Will this beer be too sweet?

[mell_man79]

So here's the deal. I'm trying to brew a Delirium*Tremens*clone and I'm worried if it will come out too sweet with the ingredients I'm using. I've put the ingredients in Brewer's Friend and it's telling me my*OG*will be 1.086 and my*FG*will be 1.019 giving me a beer with nearly 9%*ABV. I'm concerned though that at a*FG*of 1.019, the beer will be sweet. Definitely do not want a sweet beer. The ingredients is as follows:


9.9lb light liquid malt extract

2.2lb Belgian*candi*sugar

25g*Styrian*Golding's

20g Sterling

20g*Strisselspalt

20g*Williamette

0.40 Oz Coriander Seed Spice*

0.14 Oz Ginger Root Spice*

0.14 Oz Grains of Paradise*

20g Mangrove Jack's M41 Belgian Ale yeast

Attenuation 82-88%


Now. To brew this, I'm using a hop extract that I received fromgeterbrewed.com that says it will get the beer an*IBU*of 30. The rest of the hops in the kit will be added to the*fermentor*five days before bottling using a hop tea. The spices will be added to boiling water along with the*candi*sugar which will then be left in the*fermentor*while the beer ferments. This is my first time not brewing from an actually kit, so any advice will be welcomed. But back to the original question. Will this beer be too sweet if it was an*OG*of 1.086 and a*FG*of 1.019? I know this won't be a direct Delirium*Tremens*clone, but I definitely don't want a overly sweet beer. If this*FG*is too high leading to an overly sweet beer, what do I need to do to get the gravity down to 1.010ish? I originally wanted to get the beer to about 8.5%*ABV, but measuring liquid malt extract doesn't sound very fun. I'm willing to sacrifice some of the malt and sugar if need be though. Want something I can actually drink more than one of close to 8.5%*ABV.

 

[meatcleaver]

well, big beers are not really my thing so I don't know how much help I'll be but my reply will bump this to the top & maybe we can get you a real answer.
I will say this...most beers that come across as too sweet are really just under bittered & I would think a beer this big (OG & FG) would be better balanced with at least 45-50 IBU.
hopefully someone with more high gravity experience will chime in here.

 

[dmtaylor]

It won't taste sweet at all really with 2 lb candi sugar and 9% ABV. No worries. Just brew it and enjoy it.

 

[55x11]

So here's the deal. I'm trying to brew a Delirium*Tremens*clone and I'm worried if it will come out too sweet with the ingredients I'm using. I've put the ingredients in Brewer's Friend and it's telling me my*OG*will be 1.086 and my*FG*will be 1.019 giving me a beer with nearly 9%*ABV. I'm concerned though that at a*FG*of 1.019, the beer will be sweet. Definitely do not want a sweet beer. The ingredients is as follows:


9.9lb light liquid malt extract

2.2lb Belgian*candi*sugar

25g*Styrian*Golding's

20g Sterling

20g*Strisselspalt

20g*Williamette

0.40 Oz Coriander Seed Spice*

0.14 Oz Ginger Root Spice*

0.14 Oz Grains of Paradise*

20g Mangrove Jack's M41 Belgian Ale yeast

Attenuation 82-88%


Now. To brew this, I'm using a hop extract that I received fromgeterbrewed.com that says it will get the beer an*IBU*of 30. The rest of the hops in the kit will be added to the*fermentor*five days before bottling using a hop tea. The spices will be added to boiling water along with the*candi*sugar which will then be left in the*fermentor*while the beer ferments. This is my first time not brewing from an actually kit, so any advice will be welcomed. But back to the original question. Will this beer be too sweet if it was an*OG*of 1.086 and a*FG*of 1.019? I know this won't be a direct Delirium*Tremens*clone, but I definitely don't want a overly sweet beer. If this*FG*is too high leading to an overly sweet beer, what do I need to do to get the gravity down to 1.010ish? I originally wanted to get the beer to about 8.5%*ABV, but measuring liquid malt extract doesn't sound very fun. I'm willing to sacrifice some of the malt and sugar if need be though. Want something I can actually drink more than one of close to 8.5%*ABV.

Keep in mind that FG of 1.019 is some random estimate. I bet you your actual FG will be closer to 1.011-1.015. Depends on your choice of yeast, ingredients (you have a lot of sugar will be completely fermented, for example, and no crystal malts), etc.
It will be fine. Relax. Don't Worry. Have a HomeBrew.

 

[Brew_G]

I brewed a brown ale last year that was 1.066 / 1.021 and 40 IBU. It was actually quite well balanced, so it wasn't at all cloying.

I wouldn't worry too much, but if you are concerned, you may want to try to bring your IBUs up to the 40 range.

* Why all the asterisks?!

 

[dmtaylor]

* Why all the asterisks?!

I like semicolons; and/or slashes.

 

[mell_man79]

I brewed a brown ale last year that was 1.066 / 1.021 and 40 IBU. It was actually quite well balanced, so it wasn't at all cloying.

I wouldn't worry too much, but if you are concerned, you may want to try to bring your IBUs up to the 40 range.

* Why all the asterisks?!

I don't know where those asterisk came from. Lol! I just noticed them.

 

[mell_man79]

Thanks for the replies guys. For this brew, I'm using a vial of what I believe is concentrated hop oil. This is added at the beginning of fermentation and is suppose to bring my brew to an IBU of 30. I also have 85g of assorted hops in tea bags. This will be added to a little boiling water, and then added to the wort, teas bags and all, 5 days before bottling. Now. I'm not sure how this works, but will these hop tea bags bring my IBU up any? Somewhere in the 40-50 range as suggested? I think it's important to note that I don't like English bitter beers. And this is not the style I'm going for. I just want a nice balance. Also. I'm using two packs (20g total) of Mangrove Jack's M41 yeast of which I had good results in the past. But if a low IBU will be my issue, How would I get that up to what has been suggested?

 

[dmtaylor]

I've never done a hop tea, but I'm 100% positive you'll get a lot of IBUs from it. Maybe even 60 or 70 total by the end of it (this is just a swag), somewhere around there. If you want less IBUs, then use fewer hops.

 

[mell_man79]

Well. The IBU is not really the issues. I'm just concerned about sweetness.

 

[mell_man79]

Hey guys. Just an update. I ended up brewing this beer as described, along with Festivals New England Pilsner and Belgian Pale Ale kits. Ended up with an OG of 1.080 instead of the 1.086 my brew calculator said I would. Probably because I spilled some of the malt extract all over my counter while measuring it. Maybe because while this was going on and I was desperately trying to contain the spill, my kettle, with a full can of malt extract and 1kg of candi sugar and spices, boiled over. So. There's that. In any event. I think I'm happier at 1.080. This should a a better drinking beer if it Finish's around 1.015-1.019. Thanks for the advice guys.