What To Do With Too Sweet Beer

[Joeywhat]

Brewed a dry/oatmeal stout and it's finally "done". I had some issues with it (what appeared to be an infection ended the primary ferm short), so I knew it would never be a "good" beer. Beyond the primary issues I also didn't aerate it quite well enough so it stopped at 1.020.

Anyways, the final product isn't bad, but it's a bit on the sweet side. I'll certainly drink a bit of it, but it'll take forever to kill this keg by just drinking it.

Already used it as a chicken marinade (with a few additions) which ended reasonably well, and I'm thinking it'll taste OK as a float as well. Will probably make up some "stout syrup" as well, which is basically just stout and sugar, reduced a bit. Any other options out there?

 

[Nightshade]

Bake it into cakes and such
Use it in marinades and mops for meat smoking
Drink lots

 

[hungrygrad]

Beertails. Cocktails, but with beer.

We had Grog Nog, a beertail, at our wedding. It was made with homebrewed brown ale. People really liked it. Our ale wasn't super sweet, but it was definitely malt-forward with hints of fruity flavors from the yeast and a little smoke from some smoked malt we used. Grog Nog is perfect as an eggnog stand-in for the holidays. It sounds weird, but it's delicious. Just try it.

Grog Nog:

3 parts beer
3 parts dark rum (we used Goslings to delicious results)
2 parts half and half
1 part simple syrup (you may not need this depending on how sweet your beer is, but I would suggest you try it and scale back as needed)

Shake together, serve straight up with a dash of nutmeg on top. Rocks are an option, but meh. Not necessary. I like it straight up. You can get fancy by shaking the nutmeg through a flame to toast it, if you're feeling creative.

Also, this brewpub makes their own stout liqueur (see cocktails; their version of a Manahattan). I would imagine this might require a still, but I'm not sure.

Finally, if it's so sweet, can you just dump it into a bucket and re-ferment with new yeast?

 

[dmob29]

+1 to the additional fermentation.... rack it back into a carboy and throw some lacto bugs (or brett) in it and leave it alone for a year! Sour oatmeal stout... sounds interesting doesn't it??

 

[scoundrel]

Toss in some Brett! Sour that puppy up and leave it until next Christmas If you find that it doesn't suit your palette, send it my way

 

[Joeywhat]

It finished at 1.020...is that enough for any considerable fermentation to happen?

 

[othellomcbane]

It finished at 1.020...is that enough for any considerable fermentation to happen?

Plenty, for souring bugs. Brett on its own should definitely take that down a few notches.

Alternately, if funking it / souring it isn't to your tastes, toss some chili or chipotle peppers in there. A little bit of heat will balance the sweetness.

 

[JonM]

Try again. Make a really dry stout. Get a 24 oz. glass. Pour 12 oz. of each into it and enjoy your mildly sweet stout.

 

[dinnerstick]

<brand name> stout cake! i've had it, it's good!
http://www.nigella.com/recipes/view/chocolate-guinness-cake-3086

 

[conneryis007]

What JonM said.

For real, brew another exact batch, manage your yeast pitching/fermentation temps better, mash at a lower temp (147-150 area), etc.

When this is all said and done blend the two together to get a beer in between the two. If you have never blended you might be quite surprised, blending is one of my favorite things to do with beer!

 

[Joeywhat]

I was thinking of mixing it with another much dryer stout...might give that a go.