Priming sugar issues

Anthros · Jul 22, 2012

Can anyone give me some suggestions on how to kill the sugar taste? I've gone upwards to two months after bottling and still have a sweet taste in the beer. I've thought about using less sugar but I'm afraid of it not carbonating enough. Also thought about pitching more yeast but not sure on amount/strain. It's just upsetting when I take a taste test before bottling and it tasting perfect but flat and then popping a bottle and finding it not what I expected.

Timo21 · Jul 23, 2012

I know they always say *shaking a finger in your face* "make sure you always wait for it to be done fermenting before bottling!!!" but thats just a precaution so you dont blow up your bottles... BUT if your careful, you can use the last few days of fermentation to carbonate your beer in the bottle ya know? I would play it on the safe side at first and gradually work your way up and also keep your bottles in a safe spot, but if done correctly you wouldnt be adding any more sugar (or at least a LOT less) and you would get that "flavor you like before bottling" but in the bottle form with carbonation. Now I just made all this up but it makes perfect sense to me and I have been considering doing the same, Can anyone tell me why or how this might not work or be a good idea?

mike20793 · Jul 23, 2012

How much sugar do you use? Do you use the tasteybrew calculator? That's why I use and I don't ever get sugar tastes in my bottles.

http://www.tastybrew.com/calculators/priming.html

Maybe that will help. Good luck.

Anthros · Jul 23, 2012

Thanks for that site. I've been using the standard oz per gal. Looks like I've been using a little to much sugar for the batches I've been making.

TyTanium · Jul 23, 2012

If it's too sweet, it's a fermentation/recipe issue, not a priming issue. If you added too much priming sugar, you'd have explosive bottles and gushers, not a too sweet beer.

What's your final gravity?

mike20793 · Jul 23, 2012

Anthros said:
Thanks for that site. I've been using the standard oz per gal. Looks like I've been using a little to much sugar for the batches I've been making.

I was doing that too and it worked well but I got a few overcarbed batches, so I switched to the site to help me get the right carbonation for the style I'm brewing. I think it actually made my brown ale better (that's the only one I've been able to compare).