Sweet tasting beer

[BryanJ]

Hello

So as the title says the beer has a sweet flavor to it, this is the second time it happened. I made a honey brown ale from a kit that i got at the lhbs. It sat in the frementer for three weeks and then bottled with the sugar that was provided in the kit. The OG and FG looked to be on point. Its only been aging in the bottle for a week at about 63 degrees. I wanted to see how the carb process goes so im opening a bottle a week.

What could be the problem causing a sweet flavor?

Thanks

 

[david_42]

What's the recipe?

 

[TipsyDragon]

the beer is green. you added sugar to the brew of course its going to be sweet. wait a minimum of 2 more weeks then decide if its to sweet.

 

[OHIOSTEVE]

You may be getting sweetenss from the priming sugar that has not been eaten yet.

 

[ChshreCat]

Give it some more time. My brown ale tastes sweet at first, but after another month in the bottle it was perfect.

 

[BryanJ]

The recipe is:
3.5lb amber malt extract
2lb honey
crushed crystal malt
bittering, finishing hops

The only reason im asking is because my last batch had a similar sweetness to it also, it was a pilsner. Its been aging for over 2 months and i opened one up last week and it was sweet. I should let them age longer i take it.

 

[Yooper]

The recipe is:
3.5lb amber malt extract
2lb honey
crushed crystal malt
bittering, finishing hops

The only reason im asking is because my last batch had a similar sweetness to it also, it was a pilsner. Its been aging for over 2 months and i opened one up last week and it was sweet. I should let them age longer i take it.

It's hard to get a good idea of how bitter/sweet this beer is without a specific type of hops, as well as the amounts and the AAU %. Usually, the hops will say something like "Chinook hops 14%" or "Saaz hops 2%". That number is crucial, and will help us know if the problem is that the beer needs age, or that it's underhopped.

Same with the crystal malt- if it's a pound, that's alot and could be the cause of too much sweetness. If it's 4 ounces, then it would be neglible. That's why we ask for the recipe, to see if you've got a balance. Without knowing the type and amount of hops, or the type and amount of crystal, the recipe you posted isn't very useful.

Just a side note- that much honey (it looks to be over a third of the fermentables) is unusual in a beer.

 

[iron_city_ap]

I brewed at Stout recently. After pitching the yeast, I measured the gravity. It seemed LOW to me, just under 1.4 I think. It was a from scratch recipe the owner of my LHBS made up for me on the spot. To his defense, the place is primarily a microbrewery that just recently opened up the home brew store. The guy has people who specialize in home brewing, but none of them were around and he does all grain in MASS quantities where I'm doing 5gal. extract batches.... worlds apart. Especially since he hasn't done any extract brewing in god knows how long.

Anyhow, my gravity seemed low so I ran back out and bought 4lbs of LME. Since I added the yeast I couldn't re-boil the stuff. I just stirred it well.

Long story short, after a solid month or so in bottles, the sweetness is starting to smooth out. For the first few weeks it was EXTREMELY sweet. Almost unplesantly sweet.

Give it time. It'll smooth out.

 

[BryanJ]

It's hard to get a good idea of how bitter/sweet this beer is without a specific type of hops, as well as the amounts and the AAU %. Usually, the hops will say something like "Chinook hops 14%" or "Saaz hops 2%". That number is crucial, and will help us know if the problem is that the beer needs age, or that it's underhopped.

Same with the crystal malt- if it's a pound, that's alot and could be the cause of too much sweetness. If it's 4 ounces, then it would be neglible. That's why we ask for the recipe, to see if you've got a balance. Without knowing the type and amount of hops, or the type and amount of crystal, the recipe you posted isn't very useful.

Just a side note- that much honey (it looks to be over a third of the fermentables) is unusual in a beer.

The directions on the recipe didnt have any specific information but i did find what i wrote down for it. I dont have the weight for the malt but the hops are: 1 oz. cascade pellets 7.5% for 30 minutes and 1 oz. liberty pellets 4.3% for 5 minutes.

 

[dvdfnzwbr]

Was your FG reading high? Some sugars are unfermentable. Dark caramel and roasted malts like Crystal 80, Crystal 120, Special B, Chocolate Malt, and Roast Barley have a high proportion of unfermentable sugars due to the high degree of caramelization (or charring) These sugars are only partially fermentable and contribute both a residual sweetness and higher FG to the finished beer. . . Also there are yeasts that achieve lower percentages of eating sugars (Attenuation). So a sweet tasting beer can't always be depicted by not enough aging.

http://www.howtobrew.com/section4/chapter20-1.html

http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter6-1.html

 

[Yooper]

The directions on the recipe didnt have any specific information but i did find what i wrote down for it. I dont have the weight for the malt but the hops are: 1 oz. cascade pellets 7.5% for 30 minutes and 1 oz. liberty pellets 4.3% for 5 minutes.

That is pretty low hopping. Underhopping is probably the cause of the sweet taste. Bittering hops balance the amount of malt sweetness in beer, so the beer is a bit unbalanced towards the sweet side in my opinion. Of course, with a name like 'honey brown', that is to be expected!

I think it'll taste better with some carbonation. The carbonation provides an acidic "bite" to the beer, and that will help take away some of the perception of sweetness.

 

[BryanJ]

Thanks for the help. Hopefully with time the flavor starts to settle.