I added a single cup of sugar to a five gallon batch of cream ale in an attempt to ever so slightly raise the ABV. The included recipe did not call for this addition. However, the end result was not how I would have liked. I just poured the sugar on top of the fermenting wort, I didn't attempt to mix it or dissolve it in water, so my question is: Can the yeast eat the sugar this way or should I have attempted to dissolve or mix it together? I served this beer to three close friends and it was so sticky sweet that neither of them could stand more than just a few sips, so it looks like it's going to be up to me to drink the rest of the batch. Next time I'm simply leaving the sugar out to be on the safe side.
My Beer Turned Out Too Sweet
- Thread starter STStunner
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If given enough time not dissolving the sugar shouldn't have mattered. I've added straight honey to a carboy during primary and the finished beer was nice a dry (saison)
What was your OG / FG? What yeast strain?
What was your OG / FG? What yeast strain?
I don't think the sugar by itself should gave posed that type of an issue. Eventually it would have mixed with the wort and been eaten by the yeast. If anything plain sugar gets eaten up and dries beer out somewhat.
If it's a cream ale I assume corn in one form or another was used. It may be possible you taste corn sweetness?
Once you get a chance please post the recipe, OG & FG, and your yeast used, as well as an overview of your brewing process. It may help with diagnosing what happened.
If it's a cream ale I assume corn in one form or another was used. It may be possible you taste corn sweetness?
Once you get a chance please post the recipe, OG & FG, and your yeast used, as well as an overview of your brewing process. It may help with diagnosing what happened.
I've added sugar to get extra abv. I think it's best to add at the end of the boil or dissolve in hot water (and then cool) before adding to your fermenter. An extra week or so of conditioning should mellow the sweetness.
It was the WilliamsWarn cream ale kit from Amazon. I didn't record the OG or FG, nor do I remember the yeast strain that came with the kit. It was left fermenting for about six-weeks or so before being bottled, so the yeast should have had more than enough time prior to take care of that sweetness problem.
Sorry StStunner, but without the OG and FG, there's little we can do to diagnose your problem and offer suggestions on how to fix it. Could it have been underattenuated? Maybe, who knows? Is it just a sweet recipe? Who knows? But one thing we can pretty much say for sure, it wasn't the cup of sugar. If you had any active yeast, they would have munched that easily.
brewbama may have the best suggestion- brew a batch of a dry hoppy pale ale and mix the two.
Good luck man, hope it turns out OK.
brewbama may have the best suggestion- brew a batch of a dry hoppy pale ale and mix the two.
Good luck man, hope it turns out OK.
I'm thinking it was probably the yeast that came with the kit. With no readings to go by, the yeast may have just been too old/dead/not worky worky and you had almost no fermentation. If you can, I would pour all of what you've bottled back into a kettle, heat to almost boiling for about 15 minutes to kill any possible bugs, then cool it. Get it back in the fermenter and pitch some fresh yeast. That may do the trick. At any rate you have nothing to lose but some more time.
