microwave135

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Hi there all,

I am new to home brewing, just having started 2 months ago, very excited very glad to have a great resource like HBT.

I brewed my first batch of beer three weeks ago, it was a dunkelweizen:

1# Caramunich
3.3# Wheat LME
3.3# Amber LME
1oz. Argentina Cascades (60 mins)
Wyeast German Ale Yeast
1/2c. white sugar (priming)

1 week primary
~2 weeks in the bottle

Brew day went great, the only weird thing I did (and now I know better) is putting 7 lbs of ice directly into the fermenter to cool the wort down. (I had become interested by watching "Amber Waves," the Good Eats episode about beer making by food celebrity Alton Brown. He reccomended the ice solution)

My question is this: I opened a bottle up the other day to see how it was, and the color was a beautiful garnet, rather clear for a wheat beer, nice head, and the distinct taste of soy sauce.

Is this an issue of the yeast? Is this because I accidentally fermented the beer around 75 degrees? Is this just some estery compound that will mellow out in the conditioning phase?

I possess no particular penchant for patience, so should I just wait it out (of course I should.)

Anyone every encounter such an odd flavor compound?

thanks

BEER_4_BREAKFAST

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I'm sorry, but the title of this thread made me laugh my ass off. I hope my first batch doesnt taste like Soy sauce!

My guess is that the ice in the fermenter wasnt a good idea and you should have let it sit in the primary for more than 1 week, but I'm sure the veterans of the home brew world here will follow up with better advice.

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stevefarns

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I've used that yeast before and have never had any sort of a soy sauce flavor. I haven't used either those hops or the barley before. I'd be curious to hear if people here have an opinion on those. I know you mentioned it, and already have a reply on it... but that ice is probably something you don't want to do again. Even out of my own freezer I've had ice cubes that change the flavor of water based on what happens to be in there at the time. I can only imagine what that will do to your beer considering it hasn't been boiled.
I wouldn't let this discourage you. The beer is still young and the flavor could change over the next couple of weeks to a month. Even if this beer never loses that flavor, I think we'll all have a bad batch or two at some point.

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Revvy

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How long has the beer been in the bottles before tasting it???

If you brewed it 3 weeks ago, the beer has barely had any time to bottle condition....

Click on the number next to the " Blog entries" and read the first blog there...it will explain what's going on....

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Buzz_Armstrong

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RDWHAHB

Let it sit for a while and if it still tastes like soy sauce, serve it with sushi!

YUM.

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zoebisch01

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Prolly patience is in order microwave (man with a name like that, I suspect it'll be hard ). Weird meaty flavor compounds can disappear over time iirc.

BTW....Welcome to the forums!

Have a look see:



Look in the Gray area (Sulphury) is caused by fresh Yeast. I believe this is what you are experiencing.

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TexLaw

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Congratulations! You made Samuel Adams Triple Bock! No, wait, that has to be molasses and soy sauce.

Seriously, soy sauce makes me think of oxidation, so that might be your problem. It especially makes me think of old, oxidized extract, so that might be your specific problem. I don't see how it would be anything else would be. The German Ale yeast is pretty clean (really, too clean for a dunkelweizen), and the Argentine Cascades hops are fine for that beer and in that amount.

So, do you know how old the extract was?

More bottle conditioning may help, but if your problem lies with old, oxidized extract, then it probably will not.


TL

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Grinder12000

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Well - don't do anything ever again from that show in regards to making beer!! He had dozens of errors.

To be honest I don';t even know what a dunkelweizen is SUPPOSE to taste like LOL

Do you like Chinese food?? I've never seen that flavor and perhaps you have stumbled upon something :-)

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TexLaw

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I'll second that. After buying some of his gear, ol' AB started losing me a little while buying agreement. Once he got home, he went off the rails in a big way

And, Zoebisch01, that is a good point about the "meaty" part of the soy sauce flavor. The beer might be fine in time.


TL

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zoebisch01

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Indeed, it could be that as well. If the extract is bad then unfortunately there is no amount of conditioning that will rid it. However, to me, Soy sauce has a distinct meaty flavor to it which can tie in with Yeast specifically as Yeast extracts are used to add meaty flavors in the food industry. Now if they autolyze it or not, of that I am not sure.

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Event Horizon ~ A tribute to the miracle of fermentation.

Brew what you like. Do this, and you will find your inner brewer.