tonight, I added the dregs from a Jolly Pumpkin. Waiting and hoping.
 
a pellicle has begun to form around the perimeter and the beer is now tasting complex and funky -- imagine a dark Orval. gravity is still around 1.030. I would happily drink this now, but I'm afraid of bottling it since the brett might produce a lot more CO2.

Dregs added: orval, cantillon kriek, and jolly pumpkin oro de calabaza.
 
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