Extract Saison getting sweeter

[jpr0930]

I will preface th is by saying the kit was lme and I had it in my closet for 4 months before getting around to brew it.

Brewed an extract with steeping grains kit from LHBS at end of March. Started drinking end of April and was great, had good head, carbonation and flavor stability. Fast forward to now, and the ones I have been chilling and drinking over the past 2 weeks are noticeably sweeter with no head retention. Still drinkable, but wondering if anyone had any thoughts. Could this be a combo of old extract and grains?

 

[TopherM]

Sounds like you had some bottles that were properly bottle carbed and conditioned and some that you put at fridge temps before carbonation was complete.

How long did you bottle carb, and at what temp, before you put them in the fridge?

You can take all of those bottles out of the fridge, let them get back to room temp, give them each a little swirl to rouse the yeast, then wait about 2-3 week. They'll carb up and won't have that residual sweetness anymore.

Good luck!

 

[jpr0930]

Sounds like you had some bottles that were properly bottle carbed and conditioned and some that you put at fridge temps before carbonation was complete.

How long did you bottle carb, and at what temp, before you put them in the fridge?

You can take all of those bottles out of the fridge, let them get back to room temp, give them each a little swirl to rouse the yeast, then wait about 2-3 week. They'll carb up and won't have that residual sweetness anymore.

Good luck!

The ones I am putting in fridge now are going on 7 weeks @ 70-75. The best tasting ones were those put in fridge between 3 and 5 weeks in bottle.

 

[boydster]

Did you bulk prime? My first thought is that perhaps you added priming sugar directly to the bottles, and some bottles may have gotten more priming sugar than others?

 

[jpr0930]

Did you bulk prime? My first thought is that perhaps you added priming sugar directly to the bottles, and some bottles may have gotten more priming sugar than others?

Bulk primed. I am baffled. As I said, ok to drink but noticeably sweeter the longer it conditions.

 

[boydster]

Seems strange, for sure. You can't be gaining any additional sugar in the bottles while they are sealed, so the extra sweetness thing doesn't make sense to me. Now, if the bottles got so hot that they were pasteurized, that could mean you killed the yeast while the beer still had unfermented priming sugar in it, thereby making it sweeter... but there is no way you would have pasteurized your bottles at room temperatures, they would need to get much hotter. That said, your beer being sweet AND under-carbonated, and the only additional sugar added post-fermentation being priming sugar, seems to indicate that the yeast didn't do their job on the priming sugar.

Just grasping for straws here, but is there any chance you are at a high enough abv with this brew to begin killing off the yeast?

 

[boydster]

Also - did you boil the priming sugar in water, or add the dry sugar to the bottling bucket?

 

[QuercusMax]

Is it possible that the hop bitterness is fading, leading to it seeming sweeter?

 

[boydster]

Is it possible that the hop bitterness is fading, leading to it seeming sweeter?

I could maybe see some of the hop aroma and flavor fading, but the bitterness should stick around a while I would think.

 

[jpr0930]

Boiled the water then added. Guess it could possibly be hop bitterness fading, yeast flavors are still present in same strength as earlier bottles. To be clear, don't want anyone racking their brains on this one, just wondering if there was a common explanation.

 

[DPBISME]

Did you bulk prime? My first thought is that perhaps you added priming sugar directly to the bottles, and some bottles may have gotten more priming sugar than others?

Did you add the hot sugar water at once and give it a slow stir and then let it sit for ten (10) minutes before bottling?

Well at least that is how I do it to insure it is mixed properly...

In fact at the end of the ten minutes I usually give it one more stir... both time making sure not to put the spoon to deep since I don't want to kick up the yeast cake.

DPB

 

[jpr0930]

Did you add the hot sugar water at once and give it a slow stir and then let it sit for ten (10) minutes before bottling?

Well at least that is how I do it to insure it is mixed properly...

In fact at the end of the ten minutes I usually give it one more stir... both time making sure not to put the spoon to deep since I don't want to kick up the yeast cake.

DPB

I did not. I added semi cooled sugar water to bottom of bottling bucket, racked on top, let settle and the bottled.