Zelly Posted February 3, 2019 Share Posted February 3, 2019 Hi there. I did a batch last week and its almost ready to bottle. as i always do when i take a reading i always have a taste. when i did i noticed it has a bit of a sweet taste to it. i have just found out its from the crystal malt grains i added to it. would i notice the sweet taste much when it is carbonated? has anyone had an experience like this. the recipe i used was. 1kg light liquid malt 300grm crystal malt cracked 15min on simmer then added to wort. coopers dark ale. 500grm dextrose 300grm dried corn syrup US04 yeast is it the crystal malt grains i have added to make it sweet. what other grains could i add to my beer to give it taste, but not taste sweet. has anyone added coffee beans to beer and if so what extract did they use and what was the recipe i am about to make a stout with the above ingredients but are opting out now with the crystal malt! thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil_McGlass Posted February 10, 2019 Share Posted February 10, 2019 300g of Crystal isnt crazy, the beer should not be overly sweet. There are other possible causes, especially whether the yeast has stalled or not finished fermenting. Which would leave unfermented sugars in the beer. Did you measure the gravity? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Titan Posted February 12, 2019 Share Posted February 12, 2019 I would do a hop tea in this to try and balance the flavors out a little. Maybe around 25g of hops. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted February 12, 2019 Share Posted February 12, 2019 Flat beer always tastes a bit sweeter than carbonated beer. I have had lagers in the keg that tasted a bit sweet until they carbonated properly. It could just be that. It could be the dried corn syrup which is an unnecessary addition to a beer like that. It won't make it sweet on its own but it may exacerbate the problem. I'm guessing the yeast is S-04, which does result in a bit of a sweeter/less dry flavour than something like US-05 does, so that is probably contributing as well. While this won't be the issue, if your process for using the crystal is as it reads then you are doing it wrong. It shouldn't be simmered, it should be steeped in water sitting around 65-70 degrees for about half an hour then only the resultant liquid added to the brew in the fermenter. It's up to you if you boil this liquid before adding to the fermenter, personally I did because of potential bugs in the grains themselves. The temperature doesn't have to stay at that point while steeping, simply start with the water at 70 then let it sit there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackSands Posted February 12, 2019 Share Posted February 12, 2019 The apparent sweetness could possibly be due to a combination of crystal malts, dark extract and a low-ish attenuating yeast. The Dark Ale probably already has a reasonable amount of crystal in the can so adding more is perhaps not a great idea and maybe a lighter specialty grain like Carahell or Gladfield Toffee would be preferable in this case. Having said that though, you do have a fair amount of simple sugar in the recipe also so I would have thought that would offset the sweetness and help dry things out. Because I often found my "kits n bits" brews a bit sweet too though ... almost cloyingly so at times, I concluded that if you're going to add steeped grains it's probably better to actually use a light base like the Coopers Lager, APA, Cerveza etc and then use the grains to adjust and supplement as required to achieve the style desired. Adding additional grain to a can that already contains a reasonable percentage of crystal and other specialty malts I generally found to be too much. Also, recently I've been using Mangrove Jacks M42 yeast to good effect - it has a comparatively high attenuation (up to 82%), quite a bit higher than SO-4 so that may also help dry things out a bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norris! Posted February 12, 2019 Share Posted February 12, 2019 I agree with Blacksands, the dark ale kit probably has enough crystal in it that the 300g might of made it sweet. Like Otto said after it carbs up it might be better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zelly Posted February 12, 2019 Author Share Posted February 12, 2019 On 2/11/2019 at 8:32 AM, Phil_McGlass said: 300g of Crystal isnt crazy, the beer should not be overly sweet. There are other possible causes, especially whether the yeast has stalled or not finished fermenting. Which would leave unfermented sugars in the beer. Did you measure the gravity? yes i did Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zelly Posted February 12, 2019 Author Share Posted February 12, 2019 thanks all Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil_McGlass Posted February 12, 2019 Share Posted February 12, 2019 19 hours ago, BlackSands said: Also, recently I've been using Mangrove Jacks M42 yeast to good effect - it has a comparatively high attenuation (up to 82%), quite a bit higher than SO-4 so that may also help dry things out a bit. A marketing person from Mangrove Jack told me one of their yeasts is re-packaged Nottingham. Has to be M42, surely? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackSands Posted February 13, 2019 Share Posted February 13, 2019 14 minutes ago, Phil_McGlass said: A marketing person from Mangrove Jack told me one of their yeasts is re-packaged Nottingham. Has to be M42, surely? There's no way to know for sure unless someone in the know gets more specific. But yeah, both are high-attenuators and high-flocculators so I guess it's possible. I'been a Nottingham fan for a while now so that may explain why I've taken to M42 with the same level of enthusiasm! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted February 13, 2019 Share Posted February 13, 2019 It's possible. There are only so many strains and some are sold by a few different mobs, like Wyeast has a liquid version of W34/70, US-05 and a few other dry yeasts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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