Fermentation flavors

blackstrat5 · 11-05-2011, 03:05 PM

Just checked the progression of my stout. It finished at 1.012 from 1.063. I started fermentation 6 days ago. Anyway, I get this odd bitter flavor. I'm guessing it's acetaldehyde (kinda like the sharp bitterness of a green apple) or could it just be the esters out of control? I oxygenated and pitched the proper amount. Any thoughts? Will it clean up? It seems like every british yeast I've used gives me this flavor. The temperature of fermentation was done using a freezer with the temp probe attached to the carboy with foam insulation covering it at 64 degrees. The yeast was WY1028.

I pitched at 62, let it naturally rise to 64 and kept it there until two days ago I raised the temp to 66. Just took a sample and tasted getting this flavor.

Any suggestions or comments on what I might be tasting and what went wrong or needs to be done?

**wonderbread23** · 11-05-2011, 03:07 PM

Its only six days old. Too early to tell. Acetacldehyde is a fermentation byproduct that should get cleaned up.

hercher · 11-05-2011, 03:16 PM

Agree with wonderbread. Stouts often have a hint of Acetaldehyde, but most of it should go away with time. You may want to let the temp of your beer to rise slightly -- to about 68.

However, one factor that can cause excess acetaldehyde is underpitching -- did you use a starter?

Calder · 11-06-2011, 12:26 AM

Leave it on the yeast cake and raise the temp to about 70 F for several days.

nefarious_1_ · 11-06-2011, 12:42 AM

woah, step away from the fermenter!

Bottle in 2 more weeks and report back 2 months after that.

Stouts take a while; period.

blackstrat5 · 11-06-2011, 01:24 AM

Fair enough. Ill give it time. It was a two gallon batch. With the age and its calculated viability I pitched two wyeast packs. It was slightly above the recommended pitch rate. I don't think underpitching was done. I injected pure oxygen through a 0.5 sinter stone at 1.2 lpm for 40 seconds.

But ill give it time and report time. I went and bought a green apple and I do get a bit of that in the beer. However, there is another strong flavor. Like overwhelming esters. Maybe that'll calm down too overtime. Ill check back in I guess after awhile.

**muthafuggle** · 11-06-2011, 03:37 PM

The probability here is what you're tasting is called "green beer". RDWHAHB and plan or brew your next masterpiece. If you are just starting out, the solution for this problem is cheap. Go buy another fermenter bucket and fill it with homebrew.

Repeat as necessary until you have a pipeline that keeps your mind and tongue too busy to worry about how long until your beer is ready. 3 weeks primary, 7-10 days secondary if you're adding stuff like dry hops, a month in bottles before you drink is a good rule of thumb until you've done this ALOT. Can you drink it sooner? Of course, but you ate concerned about off flavors. That leads me to believe you care about quality, and that means patience.