The flavor tag has no wiki summary.
14
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13answers
3k views
What are the most citrusy hops?
Which hops do you guys find are the most citrusy? I'm looking to create a super-citrusy IPA, and have limited experience with most hops.
14
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3answers
1k views
When should I add a vanilla bean?
My wife just kicked a bottle of vanilla extract. She bakes a lot and buys the good stuff that comes with a bean in it. I think i want to add the bean to my double-chocolate stout that's in the ...
14
votes
2answers
166 views
What is “well attenuated maltiness”?
I am studying to become a BJCP judge.
I was reading through Style 2a German Pilsner and saw something in the flavor profile that I didn't quite understand thoroughly.
It says
Moderate to ...
12
votes
3answers
3k views
Using honey in beer
This thread is not actually one single question, but a number of different ones.
When calculating sugars used in the wort, how much sugar does honey contain? Is it closer to dry malt extracts, raw ...
12
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1answer
3k views
What is a hopback?
How do you use it?
What does it do?
Do you pass finished wort through it hot or cold?
11
votes
2answers
353 views
What is attentuation?
What is attentuation?
How does it effect beer flavor and quality?
How is is calculated and why do I need to know it?
11
votes
3answers
562 views
What is a “biscuit”?
When reading about malt and beer flavors, I often come across words like "biscuity" and "biscuitlike".
Where I live (Western Canada) "biscuit" is a somewhat ambiguous term, and is not used much. ...
10
votes
5answers
6k views
Why do all my beers taste better after having aged for a couple months?
My impression is that ales are typically best drunk within a couple weeks of brew day. It's my experience that letting them age in the bottles for 2-3 months yields the best beer, both improving body, ...
9
votes
2answers
538 views
Fruit for fruit beers
What are the best fruits for brewing fruit beers?
Some fruits appear to be classics like cherries raspberries. Some fruits you rarely hear about like kiwi and papya.
Which fruits have flavor ...
9
votes
1answer
287 views
Adding Oak Flavor/character to beer
Short of buying an oak barrel, what forms of oak are available to the homebrewer for getting oak into yuor beer?
Are they available with different levels of toast?
Are some forms easier to sanitize ...
8
votes
3answers
398 views
How do I achieve a nuttier flavor?
My most recent batch I tried almond extract, but I'm not getting the nuttiness I expected. I've heard using different malts can get different nutty flavors but how can I get a rich nutty flavor?
8
votes
3answers
695 views
Using Multiple Strains of Yeast in the Same Batch?
I've been thinking about this recently, so I figured I'd ask it here. Is there any reason you couldn't use two strains of yeast in the same batch of beer? For a particularly high gravity amber ale, ...
8
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2answers
892 views
Steeping Specialty Grains
What is the proper procedure for steeping specialty grains while extract brewing?
Temp, time, grain bags or not.
8
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2answers
320 views
What's the line between brown ale and porter?
Southern English brown ale, which I like, seems to differ from porter, which I dislike, by only a matter of degree. It just seems to be about the amount of specialty grains. Is there any other ...
8
votes
3answers
143 views
I find my wines to be too “juicy”
I've been making wine (mostly red) at home for about a year now and find that even though I ferment them dry I still find them to taste too much like fresh fruit. Any thoughts on getting to that aged ...
8
votes
4answers
440 views
How can I compare hop flavours quickly?
I want to try and acquaint myself with different hop flavours and brewing a few batches of beer can be quite time consuming (and wasteful if the results are no good).
How can I quickly (in say, a ...
7
votes
2answers
999 views
Munich and Vienna Malt
How do these two malts differ? I can find sources at times with slightly different colors and I know there must be flavor differences.
I was wondering if anyone could shed light on how the two are ...
7
votes
3answers
231 views
What type of reference beer should I use for flavor doctoring?
I've been looking for resources on how to really taste some of the commonly referred to tastes out there. For instance, people say that phenols taste like band-aids. But I really have no clue what ...
7
votes
5answers
451 views
What hops provide the guava-like taste of some IPAs?
IPAs like Bear Republic's Racer 5 and Coronado Brewing Company's Islander IPA have a distinct guava-like scent and flavor character. Is there a particular variety of hops that produces this, or is it ...
7
votes
1answer
846 views
Skunking beer process
How fast does beer skunk, in the bottle or out?
I have heard people claim their IPA gets skunky in the glass as they drink it on the sunny patio.
I have also left a sixer of beer on a shelf on my ...
7
votes
3answers
2k views
How much chocolate extract should I use?
The Young's Double Chocolate Stout clone recipe I'm about to rack to the secondary in two days calls for 0.33 ounces of chocolate extract. That's less than a tablespoon. The bottle of chocolate ...
7
votes
1answer
239 views
Victory v. Biscuit malt
Are there flavor differences between these two malts?
How can each be described?
I have used them both but often in complicated recipes, and never side by side for comparison.
How is each produced?
7
votes
2answers
1k views
Malt flavor profiles
Does anyone know a good comprehensive resource to compare different base and specialty grains and their resulting flavor profiles?
6
votes
4answers
1k views
preparing fruit for secondary
What is the best method for preparing different fruits for fruit additions into secondary fermentors?
There are issues of sanitation and good fruit to wort contact, via chopping, slicing, mincing or ...
6
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3answers
264 views
What is a session beer?
What is the accepted OG and ABV of a session beer?
What other qualities does a session beer possess?
6
votes
2answers
182 views
How do I determine where the off-flavors of my brew are coming from?
Is there a website I can visit that will describe where different off-flavors come from? For instance, if the beer tastes malty, fruity, or bitter, where can I go to determine why?
6
votes
2answers
282 views
Should I worry about CFLs (Compact Fluorescent Lamps) skunking my beer?
