Overly Sweet Finished Product

[zhubbell]

So, my last few brews (mostly IPAs) have turned out overly sweet.

I was using the same base recipe for them:
16# 2 row
2# Rye
1.1# Munich
1# Carapils
.5# C40

but have tried a few other different grain bills as well, and I seem to keep ending up with a veryyyyy sweet beer.
Its fermenting down to like 1.010 or lower, so its not that there are too many residual sugars left over I don't think.
I feel like it has to do with my fermentation - either over or under pitching, or improper temperature, something like that...
I vaguely remember reading about something to do with mishandling yeast leading to this, but I've been so busy with work I haven't gotten a chance to reread "Yeast"...

Anyone have any insight? Thanks!

Zach

 

[mkyl428]

I see a grain bill, but what about hops?

Is it possible you may be under bittering your beer?

 

[flars]

Hop schedule is important, and how long is your beer in the primary and the length of conditioning time?

 

[Gentlemans_Ale]

What temp are you mashing?

 

[zhubbell]

Mashing at 154, sparging w 175 degree water. I'm not under bittering that's for sure. I'm a hop head, but even when I get a nice bitterness, there is a distinct sweetness to the beer. I usually go about 2 weeks before I start dry hopping, although I haven't been transferring to a secondary. It's usually about a month before I bottle, and then 2 weeks to bottle condition.

 

[geoffm33]

Mashing at 154, sparging w 175 degree water. I'm not under bittering that's for sure. I'm a hop head, but even when I get a nice bitterness, there is a distinct sweetness to the beer. I usually go about 2 weeks before I start dry hopping, although I haven't been transferring to a secondary. It's usually about a month before I bottle, and then 2 weeks to bottle condition.

I think a hop schedule would help. You can add a ton of hops late and not impart much bitterness.

 

[Talgrath]

Hop schedule is incredibly vital here, assuming a 70% or so efficiency your gravity is at about 1.100 (triple IPA territory), to properly balance that out you have to put in at least 4 oz of Cascades pellets for the entire (60 min) boil, and that would be on the light side. Realistically you're probably looking at something closer to 5-7 oz to get aroma as well as flavor. I'd also add that typically a triple IPA actually does tend to be pretty sweet, it's an inevitable effect from all that grain to get the gravity up that you'll get some sweetness. Drop the OG to about 1.070 or lower if you want to make a really hoppy beer with no sweetness.

 

[turkeygecko]

How much viable yeast are you pitching? Pitching too little could lead to low attenuation and more residual sweetness.

Also, not that I think 154 would create a highly unfermentable wort, it's a couple degrees higher than I would mash an IPA. If your thermometers aren't calibrated or something, possible you're actually mashing higher...