How to make a dry yet sweet beer?

[Tippsy-Turvy]

I want to make a beer that's dry and easy to drink. However, I also want it to have a sweet flavor (in order to balance a sourness I'll be adding) but without the the heavy body from high mash temps or lactose additions.

Is that possible to achieve without just dumping in artificial sweetener? My last attempt was mashed at 145F but used 16% crystal 60L, had an OG of 1.055, IBU of 5.0 and I used 8oz lactose on bottling day and there was still barely any sweetness!

Any other ideas?

 

[masonsjax]

Use Conan yeast. It attenuates well but leaves a lot of body and an almost oily mouthfeel that seems like more residual sweetness than is actually there. It may take a generation or two to get to maximum attenuation though.

 

[Tippsy-Turvy]

Use Conan yeast. It attenuates well but leaves a lot of body

Interesting idea to approach the problem from the yeast angle. But given I don't want body and instead want it dry (thin body) yet sweet in flavour, how could one go about achieving that?

 

[Yooper]

I'm confused by the terms, dry and sweet. Sweet and dry are opposites, That is, dry is without sweetness by definition. Something is either sweet or dry, it cannot be both sweet and not sweet.

It seems as you want light bodied and sweet, and not dry?

A light bodied beer can be had by using adjuncts like corn or rice, and sweetness can be brought to the beer by using crystal/honey malts.

 

[Tippsy-Turvy]

It seems as you want light bodied and sweet, and not dry?

Correct. My mix-up in terms, sorry everyone.

Ok, i can see using adjuncts like corn, sugar or rice will help bring the light body so I'll try that in my next attempt. However, to boost the sweetness I already tried putting 16% of my grain bill in crystal 60 (plus lactose in the bottling bucket) but couldn't detect any particular sweetness. Is the crystal color too light/dark to add sweetness? Is 16% not enough?

 

[popsicleian]

Correct. My mix-up in terms, sorry everyone.

Ok, i can see using adjuncts like corn, sugar or rice will help bring the light body so I'll try that in my next attempt. However, to boost the sweetness I already tried putting 16% of my grain bill in crystal 60 (plus lactose in the bottling bucket) but couldn't detect any particular sweetness. Is the crystal color too light/dark to add sweetness? Is 16% not enough?

You'll probably have to mash a lot higher than 145--maybe try 152ish?

 

[Stillraining]

Dry hopping some of my beers has given me a sometimes overwhelming perception of sweetness being added with out changing the beers actual sugar numbers. So in essence it cant really change its definition of dryness even though it seems to. If that makes sense? A Judge may differ on that actual opinion.

 

[Yooper]

Correct. My mix-up in terms, sorry everyone.

Ok, i can see using adjuncts like corn, sugar or rice will help bring the light body so I'll try that in my next attempt. However, to boost the sweetness I already tried putting 16% of my grain bill in crystal 60 (plus lactose in the bottling bucket) but couldn't detect any particular sweetness. Is the crystal color too light/dark to add sweetness? Is 16% not enough?

60L isn't as sweet tasting as something like 10L or 20L, which is caramelly sweet. You could try honey malt as well, which has a distinct honey flavor.

 

[casualbrewer]

Honey malt

 

[eric19312]

try reducing bittering hops

Im drinking a 10% abv Tripel right now that finished at 1.006. But it is sweet. It finishes nice and dry but up front it is malty and sweet like candy.

I've seen same in IPAs. Unless there is a decent bittering charge I get something that is a very nice and very hoppy beer but its not really an IPA. Even well attenuated the beer is oddly sweet for all those hops.

 

[Mer-man]

Yeah, eric19312 is on the money. Ferment it low and and rely on teh alcohol sweetness.

 

[Tippsy-Turvy]

More adjuncts and honey malt/lighter crystal. Got it.

Thanks everyone.

 

[NoIguanaForZ]

Consider taking another look at the yeast. A lot of people's palates are easily fooled by flavors that tend to accompany sweetness (fruity or spicy from a belgian yeast, for instance) even in the absence of sugariness per se.

 

[tagz]

If you like hops, Nelson always makes my beers taste sweet.

 

[Lefou]

I ruined - my word for it, anyway - one of my first brews by using too many adjuncts. Ended up with three gallons of dark brew that looked and carbed OK, but didn't quite taste right.

I've used clover honey, not honey malt, in small additions, to change the color, aroma, and body of my beer. Not much, maybe no more than four ounces or so in 3-5 gallon batches can change the taste and color. Boosts the ABV a bit, too.

One of my future projects is to add a bit of honey malt to my beer and see how it goes. I make my own version of malted barley tea from Vienna and honey malt, and clover honey as a sweetener. It's like a dark Korean bori-cha with a strong, sweet malt flavor. You have to refrigerate it because it ferments quickly in warm temps ...and yeah, it IS wort, but without the yeast, it isn't quite beer.