Home Brew Forums > Home Brewing Beer > General Techniques > Boozy, phenolic taste




Reply
 
LinkBack Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 12-20-2011, 04:17 PM   #1
CrystalShip
Feedback Score: 0 reviews
Recipes 
 
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Whidbey Island, Wa
Posts: 133
Liked 5 Times on 5 Posts

Default Boozy, phenolic taste

The last three brews I made have a distinctly boozy and phenolic taste and I cannot explain why this happened. The only thing I did differently was the use of Maris otter malt. I mashed correctly and hit the appropriate finishing gravity. Can anyone explain this to me?


CrystalShip is offline
awall Likes This 
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Old 12-20-2011, 04:19 PM   #2
CrystalShip
Feedback Score: 0 reviews
Recipes 
 
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Whidbey Island, Wa
Posts: 133
Liked 5 Times on 5 Posts

Default

I'll also add that the fermentation temperature was steady at about 62-64 degrees and I believe that my yeast pitch rate was enough for the starting gravity


CrystalShip is offline
 
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Old 12-20-2011, 05:13 PM   #3
jvlpdillon
Feedback Score: 0 reviews
Recipes 
 
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Aurora, CO
Posts: 180
Liked 4 Times on 4 Posts
Likes Given: 11

Default

With the limited info here about style and recipe. I would think you underpitched your yeast (did you make a starter?)
jvlpdillon is offline
 
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Old 12-20-2011, 05:48 PM   #4
CrystalShip
Feedback Score: 0 reviews
Recipes 
 
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Whidbey Island, Wa
Posts: 133
Liked 5 Times on 5 Posts

Default

The first bee I noticed it in was a recipe I created, an English India brown ale, the second was a nut brown ale recipe from this site that I secondaried on some toasted coconut. I used a rehydrated pack of Nottingham dry yeast which should contain enough to get the job done correctly. I recently started using plastic buckets as primary fermenters, so maybe it is that?
CrystalShip is offline
 
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Old 12-20-2011, 07:25 PM   #5
dcp27
Feedback Score: 0 reviews
Recipes 
 
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Medford, MA
Posts: 3,626
Liked 66 Times on 64 Posts
Likes Given: 1

Default

was that ferment temp ambient or wort temp? notty can throw off some funky flavors if it gets over 70F
dcp27 is offline
 
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Old 12-20-2011, 07:34 PM   #6
CrystalShip
Feedback Score: 0 reviews
Recipes 
 
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Whidbey Island, Wa
Posts: 133
Liked 5 Times on 5 Posts

Default

It was the reading of the stick on thermometer on the side of the bucket... I actually increased the temp in the room to that temperature because it was around 58-60 before and I was worries the yeast would go dormant
CrystalShip is offline
 
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Old 12-20-2011, 09:05 PM   #7
Lennie
Feedback Score: 0 reviews
Recipes 
 
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Hannibal, MO
Posts: 547
Liked 8 Times on 8 Posts
Likes Given: 1

Default

I think cold can stress a yeast just like heat. You also might need a little nutrient blend, maybe the nitrogen in that particular batch of malt is lower than normal.
Lennie is offline
 
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Old 12-20-2011, 09:34 PM   #8
CrystalShip
Feedback Score: 0 reviews
Recipes 
 
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Whidbey Island, Wa
Posts: 133
Liked 5 Times on 5 Posts

Default

I always use yeast nutrient at the end of the boil. I wasn't aware that a ferment temperature being too cool could cause off flavors. If that is true, that could have been the problem
CrystalShip is offline
 
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Old 12-20-2011, 09:43 PM   #9
Bsquared
Feedback Score: 0 reviews
 
Bsquared's Avatar
Recipes 
 
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: San Diego
Posts: 1,616
Liked 27 Times on 25 Posts
Likes Given: 8

Default

What temp did you pitch? I have found (I know different strain of yeast) that if I pitch belgian ale yeast when the wort is between 70-80ºF, I get hot solventy flavors, even if I control the fermentation temp in my freezer chest at 64ºF for the rest of the fermentation. Now with all my beers I chill to at or bellow my target fermentation temperature before pitching.
Bsquared is online now
 
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Old 12-20-2011, 10:53 PM   #10
GlenF
Feedback Score: 0 reviews
Recipes 
 
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Mattoon, Illinois
Posts: 231
Liked 3 Times on 3 Posts
Likes Given: 6

Default

Did you use special roast malt?

Alpha Klaus porter and a darker beer I made had a similar flavor. Maybe it's just the way the dark malts are interacting with other malts.


__________________
____________
I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy.
GlenF is offline
 
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Reply

Quick Reply
Message:
Options
Thread Tools
Display Modes




FOLLOW US ON