Beer tastes like lettuce?

So I got my buddy to start brewing and his first brew was an AHB kit for a Texas Bock. He gave me a couple to try and I gave him one of my amber ales and one of my Chocolate Stouts. When I popped his open and poured in, everything looked good and smelled good. I took my first sip and the aftertast was lettuce or even hamburger with lettuce. It was wierd so I had my wife try it, but I didn't tell her my thoughts and she said the same thing..lettuce. Is this what this beer is supposed to taste like or is there a problem with his technique? He loves it, which is great but I was curious as to the lettuce taste. Any thoughts?


Dan

Tell him not to add so much lettuce next time

Hopfan said:

Tell him not to add so much lettuce next time

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I totally didn't even think of the obvious answer



Dan

Did you suggest the taste of lettuce to your wife prior to her tasting it? There is a lot of psychology in taste.

If you brewed from a kit you are looking at possible yeast byproducts or possible contamination.

Did you rinse your containers after cleaning/sanitizing?
Did you aerate your yeast?
What temps did you ferment at?
If you did steep grains, then what temp and how long did you steep them?

The good news is that most bad flavors will come to pass. The bad news is that it takes awhile.

I have a pumpkin ale I planned for halloween that had a bad start. Its JUST came around.

digdan said:

Did you suggest the taste of lettuce to your wife prior to her tasting it? There is a lot of psychology in taste.

If you brewed from a kit you are looking at possible yeast byproducts or possible contamination.

Did you rinse your containers after cleaning/sanitizing?
Did you aerate your yeast?
What temps did you ferment at?
If you did steep grains, then what temp and how long did you steep them?

The good news is that most bad flavors will come to pass. The bad news is that it takes awhile.

I have a pumpkin ale I planned for halloween that had a bad start. Its JUST came around.

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I didn't tell my wife anything, I just let her taste it and she said it tasted like an IN N Out burger
To clarify, this was a buddy of mine, not my brew. From what I understand it was a plain ol' extract kit, no grains involved. I don't know his routine either..I was just wondering if this kind of aftertaste was a normal thing for this type of beer (Bock)

Dan

Sounds like Dimethyl Sulfide to me. The probable cause was his boiling technique.

Torchiest said:

Sounds like Dimethyl Sulfide to me. The probable cause was his boiling technique.

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I thought DMS off-flavors were caused by not cooling your wort quickly enough...

Both. DMS forms throughout the boil and until you get the wort chilled below 140. I'm not entirely sure what DMS tastes like, but it's described as "cooked vegetable". Did he boil with the lid on? If you do, the DMS doesn't get a chance to escape.

Also, was this dry-hopped? I've noticed problems if the hops are left in the cleaning tank for more than two weeks.

i have nothing on the lettuce beer other than add some ranch or blue cheese to it and make a salad.

BUT, i did have a smoked pilsner that tasted exactly like ham. no kidding.

A hamburger and lettuce beer... stop your compaining

I'm having something that may be related with a Fuller's clone; I tasted when I racked to the secondary (after 1 week in plastic primary) and it had a distinct vegetable aftertaste. I chalked it up to all the hops (more than any other brew I've done) and figured I clear it, bottle it, condition it, and see how it tastes then. If it's bad, it's bad and I'll try again; pretty sure it wasn't me though, used the same technique I have for all my other beers and they are awesome!

Dimethyl sulfide definitely sounds like the culprit. I refer you to "How to Brew" by John Palmer, chapter 21.2, "Common Off-Flavors".
Here's the URL: http://www.howtobrew.com/section4/chapter21-2.html
Best of luck, happy holidays!

If it tastes like an In -n- Out burger, think of the marketing possibilities.....

How long does it usually take you guys to chill your wort? I don't own a wort chiller, and seldom have absurdly large quantities of ice on hand. I usually get a bath of very cold water ready and continue to change it every few minutes. It takes maybe 25 minutes for my wort to cool until the point where I strain the hops out. Damn... DMS... my LHBS mentor had me change my grain steeping technique to get rid of cooked vegetable tastes in my brews... Now I find there's another insidious culprit.
-Ben

Guess I'm lucky, my lettuce tastes like beer.

I definitely agree with the DMS comments...that's your problem. It's really nasty.

orfy said:

Guess I'm lucky, my lettuce tastes like beer.

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Why do I have a taste for a salad about right now?

SkaBoneBenny said:

How long does it usually take you guys to chill your wort? I don't own a wort chiller, and seldom have absurdly large quantities of ice on hand. I usually get a bath of very cold water ready and continue to change it every few minutes. It takes maybe 25 minutes for my wort to cool until the point where I strain the hops out. Damn... DMS... my LHBS mentor had me change my grain steeping technique to get rid of cooked vegetable tastes in my brews... Now I find there's another insidious culprit.
-Ben

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It only takes me a few minutes. I keep cold bottled water on hand. I have about 5 gallons on standby, 3 of which are cooled and 2 are room temp. I pour it the water in my boil pot to bring the temp down (I use a floating thermometer to keep checks on it and pour accordingly) and then when it's down to around 80 or so I rack it and pitch. I normally do a three gallon boil and I have a 5.5 gallon pot so by the end of it the pot is topped off and within pitching temps. It's probably not the best way to do it, but I have brewed three times and this seems to work the best for me.


Dan

Eye8oneu812 said:

Dimethyl sulfide definitely sounds like the culprit. I refer you to "How to Brew" by John Palmer, chapter 21.2, "Common Off-Flavors".
Here's the URL: http://www.howtobrew.com/section4/chapter21-2.html
Best of luck, happy holidays!

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Cool thanks...I could have found that had I looked..sorry. I appreciate the info though..now on the topic of whether to bring it up to him or not? He just gave me a bottle of his last brew. I guess if I get the same off flavors I will pass this info on to him.


Thanks again!

Dan

david_42 said:

Also, was this dry-hopped? I've noticed problems if the hops are left in the cleaning tank for more than two weeks.

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Have some Paper City Oktoberfest Lager. This has a slight taste and smell of DMS. Paper City Brewing is a micro brew in western MA in case anybody wonders.

Kai

Kaiser said:

Have some Paper City Oktoberfest Lager. This has a slight taste and smell of DMS. Paper City Brewing is a micro brew in western MA in case anybody wonders.

Kai

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The Kaiser is like a microbrew DMS heat seaking missile!

Must be limited distribution on the Paper City brews...I've never heard of them down here.