Anyway to fix a overly sweet beer?

[Carter1932]

Brewed an amber ale a year ago that's too sweet to enjoy and still have about 4 gallons left in a keg. I think the hop schedule was wrong or the alpha acids were listed incorrect.

I'm about to dump it but before I do thought I'd ask if there is any better use for it, or way to amend it?

 

[Shinglejohn]

if its still around after a year, just dump it and move on.

 

[dougdecinces]

Three ideas:

1) Throw a party. It's free beer, and people would be jerks to throw it out.

2) Cook with it. Amber ale is my go-to beer for a lot of cooking needs. How can you complain about fish and chips, onion rings, ribs, or beer cheese?

3) Use it in the garden. Dilute beer makes a decent fertilizer. Though for four gallons, you better have several acres of land.

 

[GuldTuborg]

4 gallons, huh? That's a lot to waste. If I had an empty carboy, I'd rack it in there and pitch some dregs from a few soured beers, but that's just me. If you're not into the whole sour thing, I might just move on as well. It's not going to get any less sweet as the years go by. There's always more beer to be made.

Edit: another thought is to dry hop the hell out of it in the keg. It might get you a better beer, but it might also waste a bunch of hops. Life's full of risks, I suppose.

Or just use it as drunk beer. Serve it to people (yourself included) who are already a bit tipsy. It won't be too sweet then, it'll just be more alcohol.

 

[payton34]

get a small strainer and put some fresh hops in it and pour your beer over the hops before you drink it

 

[onthekeg]

Just for the sake of discussion. Why is it overly sweet? Recipe problem? No starter? Sugar starter? Fermented too cold? Racked too soon? I just would like to know so when people ask if they have to do things, I can link here. Selfish ain't I?

 

[JefeTheVol]

add some beano to that b*tch!

 

[edmanster]

isomerized hop extract... its like a couple drops add 10 IBU's to a finnished beer...

 

[Carter1932]

Just for the sake of discussion. Why is it overly sweet? Recipe problem? No starter? Sugar starter? Fermented too cold? Racked too soon? I just would like to know so when people ask if they have to do things, I can link here. Selfish ain't I?

Pretty sure the hop schedule was off, or the hops weren't the AA advertised. Everything else seemed to be on target.

Good thought on the sour. Think I'll rack some to a 3 gallon carboy and give that a try. The rest I can dry hop with some homegrown Cascades and see if its worth drinking afterwards.

 

[electric_beer]

What I did when my barleywine was too sweet was basically make an over-hopped starter. I used a cup of DME with just about a gallon of water, boiled it plus hops I used in the previous recipe. The numbers came out to about an OG of 1.05 (so the gravity wouldn't drop too much), ~85 IBUs @ 60 % ~40 IBUs @ 15 for more hop taste, and let the whole thing ferment out (you can top crop or rack out a yeast sample if you don't want to use new yeast. Once its all fermented add to your original beer and let it settle for a few days to help it meld together. Fixed my beer perfectly, hopefully it will give you something drinkable! Good luck dude.

 

[LovetheHops]

What about pouring in 80oz of bud light. Would that work?

 

[HopZombie99]

I agree with the other lads who recommended adding hops. You could make a hops tea and add that to the beer as you drink it. Either that or pop open the keg and add it to there.

 

[daksin]

Why not make a super dry amber and blend the two?

 

[pacosarae]

It's free beer, and people would be jerks to throw it out.

 

[aogg]

What about pouring in 80oz of bud light. Would that work?

He wanted to make it drinkable. Not spend more money on crappy beer just to toss all of it in the garbage.

 

[ktblunden]

What about pouring in 80oz of bud light. Would that work?

Hopefully he doesn't still have it in the keg almost 3 years after brewing it.

 

[solbes]

Necro thread, good call Kt.

I cal dibs on the keg thats still sitting around with sweet amber in it. I need another keg

 

[Carter1932]

There were many good suggestions in this thread, but I ended up pitching it out. Wasn't worth the hassle, and was just easier to replace it with good stuff.