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Author Topic: Sweet bottled beer  (Read 2888 times)

Offline boapiu

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Sweet bottled beer
« on: December 18, 2011, 02:19:10 pm »
How can this be? I brewed a great ten gallon all grain pale ale. When ready, I kegged half and then added priming sugar - carefully calculated according to the book - and bottled the remaining five gallons. In about a week I was drinking some of my best brew yet out of the keg. Now it is five weeks and I chilled some of the bottles to enjoy while catching some games. It tastes like sugar! WTFO!
Only one bottle so I hopeit was a fluke. During the ensuing five weeks I have brewed and kegged and drank two other batches from my kegs and they were wonderful. I also bottled some and I am hoping they won't be sweet tasting. ONCE AGAIN, THE CORRECT AMOUNT OF PRIMING SUGAR ACCORDING TO THE BOOK. did I miss something else or should I just get more kegging stuff and recycle ALL my bottles? I will also need another beer fridge.
Thanks in advance.
Beer is an ancient beverage that has been consumed as part of a balanced diet for centuries - it contains the goodness of sprouted grain extracted into rich liquid and fermented to produce a nutritional 'liquid cereal' beverage.

Offline euge

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Re: Sweet bottled beer
« Reply #1 on: December 18, 2011, 02:21:24 pm »
Which book and what amount of sugar? And type of priming sugar.

How is the carbonation now and what temp were they carbonated at?
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Offline boapiu

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Re: Sweet bottled beer
« Reply #2 on: December 18, 2011, 03:16:18 pm »
Not wanting to make a plug, this being a .org site, palmer " how to brew". Don't remember how much sugar, but if I go to the chart in the Palmer how to brew book and matched the quantity, temp, and all that, it would give a number. That is how much I used. It was cane sugar, I think, although could have been dextrose because I had some around from my five gallon, all bottled batches. Temperature was around 70 F, right out of the fermentation freezer.
Just a btw, FYI, I have made several extract batches, bottling them and using dextrose from the local home brew shop. Never had this result. Of course, I did not have to determine anything from tables or formulas, it was all measured out as a predetermined recipe. My quess is that I used too much sugar, somehow miscalculating the amount. The beer is a little bit over carbonated - could be my imagination, since I am drinking so much from my kegs where I force carbonate. As a possible experiment I will let it condition for another week or so and see if the yeast takes care of things. Forgot to mention, it has been stored in a bedroom closet at room temp, around 75 F for the five weeks of bottle conditioning. WOW - so many variables, fortunately, great beer.
Beer is an ancient beverage that has been consumed as part of a balanced diet for centuries - it contains the goodness of sprouted grain extracted into rich liquid and fermented to produce a nutritional 'liquid cereal' beverage.

Offline tschmidlin

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Re: Sweet bottled beer
« Reply #3 on: December 18, 2011, 03:27:05 pm »
If you think you may have over-primed and it may already be a bit over-carbed, I recommend storing them in something like a rubbermaid tub or a spare bathroom tub with a plastic curtain.  Something that will contain the glass shards and beer if you end up with bottle bombs.
Tom Schmidlin

Offline boapiu

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Re: Sweet bottled beer
« Reply #4 on: December 18, 2011, 04:04:22 pm »
I wasn't thinking of exploding bottles but they are covered by a towel and inside a closet. Hope it doesn't come to that. "overcharbed" - just can't imagine it, but I suppose its what the symptoms point to. going to have another one - will report soon. PATS over the BRONCOS at the half. FINS won, GB lost..... What is happening?
Beer is an ancient beverage that has been consumed as part of a balanced diet for centuries - it contains the goodness of sprouted grain extracted into rich liquid and fermented to produce a nutritional 'liquid cereal' beverage.

Offline bluesman

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Re: Sweet bottled beer
« Reply #5 on: December 18, 2011, 08:01:11 pm »
Is there any carbonation in the bottled beer?

Seems to me that if there is some carbonation then you'll probably end up with bottle bombs, but if not, your yeast was most likely somehow compromised.
Ron Price

Offline beersk

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Re: Sweet bottled beer
« Reply #6 on: December 18, 2011, 08:49:06 pm »
PATS over the BRONCOS at the half. FINS won, GB lost..... What is happening?

It's a game, why does everyone always ask that question?  Just like baseball, you win some, you lose some.  No matter who it is against.  That's what makes the game exciting.
Now let's just hope your bottles don't blow up.
Jesse

Offline morticaixavier

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Re: Sweet bottled beer
« Reply #7 on: December 19, 2011, 09:36:44 am »
I wasn't thinking of exploding bottles but they are covered by a towel and inside a closet. Hope it doesn't come to that. "overcharbed" - just can't imagine it, but I suppose its what the symptoms point to. going to have another one - will report soon. PATS over the BRONCOS at the half. FINS won, GB lost..... What is happening?

I would take toms advise and move those bottles into something that will contain the beer. Even if you put the right amount of sugar in perhaps it did not get mixed thouroughly so you will have some overcarbed and some under.
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Offline The Professor

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Re: Sweet bottled beer
« Reply #8 on: December 19, 2011, 09:57:49 am »
I would take toms advise and move those bottles into something that will contain the beer. Even if you put the right amount of sugar in perhaps it did not get mixed thouroughly so you will have some overcarbed and some under.

+1.  Trust me, you don't want to risk shrapnel from exploding bottles. 
I once made a blend of beer and root beer for someone. 
Ignoring my instructions to store the stuff  in the fridge and drink it within a few weeks, they had a couple bottles displayed on a bookshelf.  For months.
Thankfully, no one was home when the bottles blew. 
I shudder to think what would have happened if someone were in the vicinity at the time.
AL
New Brunswick, NJ
[499.6, 101.2] Apparent Rennerian
Homebrewer since July 1971