Make Beer Sweeter??

[Hopzz]

Made my wife a great pineapple wheat beer but she mentioned it would be better if it were a tad sweeter.

Does anyone have an idea on how to sweeten the beer and make sure it still has that sweetness when it comes time to bottle condition??

 

[casualbrewer]

Mash a bit higher... Or get some honey malt...

 

[Northbank]

Lactose isn't fermentable ...

 

[kev211]

+1 on Lactose

 

[Hopzz]

Used a little honey malt. Maybe I should double that amount? Would lactose taste good in a fruit flavored wheat beer?

 

[worlddivides]

+2 on Lactose.

 

[FloppyKnockers]

+3 on lactose

 

[JimRausch]

To me, I don't get sweetness from lactose, but more of a 'thick mouthfeel' thing. Sorry, but I can't describe it any better.
If I want residual sweetness, I add 4-6 oz. of honeymalt in a 5G batch, and mash at 155-157.

 

[Fedora]

Made my wife a great pineapple wheat beer but she mentioned it would be better if it were a tad sweeter.

Does anyone have an idea on how to sweeten the beer and make sure it still has that sweetness when it comes time to bottle condition??

Lower IBUs to increase perceived sweetness? More pineapple?

 

[JimRausch]

Another kind of 'off-the-wall' possibility would be to take a chapter from the cider folks and add some xylitol at bottling time.

 

[Hopzz]

When I brewed I did 1# wheat and only 2 ounces of honey malt. It turned out phenomenal but the wife wants it to be sweeter.

Would adding another 4-6 ounces of honey malt mess up the wort and would I need to increase the wheat too?

 

[Hopzz]

Was for a 1 gallon recipe - now I do mostly 5 gallon batches

 

[brewcat]

Maybe use some flaked corn.

 

[cilestiok]

Maybe adjust chloride in the brewing liquor higher?

 

[hawaiibrewer]

Potassium Sorbate...is used in mead/wine making to control yeast activity and permit adding a sweetner....but you'd have to force carbonate and not count on natural fermentation to get your "bubbles"

 

[casualbrewer]

If you keg then just throw some pineapple juice in there. If in bottles then add some juice or slice of pineapple in glass...

 

[BlueHouseBrewhaus]

What did you use for the pineapple flavor? All the other suggestions will work but sometimes just the added flavor will increase the perception of sweetness.

 

[edb]

Like Fedora said lower IBUs will help thats the quick and easy, cut back on the 60min hops.

The recipe will really tell us more of the story.

The other thing to consider is fresh fruit can ferment, which technically can give you a dryer beer. There are various ways to address that but that may not be much of an issue if you drink the beer pretty quickly.

 

[Hopzz]

Wife likes tropical flavors so I used a beer kit with natural pineapple flavoring that mixes with primary sugar. I wish I could keg but I'm stuck with bottles for now. L

 

[Hopzz]

So the beer IBUs are between 16-20 and it's only 4% abv

For a one gallon batch I used 2oz honey malt, 1# wheat dme, willamette hops, and .8oz pineapple natural flavoring with Safbrew WB06.

It tastes really good now and was going to use this as my go to fruit/wheat beer recipe but my wife wants a little more sweetness (the things I do to justify my homebrew purchases to her!).

So would more honeymalt increase the sweetness? If I used triple the amount? She's lactose intolerant so lactose isn't a good idea either. And I just started so I do not have a keg yet, just bottles.

 

[Hopzz]

Used Brewers Best Natural Flavoring that came with the kit

Do you think I could put chunked pineapple in a secondary and still bottle after that?

 

[Hopzz]

Recipe called for 60 min boil: one packet of hops at beginning, another halfway through

Do you think changing the time on the hops would help increase the sweetness?

 

[RedlegEd]

So would more honeymalt increase the sweetness? If I used triple the amount? She's lactose intolerant so lactose isn't a good idea either.

Yes, it helps the perceived sweetness, as does mashing at a little higher temp. I'd say triple the amount is too much. If you do this again in a 1 Gal batch, bump the Honey malt to 3 oz. If it's still too dry for your bride, you can always increase the sweetness by adding some Splenda before bottling (it's non-fermentable and doesn't have lactose.) Just go easy b/c it doesn't take a whole lot before it gets too sweet and becomes a fizzy pineapple cooler.

 

[Hopzz]

Haha I think I'll just add more of the honey malt and see how that goes since it's cheaper and easier. If I remember correctly I mashed at about 160 - recipe called for 155-165.

I'll try going toward the higher end too.

 

[chickypad]

Haha I think I'll just add more of the honey malt and see how that goes since it's cheaper and easier. If I remember correctly I mashed at about 160 - recipe called for 155-165.

With just the honey malt it's not a mash so temp doesn't really matter, the suggestion to mash higher would be if you were using wheat malt and not extract. I agree up the honey malt a bit and you could also try dropping the IBU a tad.

 

[BlueHouseBrewhaus]

Used Brewers Best Natural Flavoring that came with the kit

Do you think I could put chunked pineapple in a secondary and still bottle after that?

I would stick with the flavoring. It takes a LOT of pineapple to impart flavor. I used 3 lbs in secondary for a 5 gal lager and got almost no flavor. You can add the flavoring in the bottling bucket until you get the level you want.

 

[edb]

Recipe called for 60 min boil: one packet of hops at beginning, another halfway through

Do you think changing the time on the hops would help increase the sweetness?

Yes completely.

You liked the recipe and just wanted a minor tweak to it. Keep the recipe pretty close to the original and just work with 1 or 2 tweaks so you can get be understanding of what effect they had.

For you're 60 min boil you could change that to 40 or 45 min it will reduce your IBUs slightly and if your other addition is under 20 min you can leave it alone. Add a slight bit more Honey Malt if you like but again minor tweaks.

Is that a full packet of yeast that you're using for this batch? If so thats a bit overkill. You could hydrate the yeast and split it into to sanitized mason jars and save some money. Technically that one packet of yeast could be used for at least 5 gallons with out a starter.

 

[RedlegEd]

Yes completely.

You liked the recipe and just wanted a minor tweak to it. Keep the recipe pretty close to the original and just work with 1 or 2 tweaks so you can get be understanding of what effect they had.

^^^+1 Everything edb said is correct, but the first part is the most important. Be very careful/limited in the scope of your tweaks (especially if you already like the initial result,) and keep really good notes. If you try to change too many things at once, you won't know exactly which one(s) made a good (or bad) impact.

 

[eigua]

Some cider makers use stevia. If you've never tasted it, do so before though. It has a somewhat artificial sweetness as well as a bitter after taste (some brans more than others). IMO, stevia is a decent sweetener as long as it isn't the only sweetener because it's just too obvious by itself. Also, make sure whatever stevia you buy doesn't have any fermentable sugars in there as filler.

 

[Hopzz]

Thanks everyone. The one packet is for a five gallon batch so I just used 1/5 of the packet - a few teaspoons.

I'm just trying to make this my go-to fruit/wheat recipe so I'll try one difference at a time with smaller batches before committing to a 5 gallon.