Tried to do a low gravity type beer. I picked an APA and dry hopped it. I used too much sugar when bottling. Some bottles will foam over after opening. Some seem fine but they taste awful, very low in carbination, which is strange. If uou hold it up to the light there are plenty of bubbles, looks and smells great. Does this sound right?
Flat Like APA
- Thread starter flexbrew
- Start date
Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:
You don't indicate how long they've been in the bottle, so it's possible they just need more time. If you added too much sugar, I would think bottle bombs would be a bigger issue than too little carbonation. As for the bad taste, are you certain all bottles were properly sanitized?
broadbill
Well-Known Member
yup, more info needed...
They have neen in bottles for 2 months. 7.5# 2-row, .5# crystal 20, .25# crystal 120. I should clarify, doesnt taste hirrible like bad taste, just flat and without flavor. Im thinkinh its because I used so little grain. Its a 5 gsllon batch.
Mashed at 152. Og 1.040 fg 1.010. Ferm temp kept at 72 for 7 days, transfered to secondary and another 7 at 72 while dry hopping. Even the bottles that fizz over seem under carbonated. They look carbonated though, crazy bubbles.
you mention that they've been in the bottles for 2 months. When you drink them, how long have they been chilled? I find you need at least a few days in the fridge for the carbonation to seem right. A week is better. 3 weeks or more is best.
A couple I did with only after a few hours, the one i had last night had been in there over a week. I think i may just drink em, lol. I hate to dump them. I have a much stronger ipa in fermentation right now. I will make sure im adding the right amount of sugar.
Throw a bunch in the fridge and then forget about them for a while. You may find that 2 or 3 weeks out, they'll be great.
Also, how much priming sugar did you use?
I had a 1/3 cup and used 2.5 of that, couldnt find the right cup and thought about it after. Tgat was way too much sugar. I hace one of those soda stream machines, i may pour a couple into a bottle and inject more co2 hopefully not ruining the machine.
Well, that doesn't seem like too much sugar - only slightly more than the "standard" recommended amount. You really should measure by weight though.
I'm not so sure about that whole soda machine thing. Sounds like a bad idea to me. You don't really want your beer to be fizzy like soda. Also, I would be afraid that you'd just end up with beer foam. I'd just stick some bottles in the fridge, get started on another batch, and go buy some nice craft beers to enjoy in the meantime.
