Custom recipe tastes too sweet

[GreenDog]

So I'm still kind of new to the whole recipe design process. After a few pretty good attempts I decided to experiment with late hopping and increasing the ABV by increasing the amount of extract I used.

However after over a month in secondary the FG has settled but the beer still tastes like there is too much sugar that the yeast hasn't consumed. I did a few calculations and with an OG of 1.066 and a FG of 1.020 the attenuation is right at about 70% which is just below the 72%-76% attenuation listed by WYeast.

Is this sweetness just a side effect of using too much extract and not balancing it with enough hops? Or is there anything to be gained by adding more yeast?

Here is the recipe:

Extracts:
8lb Extra Pale DME

Yeast:
Wyeast 1272

Specialty Grains:
.5 lb crystal 10
1.3oz roasted barley (color)

Hops:
1oz Galena @ 60mins
2.8oz Centennial @ 20mins
6oz Cascade @ 5min

Fermented at about 75* for 8 days then racked to secondary where it has been for about a month. The gravity at the time of racking to secondary was the same it is now, 1.020.

Any advice will be greatly appreciated. Let me know if there is any information I left out.

 

[Yooper]

Generally, a "two sweet" beer is underhopped or underattenuated. In this case, it looks like both! The bittering hops are there to counterbalance the sweetness of the malt- but not using enough, the beer will lean towards sweet. Many extract beers stop at 1.020 due to the unfermentability of the extract- which leaves a residual sweetness to the beer.

In this case, that's a double whammy.

The goodness is that while the beer may remain a bit too sweet, carbonation really changes it quite a bit. The acidic bite of carbonation makes a too-sweet beer not-so-sweet.

I ran the recipe through Beersmith quickly. It looks like you've got an OG of 1.070 (calculated) with IBUs of about 49. That's a bit OG with not enough bittering hops. You should have great flavor with the late additions, though! I think it will be better in a few weeks once it's carbed up. I like to have a more balanced OG/IBU for pale ales/IPAs. I'd probably go with an OG of 1.060 and 55 IBUs, for example. So that the OG and the IBUs are close in number, for a more balanced hoppy beer.

 

[emjay]

Many extract beers stop at 1.020 due to the unfermentability of the extract- which leaves a residual sweetness to the beer.

I know I read in a book recently, either "Designing Great Beers" or Chris White's "Yeast", that contrary to popular belief, the unfermentable higher-order polysaccharides/dextrins don't actually impart much of a sweet taste at all, and having done pretty identical beers and just changing up the mash temps, I notice while the body and final gravity is definitely affected, it really doesn't seem to alter the sweetness in any noticeable manner.

However, if simpler, fermentable sugars don't get fully attenuated, it will definitely leave some residual sweetness, and this CAN happen easily with extract, especially if yeast nutrient isn't added, due to the poor availability of all the necessary nutrients in many extracts.

Underhopping and even under-carbing, as you mentioned, can definitely make the beer taste sweeter.

Some yeast strains just seem to accentuate the malt sweetness as well, though generally you'd only use such strains if that's what you're actually looking for.

And even the mineral profile of the water can add to the perception of sweetness - chloride is mainly responsible for this if I remember correctly.

 

[GreenDog]

Well this wasn't carbonated yet, although it looks like I should have added more bittering hops. It looks like I'm going to have to go back and check my calculations. I did everything by hand and calculated a 1.064 OG and about 64 IBU.