Should I cut back on conditioning sugar for sweet beer?

[pc_trott]

Hi, I started a White House Honey Porter kit from Northern Brewer two and a half weeks ago. The OG was 1.054. The Nottingham ale yeast took off right away, and worked hard for several days, then slowed down and quit working about a week ago. So on the 24th and 26th I checked the gravity, and it was 1.01 both times, for an ABV of 6.24, if I figured it correctly. My question is this:

I tasted the gravity test samples, and the beer tastes to me to be quite sweet. The kit came with 4 oz. of conditioning sugar. If the beer is already sweet and I add the sugar, am I in danger of creating bottle bombs? Should I cut back on conditioning sugar when I bottle in a few days? Or should I wait longer and see if the sweetness of the brew goes down? (A bubble does still esape through the airlock every five minutes or so.) Thanks for any advice!

 

[k-os]

With standard brewer's yeast (saccharomyces cerevisiae), as long as your finishing gravity was stable over a couple days (as you have checked), You should be good to package with your desired carbonation level.

Use a priming sugar calculator. A popular one is at Brewer's Friend.

 

[grampamark]

Uncarbonated samples tend to taste sweet. Unless you manage to hit 100% attenuation there are some residual sugars in the beer. Carbonation adds a “bite” to the beer which masks any residual sweetness. I’d use the priming sugar that came with the kit.​

 

[RPh_Guy]

White House Honey Porter

It may also taste sweet because of the caramel malt and/or low bitterness.

 

[MikeCo]

Wait a few more days and check the gravity again. If it's still the same it should be done, and the sweet flavor is from residual unfermentable sugars. 1.010 sounds like a reasonable FG for a porter, but it's hard to tell without knowing the recipe. If you're sure it's done, use a priming sugar calculator and weigh the sugar to get the correct amount for the volume of beer at the desired carbonation level.