Sweet Beer

[mmurray]

In an attempt to have it ready for an Oktoberfest party, I bought a Truebrew Oktoberfest kit. Followed the directions and everything seemed to be fine. I took a small sample at bottling (pre priming sugar) to get a FG and it tasted great. Added Priming sugar to bucket and beer then bottled.

I let it sit in the bottles in a dark closet at 71* for 2 weeks. I tried one of the beers and it was flat and very sweet. As if the priming sugar was never consumed. I then let it sit for another month (missing the party) and it tasted the same. A friend said he had a similar issue and popped the tops and put a pinch of yeast in each one and recapped. I tried this and within seconds of me adding a pinch of yeast to the bottles they started foaming so I rushed to place the caps and again let them sit for a month. Tried one and it's still sweet and very mild carbonation.

Taking more advice I moved them to a warmer room to sit for a few weeks (approx 74*). No improvement!

So it's January and I brew this beer in September and it's still flat and sweet!

Any ideas? It'll probably end up down the drain so I'm willing to experement in any effort to save a beer!

 

[PT Ray]

Is it possible you dumped dry sugar in the bottling bucket, going straight to the bottom?

 

[apologeticus]

Is it possible you dumped dry sugar in the bottling bucket, going straight to the bottom?

I was wondering this too. did you just dump dry sugar in your bottling bucket?

 

[mmurray]

No I used the supplied priming sugar w/ 3/4c water and simmered it for 5min on the stove for sanitizing and let cool. Then added it to the bottling bucket once it was down to room temp.

 

[jigidyjim]

Weird - I wouldn't think that 3/4c priming sugar in 5 gal of beer would be enough to taste the difference anyway?

 

[impatient]

How about some more info? Because this sounds very odd. It is damn hard to kill the yeast. I have only done so once with an OG of 1.122.

OG
FG
Did it ferment at all? What was the activity like?
What yeast did you use, both times?
How big was the beer? Are the yeasties dead?

 

[PT Ray]

To prime a 12 ounce bottle individually I believe the general rule is 1/2 teaspoon sugar. I would round up a plastic 20 oz bottle or two. Add the 1/2 teaspoon sugar, transfer a bottle of beer in it and screw the cap on. If it's going to carb I would think you should be able to tell in about a week by squeezing the bottle. Obviously if you can tell it's carbing then add 1/2 teaspoon to the beer bottles and recap.

You can go so far as doing another 20 ounce with fresh yeast instead of sugar. Don't know what to tell you if that also carbs up.

 

[mmurray]

How about some more info? Because this sounds very odd. It is damn hard to kill the yeast. I have only done so once with an OG of 1.122.

OG
FG
Did it ferment at all? What was the activity like?
What yeast did you use, both times?
How big was the beer? Are the yeasties dead?

OG= 1.047
FG= 1.018
Yes it fermented like normal and like I said when I tasted it before bottling it tasted great. I feel if I had my kegging setup at the time I would have been more than pleased to transfer to keg and force carb... I would have had no porblems. The only thing I did differently with this beer was transfer to secondary after 5 days in Primary instead of 7 days. The bubbling had stopped anyway, so I figured I would transfer and clarify for the next week and a half. Then bottle @ just over 2 weeks.

 

[mmurray]

To prime a 12 ounce bottle individually I believe the general rule is 1/2 teaspoon sugar. I would round up a plastic 20 oz bottle or two. Add the 1/2 teaspoon sugar, transfer a bottle of beer in it and screw the cap on. If it's going to carb I would think you should be able to tell in about a week by squeezing the bottle. Obviously if you can tell it's carbing then add 1/2 teaspoon to the beer bottles and recap.

You can go so far as doing another 20 ounce with fresh yeast instead of sugar. Don't know what to tell you if that also carbs up.

With it tasting so sweet, I've been hesitant to add more sugar. The kit came with Munton's dry yeast, so when I added to the bottles I used another pack of Munton's dry yeast.

Contemplating making up a big starter pouring it all back into a carboy and see what happens. I think the only risk would be contamination concerns... any ideas?

 

[mmurray]

Any Ideas or Suggestions? BTT...