Fruit beer too tart, backsweetening and lactose?

[xSpeaker]

Hello!

Made a basic clean ale, added a bunch of strawberries, and definitely forgot about it for too long. Fermented out too much, so now it's WAY too tart. It's in a keg, so I can mess with it.

I'm thinking about turning it into a strawberry creamsicle and hoping you wise folks can help with suggestions:

-Perhaps a simple syrup and dissolving lactose into it for some body. Equal parts by volume water, sugar, lactose (8oz each).

Would that work? Will the world end? Should I just RDWAHAB and give it a shot and report back?

Thanks y'all.

 

[MindenMan]

If you haven't added sorbate, etc., adding sugar will only make the problem worse by making your beer even more thin. You could add a little lactose to improve mouth feel and add a little sweetness, or a combination of non-fermentable sweeteners. I suggest you get a measured amount of your ale and sweeten by the glass until you find a happy spot, and then calculate for your keg. Personally, I would under sweeten on purpose, wait a few days, or even a week, as sometimes the sweetness will appear to increase on it's own. Good luck.

 

[JimRausch]

Yeah, that's been my experience with fruit additions. Unless you have a very low attenuating yeast, or do something to stop fermentation, all the fructose/sucrose from the fruit ferments completely leaving a tartness with a hint of flavor. It does get better with time- a cider I did took almost 2 years to mellow out, and a raspberry cream ale took about a year. I pasteurized the Graf I did last year 4 days after bottling and that turned out well.
As long as your yeast is dead/dormant, adding sugar should help. But if there is still active yeast, it'll eat up the new addition. Of course, lactose isn't fermentable, so you're OK there. You could add a tsp. of sugar syrup to each glass you pour- I did that with the cider until it mellowed.
Good Luck!

 

[xSpeaker]

Guys, thanks. Y'all are awesome. Maybe I'll toss it in a closet and let it get happy for a while.