Can yeast make taste of beer sour?

Hello.

I'm on my 6th brew and at least two of them have a sour taste that I would not think fits the recipes. One of them is Number 8 belgian recipe (from Northern brewer) and the second is a Irish Red recipe I got from the recipe section here.

I ordered the liquid yeast (belgian and Irish Ale) via Morebeer with frozen gelpacks with them and the shipping was about 10-14 days. I made a yeast starter and the yeast seemed to be ok. The fermantation took off and I got a pretty good FG before bottling.

The tast of both of these beer is to sour in my opinion and I'm wondering could it be the yeast although it was still alive (got fermentation)?

I also fermented probably at too high heat because I fermented at room temperature.

I'm not 100% sure that the beers are not ok but they both seem sour after 2-3 weeks in bottles.

Johann

gugguson said:

Hello.

I'm on my 6th brew and at least two of them have a sour taste that I would not think fits the recipes. One of them is Number 8 belgian recipe (from Northern brewer) and the second is a Irish Red recipe I got from the recipe section here.

I ordered the liquid yeast (belgian and Irish Ale) via Morebeer with frozen gelpacks with them and the shipping was about 10-14 days. I made a yeast starter and the yeast seemed to be ok. The fermantation took off and I got a pretty good FG before bottling.

The tast of both of these beer is to sour in my opinion and I'm wondering could it be the yeast although it was still alive (got fermentation)?

I also fermented probably at too high heat because I fermented at room temperature.

I'm not 100% sure that the beers are not ok but they both seem sour after 2-3 weeks in bottles.

Johann

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Are they carbonated well? Too well? Sometimes infections can lead to sour beers and gushers. Still, Belgian yeast has some different flavors by nature and are often fermented pretty warm so it's hard to say there what you are tasting. Spicy and fruity? The Irish ale yeast is pretty fruity estery too esp if fermented warm. What's room temp 70 F? You probably had 73-4 in the ferment then. Not outrageous but leaning towards more fruity and flavorful.

Thanks for your reply.

I use Beersmith to design the recipes and I carbonate at the higher end of each style so it might be carbonated to well - but I would think I'm within style.

I'm not experienced enough to explain exactly what kind of sourness it is everybody I allow to taste it say it is a little bit 'sour'.

These beers that are with this characteristics were fermented a little bit too hot I would say. The room temperature was around 71-73 degrees.

I'm not too concerned about this if I can be sure that the liquid yeast I receive with mail can turn sour when it is still alive. This is my only source of liquid yeast so if this is not causing this I would be relaxed because I have methods of controlling the fermentation temps and carbonation levels.

thanks

bethebrew said:

Are they carbonated well? Too well? Sometimes infections can lead to sour beers and gushers. Still, Belgian yeast has some different flavors by nature and are often fermented pretty warm so it's hard to say there what you are tasting. Spicy and fruity? The Irish ale yeast is pretty fruity estery too esp if fermented warm. What's room temp 70 F? You probably had 73-4 in the ferment then. Not outrageous but leaning towards more fruity and flavorful.

Click to expand...

Is it sourness from the first sip or is it an after taste?

I have a friend who noticed a sour after taste in my IPA. After trying two bottles of the IPA (bottled for over two months), he said that pouring less beer into his glass (leaving more yeast behind in the second bottle) made the sour aftertaste less intense. The temperature of the fermentation was controlled in the mid 60'S F and Safeale-05 has a pretty clean profile so I wouldn't blame temperature. I would say try tasting two bottles side by side , leaving more yeast behind in one and see it it helps. Maybe it is yeast bite.

For a Belgian I brewed I have also received comments about a sour after taste and was told that smacking the pack and adding it to the starter without giving it at least a day to swell up could lead to off flavors. How long before adding the yeast to your starter did you smack the pack (assuming the liquid yeast you ordered was the smack pack kind)?.

I hear that Belgians get better with age as well. Maybe leaving it in the bottle longer will help clean out the flavor.