sickly sweet

[sidman]

Did a muntons IPA with a brewcraft english bitter converter and a Nottingham yeast ,brewed at about 25 degrees ,thats it ,no grain nothing else ,it is sickly sweet ,is this correct (first time ipa brewer),and what can i do to bitter it ,now in keg ,

[PaulSteele]

is it fully fermented?

what was the OG and FG?

[sidman]

didnt do og ,fg but bottled some and they havent exploded ,so must have been ,left it for 3 weeks ,was definatly fermenting at the start,bubling like a two year old in the bath, so not sure ,didnt think IPA was meant to be sweet

[PaulSteele]

no, IPA should not be as sweet as you have described. and i'm out of this one.

somebody with better expertise, please...

[earle]

The yeast shouldn't be the problem as Nottingham is supposed to have good attenuation. Does anyone know what's in the brewcraft english bitter converter?

[Old Gil]

I quit using their "enhancers" for that exact reason. I had a couple of beermakers bitter brews turn out thick and sweet, like drinking syrup. Now i make my own mix up and have never had the problem again. I will also add one of the blokes at the shop told me it was likely to be a dodgy kit, not too sure about that.

[rwh]

I think it'll probably improve over time. There are a few explanations I can think of. Incomplete fermentation... perhaps a stuck ferment due to your yeast sachet not being healthy. Another option is that you added too much malt, so that it's unbalanced. Could have been fixed by adding som hops to the recipe, but there's not much you can do about that now...

[earle]

Sidman

According to the spreadsheet I mentioned on your other thread the Muntons IPA bitter has an IBU of 20. That's ridiculously low for an IPA IMHO. Could help explain the sweetness. If someone can tell me how I can put the spreadsheet on here I'll do it. Or send me a PM if you're interested.

[drsmurto]

IPAs arent sweet, traditionally they were biggers beers with loads of hops to survive the trip from England to India.

I suspect your problem is two-fold.

Firstly, the brew enhancers contain unfermentable sugars, corn syrup aka maltodextrin which is meant to enhancer the body and aid head retention. Piffle!

Secondly, as earle pointed out, an IBU of 20 is far too low for an IPA (and just about any beer in this hopheads opinion!). If you were a kegger i would suggest a generous dry hopping.... but since its bottled you are stuck.

Cheers
DrSMurto

[Longwood-65]

3 weeks in the bottle isn't all that long
Still could be tasting priming sugars.

Cheers
Ron

[Lachy]

I've bottled beers that were still sweet (and flattish) after a month, however given enough time in the bottle (say, 2-3 months) became just as tasty as anything that I've brewed.

In this case I suspect it may be the kit converter at fault. I did a Muntons Yorkshire Bitter with the Brewcraft English Bitter conversion kit, and after a month it still seems rather sweet, although it's definitely carbed up okay so I don't think it's priming sugar at fault. I think I'll give it another month before I start jumping up and down in frustration, but I must admit it does seem a bit odd. I thought bitters were supposed to be, you know, bitter.

[warra48]

I don't know what temperature the sample you tasted was, but remember that if it was at ambient temperature, it will taste sweeter and stickier than when it's chilled to serving temperature.
It's exactly the same with white wine. Taste it at room temperature, and it tends to taste blowsy and sickly. Chill it down. and you have a good drink.

[Kevnlis]

I don't know what temperature the sample you tasted was, but remember that if it was at ambient temperature, it will taste sweeter and stickier than when it's chilled to serving temperature.
It's exactly the same with white wine. Taste it at room temperature, and it tends to taste blowsy and sickly. Chill it down. and you have a good drink.

Though ultimately still white wine should be served in the high teens, (15-20C or so depending on variety) in order for you to fully appreaciate it. As with many ales, this increases the bouquet (aroma) and impacts differently on all of the sense that come together as "taste" in the mouth.

[Trough Lolly]

Did a muntons IPA with a brewcraft english bitter converter and a Nottingham yeast ,brewed at about 25 degrees ,thats it ,no grain nothing else ,it is sickly sweet ,is this correct (first time ipa brewer),and what can i do to bitter it ,now in keg ,

G'day sidman,
Your beer is basically unbalanced. You have heaps of dextrins and sugars that the yeast tried to cut through and ferment, but you didn't allow for the lack of hops in the final result. You don't have any gravity readings but I'd be surprised if the beer ended up lower than 1.016 for the same reasons that Doc mentioned...

Next time, chuck the converter in a stock pot and boil 12 to 20g of Goldings pellets in a 3/4 water filled stockpot for at least 20 minutes. IPA's are big full bodied beers and they have plenty of malt - you need to balance the sweetness with a decent hop contribution. (I'm enjoying an IPA right now!).

IPA's were well hopped (with plugs of hops that fitted through the hole in the oak cask) and they were shipped and served a room temps - not chilled!!! The Raj didn't have fridges old stick!!

Cheers,
TL

[sidman]

thanks for the input fellers ,you learn alot on here ,many thanks