Off taste in cream stout

brewser09 · 12-04-2010, 04:55 PM

So I brewed a cream stout two weeks ago and I decided to rack it to a secondary which is not like me cuz I usually do a long primary and omit the secondary all together. Long story short it smelled pretty good but tastes really bitter I've had another one kinda taste the same and after a year it still hasn't mellowed what is it, how can I fix it and what can I do to ensure this won't happen again? Thanks in advance

Legin · 12-04-2010, 05:13 PM

What was the recipe? Include the yeast. Describe this bitter taste. Is it hoppy bitter? Tangy? Acidic?
Astringent?

Edit: Just noticed this was the extract forums.

brewser09 · 12-04-2010, 06:35 PM

It was a Midwest extract kit cream stout and it's like a yeasty bitterness

Legin · 12-04-2010, 07:30 PM

It's hard to say. I tend to think of yeasty and bitterness as two different things. Yeasty could be yeast not settling out of your beer before transferring, but that's probably not the case as you let your beers sit in the primary for a good amount of time. It could be unhealthy yeast. Are you aerating the wort before tossing the yeast in? Another possibility is bad ingredients (common among kits). And one more is fermentation temperature control and stability. The main issue with describing the off flavor as bitter, is that bitterness is usually only associated with hops. In which case most people will tell you to use less hops.

brewser09 · 12-04-2010, 10:57 PM

It's hard to pin point what the taste is but I just transferred my holiday ale and it tastes exactly the sane way it smells really off and just tastes bad this is my third batch like this I don't know what I'm doing wrong

**Newbeerguy** · 12-05-2010, 03:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brewser09

It's hard to pin point what the taste is but I just transferred my holiday ale and it tastes exactly the sane way it smells really off and just tastes bad this is my third batch like this I don't know what I'm doing wrong

What tempature are you fermenting at? How thorough are you cleaning/sanitizing your equipment? Is the bad taste the exact same in all your batches?

A more detailed description of the off flavor would help me out more.....bitter just doesn't strike me as an off flavor. Is it more like mouth puckering dryness?

**Pappers_** · 12-05-2010, 03:42 AM

09, there very well could be something wrong with your beer, but I wanted to point out that you are tasting young/green beer, warm and uncarbonated. After its bottled and sat for a month, it might be much better.

brewser09 · 12-05-2010, 08:25 PM

After getting a second oPinion it tasted really yeasty it and it doesn't smell very good either I would normally agree that it's young but this smell and taste is exactly what I had tasted on a previous beer that we had to re pitch the yeast and after a year in the bottle it still tastes like it. As far as temp goes it's been pretty constant around 64 with it getting no higher than 66. I really need to identify this issue cuz it's really frustrating me

brewser09 · 12-06-2010, 04:23 PM

Would cold crashing and maybe adding some additinoal lactose to it help remedy the situation or at least make it drinkable? I would really like to have this presentable for the holidays :S

mixedbrewer · 12-06-2010, 07:55 PM

If you brewed three different batches and they all have this same taste... I would start looking for what was common in all three. Did they all come with the same kind of yeast? Does your water taste good? Is everything sanitized?