Fg right on but brew tastes and smells sweet

[Sidman]

So I upgraded equipment and brewed my first 10 G batch of all grain. I had a lot of new things going on so my head was spinning to say the least. I brewed a AHS Cream Ale recipe that I have done tons of times in partial mash. I had received a refractometer just the day before so I used that to help guide me with pre boil gravity measurements. Unfortunately I did not calibrate the refractometer before using it on this batch. So when I got to preboil it seemed that my gravity was low so I added in 1 lb DME based off of the actual points vs expected points. The end result was that my original gravity came in at 1.060 vs expected 1.052. I realized the calibration issue and corrected.

So I fermented 1 wk primary, 1 wk secondary and now it has been 30 days since I brewed. The batch came in at 1.015 instead of 1.014 for final gravity to the secondary.

Now in smelling and tasting the brew it has a stronger than expected sweetness and even honey smell /taste.
I can't believe the .001 difference on FG is the issue, is the addition of the dme the cause? Is this something that will mellow in a few more weeks?

Thanks for all the help in advance!

 

[d3track]

Did you correct your bittering to match the gravity change?

 

[Rockn_M]

I doubt 1 week was enough time in the primary. Next time try and take measurements 3 days apart to make sure fermentation was complete. Also what were you fermentation temps. That might cause the off smell and taste.

 

[Sidman]

Did you correct your bittering to match the gravity change?

Since it was basically a 2 x 5 gallon recipe "kit" I only had the 2 1oz package of hops.

Is there a calculator for that or could beersmith tell me how much to adjust that? Compared to the style guide comparison the recipe showed to be in the red High range for bitterness so I thought I would be ok there.

 

[Sidman]

I doubt 1 week was enough time in the primary. Next time try and take measurements 3 days apart to make sure fermentation was complete. Also what were you fermentation temps. That might cause the off smell and taste.

I fermented it at 66 degrees which was right in the middle of the optimum temp range for the yeast.

 

[d3track]

Since it was basically a 2 x 5 gallon recipe "kit" I only had the 2 1oz package of hops.

Is there a calculator for that or could beersmith tell me how much to adjust that? Compared to the style guide comparison the recipe showed to be in the red High range for bitterness so I thought I would be ok there.

You can make the updates in beer smith to reflect the amount of fermentables and bittering from the hops

 

[Sidman]

You can make the updates in beer smith to reflect the amount of fermentables and bittering from the hops

Excellent and TY. I went back in and added the DME. That changed the IBU's to 20 which was still on the high range.

I wonder if I am dealing with a yeast issue. I separated the wort into 2 5gallon batches. One is sweeter and the other seems ok. One of my smack packs
was already partially swollen even before I smacked it and I wonder if that could be the difference?

 

[tooldudetool]

Did you use your refractometer to measure the fg? Refractometers cannot measure accurately with alcohol present, you need to use a hydrometer to measure fg...
Your actual fg may be higher than you think..

 

[Sidman]

Did you use your refractometer to measure the fg? Refractometers cannot measure accurately with alcohol present, you need to use a hydrometer to measure fg...
Your actual fg may be higher than you think..

I used a hydrometer.

 

[jwalk4]

This might be a silly question because you have made this beer a few times, but what was your mash temp?

 

[ncbrewer]

According to some sources, bitterness perception is based on the BU:GU (bitterness units : Gravity units) ratio. (See http://finnhillbrewing.blogspot.com/2011/04/bugu-ratios.html for an example.) Your ratio might still be more on the malty side than what you wanted.