StophJS

Recipes 

The extract batches that I have been doing lately all have the same dominant aroma, which is a kind of musty, old smell. My girlfriend and I both interpret the smell as sort of resembling something that's been in storage for a long time. It is not discernibly present in the actual flavor of the beer to either of us, but it truly ruins the smell of the beer, and is a nuisance in that every time you go in for a drink you are greeted by this strange smell. I'm pretty desperate to figure out what's causing this, because it's very difficult to just overlook. Does anyone have any idea what this might be?

philjohnwilliams

Recipes 

I don't know what kind of extract you are using, but i would be tempted to say it is due to old stale LME.

Grizzlybrew

Recipes 

Assuming you are using quality extract/kits from a reputable source...

perhaps it's your water. Are you using charcoal filtered water? Are you bottling? Are your fermentation temps under control?

__________________
On Deck
perhaps a line of single hop IPA's - there's so many new hops out there!!!

Stauffbier

Recipes 

I had a similar problem with an extract amber that I brewed a few months back. After it got some age in the bottle it went away. How old are the beers you're drinking? Have they had some time to mellow?

malkore

Recipes 

What beers are you making, and what (if any) is the final 5 minute or flameout hop addition? And are you dry hopping?

You might not like a particular hop aroma from the variety you've been using. Especially if you're newer to craft beer drinking (i.e. coming from a BMC background)

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Malkore
Primary: English Mild
On tap: Pale Ale, Lancelot's Wheat, English Brown Ale, Steam Beer, HoovNuts IPA
Bottled: MOAM, Braggot, Raspberry Melomel, Merlot, Apfelwein, Pyment, Sweet mead, Cabernet
Gal in 2009: 27, Gal in 2010: 34, Gal in 2011: 13, Gal in 2012: 10

StophJS

Recipes 

I think I can say pretty confidently that it's not a hop aroma. I've had many, many micro and macro brews and none have ever had a smell like this. This smell has been exceedingly present in my last two batches especially, which were the BB Porter and Midwest Ferocious IPA. As far as aging, all I can say for sure is that the smell is still present at 4 weeks but has mellowed considerably (That's really about as far as my 5 gallon batches typically make it). The porter's in bottle right now though and I'm letting it a age a bit more so I'll see what happens with that.

I am bottling, my ambient for these two recent beers was a very stable 64 degrees, and I use exclusively store bought spring water. I was actually leaning toward the LME myself. I have a brew in primary right now that used only DME so I'm curious to see if the smell is there with that one. I think both of the recent kits I got should in theory have had relatively fresh LME, but who knows. It may very well not have been.

unionrdr

Recipes 

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Everything works if ya let it-Roady(meatloaf)

StophJS

Recipes 

The IPA used citra, amarillo and ahtanum. I don't actually know anymore exactly what hops were in the porter but it was obviously a very differently hopped beer. The smell between the two however is essentially the same from what I can recall of the IPA.

CKITTS

Recipes 

I'm faily new to brewing myself, but can't this type of smell come from oxidization. I once had a drink of some 70 year old whiskey that wasn't stored correctly for aging, and it smelled/ tasted like an old attic. My uneducated guess...

StophJS

Recipes 

I've definitely been considering this.. With this porter at least, there is a distinctly red wine-like flavor to it. I've never had cooking sherry so I don't know if it resembles red wine, but I know oxidation can cause a sherry-like flavor. When bottling my next batch I plan on taking steps to reduce my back pressure on my bottling wand. That's really the only time I could see oxidation happening in my process.