Hot answers tagged off-flavor
5
No, it doesn't go away - the photochemical reaction produces compounds that do not degrade quickly and are not broken down by the yeast.
Professor Beer writes:
When light hits beer, it provides the energy necessary to drive a
reaction that transforms the iso-alpha-acids into
3-methyl-2-butene-1-thiol. The “thiol” part of that somewhat
cumbersome ...
5
I can think of 2 things...it might be CO2 coming from the airlock. It might also be fusel alcohols from fermenting at such high temps. In spite of what Chris White says, my own experience is that my beers come out much better fermenting at lower temps. Don't let someone else tell you what to do when your own experience says otherwise! It might also be a ...
4
It could be from bacterial contamination, old yeast, or from stale ingredients.
BJCP page, Mead Faults, lists some typical causes:
Vegetal Smell or taste of plants or green vegetables. Cooked, canned or rotten vegetable (cabbage, celery, onion, asparagus, parsnip) aroma and flavor:
Encourage a fast, vigorous fermentation (use a healthy, active ...
4
The problem could be from temperature, alcohol tolerance and pitching rates. While the solvent character will fade with time to some degree, it can take a many months to do so and will not completely disappear.
Although I can't find published figures from Fermentis, S-04 has reportedly an alcohol tolerance of 10-11% in various forums. Your 1.111 beer gives ...
4
Upvote on the question, and someone will undoubtedly come by with a better answer, but here goes off the top of my head:
Acetaldehyde (a-cee-tal-de-hide....nobody says it right!) is a precursor to alcohol. It is an intermediate compound that is formed prior to the formation of EtOH/ethanol during fermentation.
So the weird thing is that acetaldehyde is ...
3
I once made a porter with 4% black (patent) malt. It was nearly undrinkable due to the astringent ashy flavor. Letting it sit for a couple of months in the keg helped, but it was still overly assertive.
Carafa III is similar to black patent. In fact some sources claim that one can be substituted for the other. If your grist included more than 1 or 2% Carafa ...
2
I don't think that having CO2 in solution will really affect fermentation or aging one way or another. The last lager I made was actually slightly carbonated after primary, presumably due to the cold temperature allowing more CO2 to stay in solution.
If you transfer it while carbonated, be careful to do it slowly and preferably cold to avoid foaming. If ...
2
The metallic/chemical taste to me suggests contamination at the bottle level. Maybe some of these were insufficiently cleaned or sterilized. The wrong microbes could also impact the flavor by breaking down the flavors you want into ones you don't. Is there any possibility you put more care into cleaning the longer bottles (as they would be possibly more ...
2
Extract twang is not an extract issue at all. It is a fermentation issue derived from poor yeast health, under pitching, temperature fluctuations or any other phenomena that stresses yeast out.
If the beer was only in primary for one week with poorly fermenting yeast that could be the source of your problem. Next time go with two weeks primary as a ...
2
I've never tried heating beer, although given that commercial beer is pasteurized at around 165F/74C - far above your 20.2C/68F it may work. I'm not a chemist, but my understanding is that the 68F boiling point is for the pure substance - once dissolved in water the boiling point will change, the same as when salt is added to water changes the freezing and ...
2
Was this an All Grain brew, or Extract? Was the flavor apparent from the start, or did it develop over time?
Brewing All Grain pale-to-amber beers is pretty easy. If your water isn't slap full of chlorine/iron/etc (ie, tastes pretty good) then you can happily brew away without a care in the world. And a lot of all grain brewers make great beer .... up ...
2
Did you dechlorinate your water, or use a bleach sanitizing solution? This can cause chlorophenols which can cause a clove flavour. I just brewed an ESB with Whitelabs Brit ale yeast. I didn't dechlorinate and used bleach to sanitize, and I have slight clove with banana nose, and I thought pretty tasty Belgian! Brit ale yeasts are higher in phenols so ...
1
The three major factors that affect shelf life are sanitation, oxidation, and storage conditions.
Make sure everything is sanitized post-boil. If you need to touch a hose, wash your hands with anti-bacterial soap, etc. Fermenters, bottles, racking canes, tubing, caps -- everything should be sanitized immediately prior to use. A minor infection might not ...
1
Could the flavor be described as a burned flavor? Are you applying direct heat to the mash tun? Do you have a heating element in direct contact with the wort, like in a RIMS system? It sounds to me like you may have burned or scorched your mash or wort. Direct heat to the mash tun is fine if you have a false bottom, but be careful if the malt is at the floor ...
1
Answering my own. Conducted a secondary fermentation with 5lbs of dried apricots (heated to 170 then cooled in some water) after every other adjunct didn't have much of an impact. The beer now has another flavor component and is a bit more enjoyable to drink, however, my wife still perceives the band-aid (and I can too, but her palette is a bit more ...
1
I realize this is answered, but if the beer is tasted better later, I doubt it's an infection. This might be totally off-base, but when you move to a keg and refrigerate, unless you filtered before transferring, the remaining yeast and sediment particles are going to settle to the bottom of the keg. The dip tube on a corny keg is pulling from the bottom, so ...
1
Those off flavors are almost certainly fusel alcohols. They tend to come out more with show meads because there aren't any additional flavorings or ingredients to mask the off flavors.
I would suggest controlling your fermentation temps and make sure you have adequate nutrition available for the yeast. Other than that, the best thing to do is age your mead ...
1
Most likely, depending on your fermentation, you might have weak yeast cultures or poor nutrient which would develop much more esters, which are probably the taste you're describing. Having a fermentation that is too warm or too cold can also contribute to this.
here's a good mead book
1
I would also add that the scum above the krausen line is very astringent, so don't mess around too much with your fermentor, since this very bitter, astringent stuff will get mixed into the beer. It's best left out.
I made this mistake once, when I was dry-hopping with bags, and wanted to get the beer and hops all stirred up to get the full effect from the ...
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