Particularly when racking from primary to secondary and then again into the keg.
6
votes
5answers
169 views
Help With Hops…
I generally understand the grain side of things, but I can't get my head around hops. Given the variety and choice, how do you go about selecting what hops to use and how much of each hop...? Are ...
6
votes
4answers
820 views
Taste Test for Stale Beer
I am curious to know what stale beer really tastes like. For me I can read about what certain off flavors are supposed to taste like. However, taste and flavor can be so subjective its hard to ...
5
votes
3answers
806 views
Belgian candi sugar v. Table sugar
I am planning a Belgian Dubbel for an upcoming session. Many recipes make use of belgian candy sugar and there are some very nice syrups available now. But I was wondering if there really was a ...
5
votes
3answers
769 views
Why does my beer taste like bacon?
I recently brewed an oatmeal stout that has distinct bacon notes to it, both in the nose and in the flavor. What could be causing these flavors? This bacon-ness isn't disagreeable; it's actually ...
5
votes
4answers
225 views
How can I achieve smokey flavours?
I'm only just getting started with homebrewing however I have a longer term goal of going all-grain and brewing a porter with a distinctly smokey flavour to it. Something similar to the flavours ...
5
votes
6answers
756 views
Alternative/Non-traditional Brewing Practices
Brew in a bag.
No chill.
Olive Oil aeration substitute.
Overnight mashing.
Batch Sparging.
The list continues.
These types of techniques are great and frequent areas of discussion in the home ...
5
votes
2answers
156 views
Possible to intensify/increase the amount of yeast flavor?
I will soon be making a hefe and will be using wyeast's 3068. In recent hefes I have made, I have always desired much more intensity in the flavors provided by the yeast strain. The only method i am ...
5
votes
2answers
98 views
Is level of roast indicative of flavor contributions?
Crisp carries a 630L Chocolate malt, Munton's carries one that's 385L.
Both are UK maltsters, but (not having actually tasted them) I assume that they taste quite different, even though they are ...
5
votes
1answer
299 views
What is different between American Oak and French Oak?
What other "nationalities" of Oak are used in brewing?
5
votes
2answers
852 views
Flavor extracts - add to secondary or add during bottling?
What are the pros and cons of adding flavor extracts (fruit, chocolate, what have you) at bottling time versus adding them to the secondary? Does it make a difference? Is there a trade-off between ...
5
votes
1answer
536 views
Fermenter Heating Belt
Is it worth using? I was thinking of getting one to use on my first fermenter for a german weissbier so that the yeast flavour and aroma is more present in the final result. By how many degrees does ...
5
votes
2answers
661 views
What is cold steeping?
What is cold steeping specialty grains all about?
How do I do it? What does 'cold' really mean? How long does it take?
Advantages and disadvantages?
5
votes
2answers
331 views
Are German Merkur or Herkules hops noble enough to sub in a Pilsener?
On an impulse last week I picked up some German Merkur and Herkules hops from the LHBS to use as flavoring and aroma hops in a pilsner, because I thought they might be an interesting twist. But now ...
5
votes
3answers
302 views
What is the distinctive flavor in Warsteiner Premium Verum?
To me, there's a really distinctive flavor in Warsteiner Premium Verum. I get a ton of it in Warsteiner, a fair bit in Beck's, and a bit in Pilsner Urquell. I'm quite sure the thing I'm tasting is ...
5
votes
2answers
220 views
Detecting differences in the type of whiskey used to soak oak
I'm about to add oak chips to my scotch ale. I was thinking about what sort of scotch to soak the chips in before hand. And then I thought, how much does it really matter?
At what point can one tell ...
5
votes
3answers
584 views
What is the best way to flavor beer with Oak?
Background:
I've purchased some lovely dark roasted oak chips that I plan on soaking in bourbon and using to flavor an Irish Red.
Friends of mine who have seasoned their beer on oak chips claim that ...
5
votes
5answers
2k views
Triple Fermented?? But Why?
Some beers claim to be triple fermented, meaning that after primary fermentation, more fermentables are added at the start of secondary, and then the brew is bottle-conditioned, resulting in three ...
4
votes
5answers
3k views
Adding Vanilla Extract?
I have a black stout fermenting right now. I added about 8oz of cacao powder in the boil and I'd like to add some vanilla extract, to taste. Can this be done before bottling? Should this have been ...
4
votes
4answers
1k views
How to Add Cocoa
I want to add cocoa or chocolate to a beer, but cocoa powder isn't very soluble in water. What methods/alternatives do I have?
I prefer to avoid extracts, if possible.
I don't think I can find nibs ...
4
votes
5answers
460 views
Why does my cream ale taste like a witbier?
Imagine my surprise when I opened a bottle of my cream ale and found that it had picked up a clove-y flavor reminiscent of a wheat beer. It's not even presented as a risk in the BJCP guidelines for ...
4
votes
4answers
167 views
What solution of hard alcohol is sufficient to sanitize and infuse something for addition to a fermenting beer?
Context:
I'm brewing into small, split batches lately to test the effects of various additives. I've got some true cinnamon bark and cacao nibs which I am planning on crushing up, letting steep in ...
4
votes
1answer
345 views
What kind of malt will add a molasses flavor?
I recall tasting a beer a couple years back that, from the first sip, screamed "molasses". I'd like to impart some of that flavor into a brew I'm concocting, but wasn't sure exactly where to aim.
I ...
4
votes
2answers
308 views
Cocoa Nibs for Chocolate Flavorings
What is the best way to use cocoa nibs?
Do you crush them, crack them leave them whole?
Steep and remove pre-boil, leave in boil, add at flameout?
Add them only during secondary? How long?
