1st AG Batch too malty

[aeonderdonk]

Today I bottled my first batch of AG Two Hearted clone. It had a nice hop taste to it but oh my god it was like syrup. My friends who helped kept asking how much sugar I added to it.

What would cause it to be like this? I had it in a single fermenter for almost a month so I assumed it was fully fermented out.

Any ideas?

 

[BigEd]

There is no way to answer your question without seeing the recipe and how you did it (mash and ferment).

 

[enderwig]

Recipe and mash temps?

 

[aeonderdonk]

Here is my recipe/procedure

10 lb 2-row
2 lb vienna
0.5 lb cara-pils
0.5 lb caramel 20L

1oz centennial @ 60 min
1oz centennial @ 15 min
1oz centennial @ 5 min
1oz centennial @ flame out

Mash 4 gallons @ 155* for 1 hour, dropped to 152 over the hour
Sparged 6 gallons in two batches at 180*
Boiled 60 mins

Efficiency was only 60% due to lack of stirring during sparge so if anything I would expect it to be less sweet and more watered down.

 

[enderwig]

Also what was your OG and FG? Are you fairly certain of your thermometers calibration? If its off 2 or 3 degrees you could have been mashing at 158 or more.

 

[aeonderdonk]

OG was 1.052 i didn't take a FG. I guess I can crack one open and take a reading now. Worth it?

 

[Bobby_M]

You'd find out how much you attenuated. That 155F mash could have been 158 with a little thermo deviation and that would explain the sweetness.

 

[DarkSide]

What kind of yeast did you use? Some have low attenuation, meaning they leave behind more sugars. Did you pitch enough yeast? If you under pitched, there might not have been enough yeast to fully convert all the sugars. This happened to me with one batch and yes it was sweet.

 

[aeonderdonk]

just popped a bottle and took a reading of 1.01. I took readings pretty consistently throughout the mash and it wasn't ever higher than 155.

 

[aeonderdonk]

What kind of yeast did you use? Some have low attenuation, meaning they leave behind more sugars. Did you pitch enough yeast? If you under pitched, there might not have been enough yeast to fully convert all the sugars. This happened to me with one batch and yes it was sweet.

I used a cultured yeast from bottles of oberon (Bells uses the same house strain). I made a half gallon starter and pitched that at high krausen.

Looks like it attenuated with a FG reading of 1.01

 

[user 22118]

sweet like syrup at 1.010? That isn't right. The recipe and process lends itself to be a tasty beverage, the OG and FG also do. Did you use lactose to bottle condition, because there is no way that it would carb and be at that FG and still be sweet. You tested uncarbonated beer right?

 

[DarkSide]

I used a cultured yeast from bottles of oberon (Bells uses the same house strain). I made a half gallon starter and pitched that at high krausen.

Looks like it attenuated with a FG reading of 1.01

When you took the Gravity of the bottled beer, was it carbonated? If it was, did you de-carb before you took the reading? If not the reading is not accurate.

Also, if you are going to use cultured yeast from bottles, you should start with a small starter, say 1 or 2 cups. This will allow the you to build up the number of healthy yeast cells. Then take that mini starter and build a bigger starter to pitch to your wort.

 

[Beezer94]

Regardless of process, give the beer at least 3 weeks in the bottle and then taste again.

Flat beer fresh out of the fermenter won't taste like the end product.

 

[aeonderdonk]

I stepped starter up from a pint to a half gallon. I tested fg about 5 hours after bottling so probably no carbonation going on. I guess I will give it a few weeks but beer out of the primary at least kinda tastes like end product and the sweetness has me scared.

 

[Bobby_M]

I guess I'd look at the hops at this point. Were they old or poorly stored? Did you use a fine mesh bag to contain the hops in the boil. It sounds like your balance is a little off.

 

[greenbirds]

What about his hydrometer? I have a terrible hydrometer that reads 5 points lower than it should. Maybe his does that or is worse. In that case his OG could actually have been 1.058-9 (not unreasonable) and the FG under-attenuated at 1.016-17. Just an idea.

 

[aeonderdonk]

Hops were from LHBS so I assume they were fresh. Bought a couple days before brew day and kept in the fridge. No hopbag, just tossed them in as usual.

 

[JKoravos]

Something definitely seems funny here. You didn't have much caramel in your recipe and it seems to have attenuated well. You shouldn't be getting a syrupiness. If you said it was a little more sweet than you were expecting, that would be one thing, but syrupy? That doesn't seem right to me. To me, syrupy is a beer that stalls in the 1.020s and up.

 

[Coastarine]

If the beer is undercabonated, that can make it taste syrupy.

 

[aeonderdonk]

It was like I was drinking a watered down bit of LME. Maybe I'm misremembering it from the thrashing my friends gave me?

 

[JKoravos]

It didn't taste hoppy? You have a pretty good amount of IBUs in that recipe.

 

[aeonderdonk]

It didn't taste hoppy? You have a pretty good amount of IBUs in that recipe.

Sorry, a hoppy watered down LME