Two batches... Both very sweet?

[ThatKidLuig]

Hey guys -

New to brewing. I'm two batches in and both have turned out to taste very sweet.

First, brewed an imperial stout. Made a lot of mistakes. Thought I fixed them, but I just brewed an Irish Red and it was really sweet as well.

My OG was 1.036, FG was 1.004 - incredibly low, I know. I added some maltodextrine to bring it up to 1.010.

I'm just curious what is causing this sweet flavor. My guess is that fermentation is incomplete. I've been fermenting at 70 degrees for two weeks now. Maybe I'm underpitching the yeast?

Thanks for any help. Appreciate it.

 

[Yooper]

Adding maltodextrine, while not in itself sweet, does seem to give a full bodied richness to a beer that I find is perceived as sweet. Maybe that is some of the "sweetness" your tasting?

Anyway, one common cause of a too-sweet beer is underutilization of the bittering hops. If someone has a very small boil, and tops up with water to make 5 gallons, that can "dilute" the IBUs and the balance of the beer. Also, if the boil isn't vigorous enough to isomerize the hops oils, the beer can be sweeter than expected.

One other cause is simply recipe related- maybe the recipes aren't great and someone who likes their beers on the sweet sign designed it, or maybe your hops has less alpha acids (AAUs) than the recipe designer intended.

Can any of those apply to your beers?

 

[BryceL]

Are you using a hydrometer to check your gravities? My first thought would be to check it in distilled water to make sure it reads 1.000. It's hard to imagine that a brew with an FG of 1.004 would be really sweet.

What type of yeast and how much have you pitched in each of these brews? An imperial stout is pretty ambitious for your first brew, you likely may have under pitched that one.

 

[Clonefan94]

Are you adding the maltodextrine before or after you taste it?

With a FG as low as 1.004, I wouldn't think there are a lot of sugars left to make it that sweet. If you are tasting after the maltodextrine addition, I'd think it was that.

Plus, a drop to 1.004 from 1.036 isn't all that bad. Next time just let it go at that and see how it goes.

Plus as Yooper said, it could be a lack of hop bitterness as well.

 

[ThatKidLuig]

I tasted the batch both before and after adding the maltodextrine - that's not what is making it sweet.

I'm positive that I underpitched the yeast on the imperial stout. Plus, had some boil-over problems and such. That was just a total disaster. But I thought I fixed all of those issues.

I have a 5-gallon brew kettle, so I could only use about 3.5 gallons of water. That could be affecting the bittering hops, as I have to add another 1.5 gallons of water. Would it be better to add the hop pellets without a bag and just filter them out before going into the primary?

The yeast I used for the irish red (the 2nd batch) was a liquid yeast. Took it out of the fridge about 4 hours before brewing and made sure it was adequately shaken. Also, I got the brew down to 75 degrees before pitching the yeast. Aerated it before adding the yeast.

I havent tested the hydrometer in distilled water. I would assume that it is working correctly but I'll check now to make sure.

 

[flars]

I tasted the batch both before and after adding the maltodextrine - that's not what is making it sweet.

I'm positive that I underpitched the yeast on the imperial stout. Plus, had some boil-over problems and such. That was just a total disaster. But I thought I fixed all of those issues.

I have a 5-gallon brew kettle, so I could only use about 3.5 gallons of water. That could be affecting the bittering hops, as I have to add another 1.5 gallons of water. Would it be better to add the hop pellets without a bag and just filter them out before going into the primary?

The yeast I used for the irish red (the 2nd batch) was a liquid yeast. Took it out of the fridge about 4 hours before brewing and made sure it was adequately shaken. Also, I got the brew down to 75 degrees before pitching the yeast. Aerated it before adding the yeast.

I havent tested the hydrometer in distilled water. I would assume that it is working correctly but I'll check now to make sure.

What yeast did you pitch? What was the estimated OG of your Irish red ale? What was the production date or expiration date of the yeast you used?

 

[Yooper]

I tasted the batch both before and after adding the maltodextrine - that's not what is making it sweet.

I'm positive that I underpitched the yeast on the imperial stout. Plus, had some boil-over problems and such. That was just a total disaster. But I thought I fixed all of those issues.

I have a 5-gallon brew kettle, so I could only use about 3.5 gallons of water. That could be affecting the bittering hops, as I have to add another 1.5 gallons of water. Would it be better to add the hop pellets without a bag and just filter them out before going into the primary?

The yeast I used for the irish red (the 2nd batch) was a liquid yeast. Took it out of the fridge about 4 hours before brewing and made sure it was adequately shaken. Also, I got the brew down to 75 degrees before pitching the yeast. Aerated it before adding the yeast.

I havent tested the hydrometer in distilled water. I would assume that it is working correctly but I'll check now to make sure.

Topping up with 1.5 gallons isn't too bad. What I am wondering is how you use the hops in the bag? Are they super loose in there, fully in contact with the wort? I don't use bags, but if you do, the hops need to be very free to move inside the bag. You could try a batch without a bag and that should really help. (You don't have to strain them out later, although you can if you want to).

How about your boil? Did you have a rolling boil for the entire 60 minutes?