Low attenuation and no sweetness

[smizak]

Any of you guys brew a beer that attenuated like crap but had no sweetness?

It's a new one for me. What's interesting is that I recall the Pope saying that sometimes a higher mash temp will result in unfermentable dextrins that are not sweet.

I brewed a N. English Brown that attenuated rather poorly, 1.052->1.017, Wyeast London Ale 1028. I just tried my first one and it is rather dry, almost no residual sweetness. It definitely has some mouth feel to it, it is pretty viscous.

I'm pretty psyched about it anyway. I was bummed that it would be pretty cloying, and actually it is rather refreshing. I don't know, maybe the LHBS mixed up the Carapils and Maris Otter.

 

[displacedyoop]

I just brewed a stout where the mash temp was high (at avg 165 for 2 hrs.) poor job on my part. I am curious to see what kind of results I get as well.

 

[fred_zepp]

I did an English bitter that apparently hit target gravity. It was definitely bitter. I found that after a few months of cold aging it got much better. Sadly, I only had two bottles left after the first two months.

 

[ghpeel]

I did an English bitter that apparently hit target gravity. It was definitely bitter. I found that after a few months of cold aging it got much better. Sadly, I only had two bottles left after the first two months.

Interesting. Just started drinking my Standard Bitter and it is indeed a little more bitter than I was expecting. Not bad, by any means, but would be much better with about 10 IBU's knocked off. I'll have to keep some bottles in the back of the fridge for a while and see if that helps.

 

[Prionburger]

I've two beers turn out with a similar result. One was a dry stout fermented with London Ale yeast. The other was a california common. Luckily after two months, the beers really came together, just in time for Christmas.

What was the cause of the off flavor? I'm thinking mostly diacetyl. The beers were both pretty buttery. The stout actually tasted rather soapy. It was incredibly gross until just a few days ago. I was convinced it was contaminated with soap or infected with wild yeast. But these beers have really come together. The beery tartness was absent, but now it's there. The flavor is crisper, the malt comes out clear and sweet. The bitterness didn't change much in quantity, but its quality changed from offensive to normal. Quite an awesome transformation!

IMO, set it aside, drink one a week, and trouble shoot your attenuation by brewing another beer! Attenuation's the problem I'm wrestling with right now. I keep getting a few points above my target. It has to be oxygenation or temperature fluctuations during fermentation.

 

[Doc Robinson]

Lower mash temps = more fermentable sugars = more sweetness if attenuation is bad. Higher mash temps = less fermentable sugars = less sweetness regardless if attenuation is bad. I would say the problem was in the mash. Either temps were either too high or so low that conversion hardly took place at all. Either situation would explain poor attenuation.