Sarah Hughes ruby mild - too sweet

[edwardss]

I brewed a Sarah Hughes ruby mild in October and transferred to bottles and a keg. At first I thought it wouldn't be too sweet as it over attenuated finishing around 10 gravity points lower than expected so it's nudging over 7%. In the keg the beer seems far too sweet and not particularly enjoyable so it's been left alone, in the bottles however the sweetness is more mellow, fairly cloying but it is pretty nice. I've never had a proper bottle of Sarah Hughes but I'm certain it shouldn't have this much sweetness. Is this likely to reduce in time? I'm thinking of bottling the remainder from the barrell and leaving it in the loft for a while if you think it's worth it?

Thanks in advance :

 

[MyQul]

Don't really know the answer to your question but whenever I've had a beer that doesn't taste right after a couple of weeks I always just leave it in the bottles for several months and it usually ends up at least drinkable if not really nice.

After reading your post I did a bit of googling because I fancy doing a ruby beer in the near future - had a lovely ruby coloured winter warmer in ayoungs pub yesterday. This post came up about cloying sweetness in SHRB on another forum

http://www.jimsbeerkit.co.uk/forum/view ... =2&t=28625

 

[RobWalker]

There's an absolute tonne of crystal in that recipe isn't there? I would think as it clears up and conditions the dry flavours will come through a bit more, you get a lot of crappy flavours earlier on that also make a beer taste too sweet imo.

 

[Dr Mike]

Diacetyl, produced during fermentation, can make a beer taste sweet (butterscotch taste) but does fade with time if you bottle condition (the yeast re-absorbs it) so priming and bottling could be a good move if that is the problem.

What yeast did you use ? I did SHDRM with Notty and if anything it was too dry!

 

[edwardss]

Thanks for the replies. That's right, there's around 1kg of crystal in the recipe I used if I recall so there's certainly enough in there! I used notty too and was surprised how low it attenuated so I was hoping I wouldn't get too much cloying sweetness although that is the case haha. Looks like I'll be storing this one for some time - maybe for next Christmas. Who knows, it could turn out to be an absolute winner :lol:

 

[storm in a teacup]

I have made this a few times using the recepie in GWs book. It was sweet tasting due to the ammount of crystal in it. Give it a few months at least and the sweetness will mellow, its a cracking pint.