Residual Sweetness Using Table Sugar to Boost OG

[gifty74]

I've been brewing for quite some time, and I've always been under the impression that adding ~10% table sugar to a beer will dry it out without adding any additional flavors. 100% fermentable, nothing left but alcohol and co2 after fermentation. Several stronger beers that i've recently used table sugar in have had this residual sweetness, that I can't quite identify as far as where they are coming from in my brewing process. I'm beginning to think it could be from the sugar?? I use plain old white table sugar, and have used it in a Belgian Golden, strong Saison, and IIPA. All have had this residual, almost cloying, sweetness. Any ideas? Could the sugar be fermentable, but also leave a sweetness behind??

 

[purplerat]

It's probably not the table sugar specifically but if you're boosting your OG high enough you could be going beyond the limits of whatever yeast you're using resulting in a higher than expected FG.

 

[brownni5]

Should not be the sugar. Others go as high as (or higher than) 15% table sugar with no noticable flavors. Look to some other variable.

 

[lablover]

You have to match your OG to the yeast you use to get the FG desired. If the FG ends up to high, your going to have sweetness. I'd suggest a different yeast.

 

[spanosspanos]

Yeah, sounds like an attenuation issue...maybe increasing your yeast cell count...?

 

[jaymosbeershack]

Do you aerate? I had a few batches finish a bit high, so i started oxygenating my wort and havent had an issue since.

 

[thehaze]

Whatever sugar you add, will be fermented out completely by the yeast. You write " several stronger beers ", so I think that is where the problem lies. Try to give an example of a strong beer you brewed, with grain bill, yeast, process, etc., which ended with " sweetness ". Note also that residual sweetness will not be perceived the same by different people, so it can also be that your own palate does not like whatever you call sweetness in those beers.

 

[Vale71]

I've been brewing for quite some time, and I've always been under the impression that adding ~10% table sugar to a beer will dry it out without adding any additional flavors. 100% fermentable, nothing left but alcohol and co2 after fermentation. Several stronger beers that i've recently used table sugar in have had this residual sweetness, that I can't quite identify as far as where they are coming from in my brewing process. I'm beginning to think it could be from the sugar?? I use plain old white table sugar, and have used it in a Belgian Golden, strong Saison, and IIPA. All have had this residual, almost cloying, sweetness. Any ideas? Could the sugar be fermentable, but also leave a sweetness behind??

You can't taste something that is no longer present in the beer. Most of the sweetnes in beer actual comes from glycerol which is an intermediate product of lipid synthesis by the yeast. Top fermented high OG beers tend to have quite high levels of it. Contrary to common belief dextrins have a very low sweetening power and do not contribute much to the beer other than mouthfeel.

 

[Lefou]

If you're using processed white table sugar (sucrose) during fermentation it basically breaks down into glucose and fructose molecules. A yeast with a vigorous metabolism should process this easily but if the yeast reaches its alcohol tolerance with sugars to spare, you'll have residual sweetness.
Either use less sugar or get a more attenuative strain of yeast.

 

[gifty74]

From my most recent Quad that has the noticeable residual sweetness...

Style: Belgian Dark Strong Ale
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (30.0) Batch went right to plan. Issue came up when stirring in the priming sugar into primary. Should've racked to a secondary off trub and then did priming sugar. Each bottle has tons of trub, and they're over-carbonated so it gets stirred up when opening. residual sweetness also too high. leaves a somewhat cloying sweetness. next batch try using different yeast, drop the pearl malt, and keg.

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 7.74 gal
Post Boil Volume: 5.99 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.50 gal
Bottling Volume: 5.15 gal
Estimated OG: 1.091 SG
Estimated Color: 24.9 SRM
Estimated IBU: 28.2 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 64.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 66.9 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
9 lbs Pearl Malt (2.7 SRM) Grain 1 42.4 %
9 lbs Pilsner (2 Row) Bel (2.0 SRM) Grain 2 42.4 %
12.0 oz Munich Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 3 3.5 %
8.0 oz Cara 45 (Dingemans) (47.0 SRM) Grain 4 2.4 %
8.0 oz Special B Malt (180.0 SRM) Grain 5 2.4 %
1 lbs Candi Syrup, D-180 (180.0 SRM) Extract 6 4.7 %
8.0 oz Brown Sugar, Light (8.0 SRM) Sugar 7 2.4 %
14 g Nugget [13.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 8 18.3 IBUs
21 g Nugget [13.00 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 9 9.9 IBUs
1.0 pkg Abbey Ale (White Labs #WLP530) [35.49 ml Yeast 10 -

Made a huge starter, aerated with pure O2 from bottle for 60 sec, temps were perfect. Beer ended up at 1.092 and finished at 1.014.

 

[Bubbles2]

And then there is Amylase, Alpha and Beta rests, one is sweeter the other stronger Alcohol.

 

[mirthfuldragon]

temps were perfect. Beer ended up at 1.092 and finished at 1.014.

What are you mashing at? A lot of residual sweetness may be personal tastes. I personally like my beers a lot drier than most of my friends, so my initial mash temperatures are in the 148-149° range. My last couple of Belgians finished around 1.008 using 3787. If you are mashing higher, you may see a higher FG because there is less beta enzyme activity.

 

[gifty74]

Yeah, that is one thing I'm changing for sure on this next batch of Belg Golden Strong. Step mash (no protein rest) of 144, then 152, then 162 then on up to 170 to finish. Spread out in 10-20 min increments. i think this does a lot of head retention too, which is another big problem. Past batches I think i was mashing around 152-154, so prob some sweetness there.