Newbie here

[SippinSudz]

4th brew in.

Last batch is a Coopers Canadian Blonde with an Enhance brew 1 kit(1kg dextrose and maltodextrin) I also added about 1/2kg of plain white sugar. Haven't done that before but wanted to up to alch. Content a bit.

The batch has been bottled with appropriate priming tablets.

Primary and secondary fermentation has been done at about 20°c.

Has been in bottles for about 8 days. I use some plastic, and most glass bottles. Even after only a week or so, there is great carbonation, clarity is amazing, and the beer has a nice alcohol content.

My reason for the post now... This beer is a 8/10 for what I expected. A light good yard working beer. I would give it a 9/10 if for the one fact it didn't taste sweeter than expected. It's not an aftertaste.. It's an overall taste of sweetness. Not overpowering, but noticeable.

Is this from my refined sugar I added? Or maybe not sitting in bottle enough, which I normally leave in bottle for 14 days, chill and drink after that.

This was a 23litre brew, 14 day fermentation at 20°C with no hydrometer readings, and bottled on 14th day. Airlock showed zero signs of activity whole way through(maybe set it up wrong) but there was obviously fermentation with a thick krausen ring and lots of trub.

It's still great beer, just want to avoid having it so sweet. I really enjoy a deep, darker, bitter beer tho. So maybe it's just cuz this one is so light and plain?

Good luck answering! Thanks!

 

[Homercidal]

Welcome! in answer to your question, firstly refined sugar is not the cause of your sweetness. In fact, it would act exactly opposite. Yeast LOVE simple sugars and will generally eat them completely, leaving nothing behind. Sweetness usually comes from the longer chained sugars that may come from a mash that was at a higher temp, or from crystal malt, which yeast don't eat much of, or lactose for the same reason.

Another reason may be that there wasn't enough yeast or they may not have been at the right condition for eating all of the sugars. Fermenting temps can cause yeast to go into a sort of hibernation mode where they stop eating sugars and prepare to sleep. Underpitching may leave some sugars behind (usually they will finish the job eventually).

Bottling too early can also cause a beer to taste sweeter, but usually they eventually finish causing an overcarbed bottle, or worse, beer and glass shards all over your storage room!

Did you take a gravity reading? Extract beers often don't ferment as dry as AG beers. I hear of a lot of people calling it the 1.020 wall.

You may just not have enough hop bitterness to balance the sweetness. There is a fine line in some styles.

I think you will find a true answer if you can post the recipe and fermentation times and temps.

 

[uofmguy]

While your beer obviously did ferment, it's possible that your fermentation stopped earlier than it should have. That could happen due to a number of things, but usually its under aeration of the wort. Make sure you really aerate that stuff, especially for bigger beers. Did you take a final gravity reading?

If you want to ensure that your fermentation will never stick, make a starter with some yeast nutrients (they aren't needed, but they make the subsequent generations of the yeast super healthy) and aerate that wort like you mean it! Cheers

 

[SippinSudz]

I have never aerated my wort other than slight stir when boiling and the actual pouring into my fermenter. I do stir it a bit before i pitch yeast, never making an effort to aerate tho. Thanks for the tip!

 

[uofmguy]

No prob. Just make sure you don't aerate it when it's above 80 degrees F or it'll oxidize the same way it oxidizes after it's fermented. (Don't worry about stirring it while hot causing oxidation. It's more of just don't pour it hot and such). Good luck!

 

[SippinSudz]

I'm quite happy with it. Carbonation could be slightly higher. This is quite carbonated after only 8 days. Another week and should be good!

 

[uofmguy]

Looks good!

 

[unionrdr]

It could even take the usual 3 weeks to get good carbonation & head. not to mention, knocking down some of that sweetness. I've noticed that uncarbed or not fully carbed beer tastes like that till fully carbed before.

 

[SippinSudz]

The beer pic posted above was good carb, but little to no head. I had to pour aggressively at the end to get that tiny head.

Here's to hoping for some better head in the future!

 

[kadozen]

.

Here's to hoping for some better head in the future!

Wedding vow gold right there

 

[unionrdr]

The head is formed by dissolved proteins in the beer. Then driven by carbonation when poured into a glass. The volume of Co2 you primed it at also will have something to do with the amount/retention of the head.