10
votes
Accepted
Why do my spice flavors disappear when my beer is chilled?
It's a combination of human perception and physical science. Volatile compounds are less volatile at cold temperatures (physical chemistry), and the human nervous system is dulled or numbed slightly ...
- 3,417
9
votes
Accepted
Beer way too bitter. What should I do?
The advice that I give all new brewers is to taste what you have at every step. Taste your grain, taste your runnings, taste your wort when it goes into the fermenter and, of course, taste it when ...
- 1,152
6
votes
Accepted
How does chilling my wort slowly affect the taste of my beer?
Usually the biggest concerns of a slow chill are....
DMS (cooked corn flavor) is created from SMM when wort is hot. DMS will form until below 140°F (60°C). SMM is boiled off during boil, it's why we ...
- 18.5k
5
votes
Beer way too bitter. What should I do?
Don't dry hop. Bottle and leave for 6-9 months,or more. The bitterness will decrease noticeably with time. A beer considered much to "bitter" or "hop tangy" will be quite mild and enjoyable after one ...
- 5,631
5
votes
Adding graham cracker flavor to a pumpkin ale
Don't use commercially produced Graham crackers, as these will contain unconvertible starches, oils, fats, preservatives, etc that can wreck your beer. Also, you can never assume that a finished ...
- 6,682
5
votes
Accepted
Boosting a recipe for longer shelf life
'Do you think this will work with most recipes?'
I think it will. The thing about intentionally stronger flavors is that they tend to mask other unwanted flavors that develop over time. Precisely why ...
- 6,417
5
votes
Accepted
Kegging an 11% stout
Kegged beer should last almost as long as bottled beer if sanitation and gas pressures are properly maintained. I don't think you need to do anything different because you are kegging it. The high ABV ...
- 3,012
5
votes
Accepted
What is a good time frame for aging cider/apple wine?
I don't age my ciders intentionally. I control the fermentation so they are clean.
While I have aged cider up to two years in bottles (Got lost in cooler) I prefer it fresh.
My friends that do ...
- 18.5k
4
votes
Boosting a recipe for longer shelf life
Adding to @FranklinPCombs's answer, if you have a CO2 canister, prefill your bottles with CO2 before filling them. That will guarantee that the head space contains no free oxygen and might buy you a ...
- 650
4
votes
Off Flavors in all of my Homebrewing attempts
Grats on your first brews!
Sounds like yeast stress esters from possibly under pitching or lack of oxygen, maybe even autolysis if it's sitting in a primary for 3 weeks.
Suggestions:
Use a yeast ...
- 18.5k
4
votes
What is a good time frame for aging cider/apple wine?
This is purely anecdotal, but I feel like my ciders have been pretty harsh early on and have improved with time, but it was a quicker timeframe than I had expected (a few months, not years). If you ...
- 710
4
votes
Accepted
Adding extra ingredients/flavouring: what stage should I add?
I would add the ingredients in late fermentation. When there is plenty of alcohol, minimal co2 blow off, but still active yeast. This will allow the yeast to consume those sugars, dominate the culture ...
- 18.5k
4
votes
Adding extra ingredients/flavouring: what stage should I add?
I always recommend adding non fermentable flavorings as close to packaging as possible. This helps prevent that flavor and aroma from getting "blown out" by fermentation.
- 33.4k
4
votes
After I eat some foods beer tastes weird?
Certain foods can have effects on taste buds. Rinsing your mouth out with water (not mouthwash as that can do the same thing) will help. This is why we learn to food and beer (or wine) parings.
When ...
- 41
3
votes
Off Flavors in all of my Homebrewing attempts
Well its purely speculation but if the off flavor is the same across three batches, and you're sure your sanitizing process is spot on, I'd say its likely to be either your fermentation temperature, ...
- 36.2k
3
votes
Why is lemon zest undetectable in my beer?
It's possible that the aromatics went volatile in the boil and was then gasses off in fermentation. Leaving only oils that manifest aroma at warm temps.
Try the zest as a secondary addition, or a ...
- 18.5k
3
votes
Accepted
Hop Bags, What are the Advantages?
Using hop bags is just for ease of use of hops. Using them in the boil pretty much depends on your system. With my system, the pickup tube will clog if I use whole hops without a bag. For that ...
- 33.4k
3
votes
What influences the finishing taste in your beer?
A lot of times, you can add something to the secondary fermentation for a finishing taste. For instance, if you added cocoa nibs to secondary, you'd end up with chocolate on the finish. If you added ...
- 1,152
3
votes
Boosting a recipe for longer shelf life
The most important things for a beer to have a long shelf life is the quality of the beer to start with. Having a flawless beer will have nothing to hide and will age much better.
One of the most ...
- 18.5k
3
votes
Accepted
Peaches in Cider
First off you are not crazy, adding fruit to alcoholic beverages is an age old process. You have a few options, you can add the peaches to the secondary, minus the syrup.
If the peaches are straight ...
- 7,018
3
votes
Any way to rescue an overly bitter beer?
A quick idea which works for me. After bottled. when serving the beer. Pint glass put 1/4 teaspoon of granulated white sugar (regular sugar u put in coffee). Pour your beer into glass n sugar.Play ...
- 31
3
votes
Storage Temperature
Beer should be stored cool. Around 7°C (45°F), never colder than 3°C (37°F) [#1].
Charles Bamforth says that every extra 10°C (50°F) of temperature doubles the rate of beer aging. So when your beer ...
- 2,060
2
votes
What could cause an earthy flavour in beer?
Unpleasant fresh soil as you describe it can be a sign for ethyl fenchol which is a water contamination issue. I don't think Willamette or any hop for the matter should lead to a result how you ...
- 171
2
votes
What could cause an earthy flavour in beer?
Earthy flavours can be caused by mold spores in the area you store your beer. They tend to occur in damp areas where the mold grow within the walls of the area and then passes a chemical through any ...
- 21
2
votes
Adding graham cracker flavor to a pumpkin ale
I have never tried it, but if I wanted to I would rather add grains that have that flavour (pilsner malt) as opposed to adding the actual cracker.
[Added on request]
Here is a document (25Mb) from ...
- 2,466
2
votes
Accepted
Flat, weak finish to my homebrew. Sign of it being young?
It might be a sign of the age of the beer, and it won't hurt to give it some more time to see if it improves. Not having tasted it, I suspect that it might not.
In general I wouldn't think of aging ...
- 933
2
votes
Accepted
Grape-like flavors in beer
Methyl Anthranilate is the compound that makes a grape flavor, it's found naturally in grapes and can be produced by some bacteria.
Im not aware of any yeast that produce Methyl anthranilate.
It's ...
- 18.5k
2
votes
2
votes
How necessary are specialty malts in an extract brew?
Different specialty malts affect your beer differently:
color malts: color, body
roasted malts: toasty, chocolate, roasted, or coffee flavor
cara-... malts: caramel flavor, mouthfeel, head retention
...
- 1,266
2
votes
How necessary are specialty malts in an extract brew?
I assume when you describe "specialty malts" you are talking about the whole grain components of a partial mash recipe. Strictly speaking specialty malts are any grains besides the base malt. To ...
- 933
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible