Extract Brew overly sweet

[EVL_VI]

Hi guys quick question,

I've just opened my first bottle of an Coopers Australian Draught kit that I've had sitting for a month nearly now.

Now it is the first time I've ever made this particular kit, but it does taste a bit on the sweet side, still definitely drinkable thou!

My thoughts are that the sweetness has come from the priming - I usually just run with the carbonation drops, but fell short by about 8 bottles - so I used sugar - and I think I may have overdone it with a few bottles.

Again its not the ebd of the world, just as a newish brewer kinda curious as to what may cause it.

Cheers!

Mark

 

[BuddyWeiser]

I have never used white sugar, but I would guess it would ferment out almost completely (leaving no sweetness but alcohol instead).

If you used a Cooper's Brew Enhancer to ferment it, then that'd more likely explain the sweetness because their Brew Enhancer's contain maltodextrin, a sugar that does not ferment.

 

[Fid]

I have never used white sugar, but I would guess it would ferment out almost completely (leaving no sweetness but alcohol instead).

+1 to that. If anything adding too much simple sugar (such as dextrose or table sugar) likely would have resulted in the opposite effect and given you a beer that was dryer (ie less sweet) over all. How long has it been in the bottle? Did you take gravity readings throughout the process? Any chance we could get a copy of the recipe?

 

[BobC]

more than likely it's the temperature you mashed at. A higher temp would result in a more unfermentable sugars and a sweeter beer. Make sure your thermometer is reading correctly.

 

[House12]

Hi guys quick question,

I've just opened my first bottle of an Coopers Australian Draught kit that I've had sitting for a month nearly now.

Now it is the first time I've ever made this particular kit, but it does taste a bit on the sweet side, still definitely drinkable thou!

My thoughts are that the sweetness has come from the priming - I usually just run with the carbonation drops, but fell short by about 8 bottles - so I used sugar - and I think I may have overdone it with a few bottles.

Again its not the ebd of the world, just as a newish brewer kinda curious as to what may cause it.

Cheers!

Mark

Do you have gravity readings?

As others have said, the addition of sugar would actually tend to lessen the sweetness since the yeast would have eaten it up entirely. However, if your yeast didn't do it's job well, your beer would be sweet with low attenuation and a high final gravity.
Did you use a hydrometer?

 

[BuddyWeiser]

With Cooper's Beer Kit Cans like this, there's no mashing. The gravity is pretty assumable unless you mix in your own made up amounts/ingredients. The can is basically hopped LME. You tip the can upside down and set it in hot water to loosen it up, then you open it, pour it in to the fermenter, add fermentable sugars (like the Cooper's Brew Enhancer), add water (from the tap according to their video and what I do), and pitch the dry yeast pack that comes with.

Aussies do it simple enough, and after a couple months of bottle conditioning it turns out great. I'm no Aussie, but there's nothing more assuring then the Cooper's DIY Beer Kit instructions! I'm particularly fond of their "Hint" for "Taste Test Your Brew" on the CD, which reads, "Have a taste and smell of the sample. If it tastes like flat beer, even if perhaps a bit rough, it's okay to bottle."