Too sweet but fully attenuated

need recipes, styles brewed, process, yeast strains, etc etc

 

Cut back on crystal malt.

 

I agree. Without knowing more about the beer it's hard to say what the issue could be.

 

Run! It's the police!

 

Without more detail, it's a shot in the dark, but increased bitterness will offset the sweetness.

 

Nah, don't get your undies in a bundle. He didn't give us much to go on, so I suggested one way to reduce sweetness. I don't hate the stuff, but do tend to keep it at half a pound or less for ~75% of my 5 gallon batches.

 

All in fun. It's a safe assumption. Unless I'm doing a dark beer (I like my stouts on the sweeter, fuller side), I don't use more than a few ounces, if any. One of the first beer-changing lessons I learned was that just because most extract kits come with some sort of Crystal doesn't mean that all beers should have Crystal.

 

I would also be wary of using the BU:GU ratio to explain flavor. It's another tool in the toolbox for sure, but doesn't account for differences in tastes from different malt and hops. Your flavor experience may be different for two different beers that have the same BU:GU ratio.

 

Saying it's well attenuated and has a low FG are excellent hard facts. However, "too sweet" is contextual, and at a minimum you would need to share what you used for your recipe and what style of beer you are making before you can get any decent advice about making adjustments.

 

I agree, post recipe and process details.

My own process tends to sometimes make beers with less attenuation, and about the same or even a smidge higher FG, and yet I may perceive them as dry or somewhat dry. Of course this is meaningless too without posting a lot more details. What I perceive as dry you might not.

And even tho you got pulled over by the crystal police , it could well be that you're using too much crystal. Can't tell without details.

 

And the crystal meth.

 

Gives a new meaning to tweaking the recipe...

 

Unless you are trying to attract the attentions of the real crystal police.

 

The ESB and Porter are most likely too sweet from the Munich and Crystal. FWIW, I don't use any crystal in my ESBs.

Your Wee Heavy is supposed to be sweet.

 

Victory deserves a proper mashing. I don't think your crystal malts are necessarily out of line, but the time of malt extract is also worth knowing. Many malt extracts already include crystal malt. Still, nothing leaped out from your recipes as alarming.

 

Are your hops old by chance? How were they stored?

 

What is your fermenting temp like? Do you have good consistent control over it? If it gets too high the yeast can throw off more esters which can be fruity and add a perceived sweetness

 

Not that I think you're way off with those recipes, nor am I a member of the crystal police, but you CAN make fine beer using NO crystal malt. I really think you should try something like a smash (single malt, single hop), or use one type of extract plus one type of base malt for your mini-mash, and one type of hop. You will be surprised how good your beer can be with incredibly simple recipes.

You could mash a few pounds of golden promise, maris otter, munich, vienna, or even straight 2-row. Then use one type of extract (liquid or dry, light, amber, or dark, but Id suggest trying this with light or extra light). OG about 1.060. Use a clean yeast like US-05.

Give it a good hopping, but don't blast it straight to hell with so many hops that you break the handle off your shovel. Perhaps a nice balanced pale ale with about 40 IBUs and a fairly generous late addition (3 oz, an ounce at 10, 5, 0)*, with a 60 minute bittering addition to bring it up to 40 IBUs. Don't dry hop it the first time around, you want to see what the basics bring to the table without complications.

The simplicity of a beer does not equate to its appeal. Some of my simplest beers have been my best, and inevitably as the recipe gets busier, they're not as good.

*for average AA / average hop-flavor hops. Citra pack a hefty flavor punch, so for a balanced pale ale, you might just use two ounces late. OTOH, willamette**, fuggles, serebrianka, tettnanger etc are fairly weak, with more subtle flavors. Those hops you should use more, perhaps 5 oz in the last ten minutes, with a higher AA hop at 60 to bring the bitterness up to where you want it. Cascade is a perfect single-hop beer hop, is perfectly average, and is my favorite hop, so that's something to consider too.

**remember my rule for willamette, whatever you thought you'd need, double it, then add two more ounces at flameout