BIAB 3 Gallon Brew too sweet!

[Agentx07]

Brewed up 3 gallon BIAB and beer came out real sweet tasting. What could have gone wrong? 1st time all grain and luckly only bottled 2.8 gallons of really sweet beer.

7 lb 2-row
1 lb Munich
.4 oz Carafoam
.4 oz Melanoiden Malt
.4 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L

.75 citra(12.5) 60 min
.75 citra(12.5) 15 min
.75 citra(12.5) 10 min
.75 citra(12.5) 5 min
.75 citra(12.5) 1 min

2 oz Citra Dryhop 5 days

1 pkg S-04

Mashed in 152 for 60 min, then 168 10 min
og: 1.064
fg: 1.012
Ferment 21 days @ 66
Bottled 3/21/14 stored @ 69
1st bottled opened 4/27/14 (ok carb level but very sweet)

 

[sptaylor70]

I can suggest several reasons, but it's conjecture, and mostly far-fetched.

Are you completely certain that you added the hops? A couple of times, I've forgotten and had to start the boil clock over again. Which didn't hurt my beer at all. But if I hadn't put them in, then I would have gotten a sickly sweet beer.

How big was your boil? If I assume a 4 gallon on Brewer's Friend, I get 127 IBU. But if I assume 1 gallon, then that gets cut down to 35 IBU.

How accurate is your thermometer? A candy thermometer is probably the best readily-available option, an alcohol thermometer, like they sell at most LHBSs, is pretty good. A digital thermocouple ... it depends. Mashing 1-2 degF high wouldn't necessarily provide noticeable extra dextrins, but 3-4 degF might. Still, at >100 IBU, that shouldn't be a problem.

What do you plan to do about it (if anything)?

 

[mb82]

With the FG being where it is I don't see any reason the beer is sweet.

 

[NTexBrewer]

You said that the carbonation was OK.

It is possible that it is not fully carbonated and you are tasting the priming sugar.

I had something similar recently with one of my beers. Just let it sit in the closet for a while longer and it finally carbonated fully and no longer tasted sweet.

I definitely have had a problem with some of my beers carbonating this spring with temperatures fluctuating so much.

 

[Agentx07]

Started with 4.5 gal in the boil. Finished at 3.25 gal. The boil was a good rolling boil. Yes, did remember the hops at the times listed. Beer is not bitter at all. I had made the extract version of this beer (5 gallons) and it turned out great. It's been 4 weeks in the bottles. Maybe just isn't done with carbonation yet. Thanks for the input. I will double check my digital thermometer. Maybe it's off and mashed to high.

 

[btbnl]

If you'd mashed too high wouldn't that show up in a higher final gravity?

As has been pointed out, with that FG there's no reason for it to be sickly sweet unless it's priming sugar. How much did you use? Did it get fully dissolved and mixed? Have you tried other bottles (ideally from different stages of bottling)?

 

[sumbrewindude]

What is your effeciency?

I brew 3gal batches, and the OG for that grain bill looks way low for that amount of grain. I'd bet you mashed to hot and got crap EFF, left you with too many unfermentables.

Looks like a tasty recipe, though!

 

[MarshmallowBlue]

Well, you're really getting not much bittering hops in there. I do 3 Gallon batches (BIAB) as well. For real bittering value you only have 3/4 of an ounce. The other additions are very minimal. You can see by the chart that even at the 15 minute addition our looking at only utilizing ~7% AA.

Did your five gallon batch finish at a lower gravity per chance? Dryer beer needs less hops to get bitterness.

 

[strambo]

Citras are a fruity tasting hop. I've noticed my all Citra beers don't seem as bitter as the IBU number would indicate.




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[Agentx07]

Just a quick follow up. Some bottles were fully carbonated and others were not. Used to little priming sugar for 3 gallons. 1st 12 bottles are good. The rest are flat and sweet. Thanks everyone for feedback to figure this out!