I could have sworn I didn't add whiskey to my beer!

My first batch is an extract kit. My local homebrew shop disects the brewers best kits and then builds his own based on their recipes. This particular one was a Continental Pilsner. OG 1.044. Primary at 71-73 degrees for one week. After no noticable movement in the airlock, I took a reading (1.009) and went to secondary. One week of secondary yielded no more trub than after the first day of secondary and very few tiny bubbles rising to the top. So I took a reading (1.008) and bottled. At the time of bottling I noticed a strong alcohol smell. I figured it was just some fumes from some alcohol evaporating as it went into the bottling bucket.

Now, after two weeks in the bottle, I'm still noticing a slight whiskey-esque aftertaste. I've never noticed this in any other pilsners I've tried. It isn't as apparent while the beer is colder. But again, I've never noticed this in any other pilsners regardless of temerature. I soaked and scrubbed everything with LD Carlson cleaner and rinsed thoroughly before use. So I highly doubt it's a cleaning issue.

Any ideas?

BTW, it doesn't have the whiskey smell anymore, just aftertaste. It has a nice sweet/dark smell.

Pilseners are lagers and fermented at much lower temps than 71-73.

What yeast did you use?

I used a dry Nottingham. The recipe kit said "place fermenter in a warm area to maintain a temperature of 68-74 degrees."

Did you aerate your wort? Did you have any steeping grains? A recipe and notes will help diagnose the problem.

K, here goes:

3.3 lbs. plain light malt extract
2 lbs plain light dry malt extract
12 oz. crushed Carapils
1 oz Perle
1 oz Saaz
Danstar Nottingham Ale yeast.

Steeped between 160 and 165 for 20 min. (Instructions say 160 - 170)
Removed grain, and added malts and Perle, boiling for 55.
Added Saaz for remaining 5 min of boil.
Cooled with copper wort chiller to under 70
I airated the crap out of it. You should have seen all the bubbles in it just before I put the airlock on.

Also I did discover that I accidentally had about 5.5 gallons rather than right at 5 to top it off.

It has to be the temp. It is going to be higher than the mid 70s you mentioned as the beer itself generates a ton of heat as it ferments.

I recommend a bus ban for a an inch of water with a t-shirt over your fermenter which will keep things in a better temp range.

What you brewed was called a Pilsner by the manufacture but it is really an ale. 1.008 is fairly low for beer so that might have a little bit to do with the alcohol presence. Although with an OG of 1.044, there shouldn't be too much alcohol in this beer.

According to the thermotape on the fermenter, the temperature stayed pretty constant right above 70 degrees. As for the lower FG, I'm thinking that may be becuse of my extra half gallon of water in there.

I have no idea. This was my first solo batch. All the other times I assisted a buddy brewing his stuff. I'll have to see how my second batch goes. Maybe it's just the taste of this one and I'm not used to it. I did think it looks darker than typical pilsners even with the extra half gallon of water dilluting it.

So maybe it is named wrong and just needed a lower temperature. Oh, well. My next batch will be a belgian wheat.

Its perfectly acceptable to make 'lager' beers as an ale, but what you end up with is a beer with more 'character'. the warmer ale fermenting temps create flavor nuances.

I think your beer is just too green still. 3 weeks in the bottle, stored at room temp, is considered the 'minimum' for really gauging a beer's flavor, and usually it still mellows out with more conditioning time.

Saintdanmic said:

OG 1.044. Primary at 71-73 degrees for one week. After no noticable movement in the airlock, I took a reading (1.009) and went to secondary.

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You might want to get a new lid for your bucket.. if thats what your using for your primary.. sounds like you might have a leak around the seal.

lackofstyl said:

You might want to get a new lid for your bucket.. if thats what your using for your primary.. sounds like you might have a leak around the seal.

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Nah, I used a 6.5 glass carboy with standard airlock.

malkore said:

Its perfectly acceptable to make 'lager' beers as an ale, but what you end up with is a beer with more 'character'. the warmer ale fermenting temps create flavor nuances.

I think your beer is just too green still. 3 weeks in the bottle, stored at room temp, is considered the 'minimum' for really gauging a beer's flavor, and usually it still mellows out with more conditioning time.

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I hope you're right. I did get a bit impatient. I originally planned on letting it sit in bottles for a month before trying, but then couldn't wait.

It sounds like you may have produced some higher alcohols/fusels in your primary fermentation. If you feremented a bit warm, particularly if your yeast were stressed to begin with (say from a old package of liquid yeast and no starter) or you under-pitched, then this can happen. I had a porter that tasted like this a while ago. After sitting in the secondary for a few months, the off-flavour dissipated mostly.

Alternatively, is it also possible that you had a really vigorous ferment and it shot up the temperature of the beer well above ambient temperature? If so, this will definitely produce fusels.

Saintdanmic said:

…
Now, after two weeks in the bottle, I'm still noticing a slight whiskey-esque aftertaste. I've never noticed this in any other pilsners I've tried. It isn't as apparent while the beer is colder. But again, I've never noticed this in any other pilsners regardless of temperature…BTW, it doesn't have the whiskey smell anymore, just aftertaste. It has a nice sweet/dark smell.

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My guess is that you need to let the beer mellow a bit. Your hops addition puts you at the high end (44.8IBU) of the range for a “pilsner”. Though a 70+ degree fermentation takes your beer completely out of the pilsner (lager) category.

The other thing is to never judge the success of your beer two weeks into the bottles. Give that beer another week at room temp to carb completely and then chill for a week…then sample.

One more thing…whiskey is nothing more than distilled beer so nothing really wrong with that aftertaste.

Thanks everyone for all of your info/suggestions so far. I'm really glad I found this forum. Almost everywhere esle I found on search engines did have some good information but it all led towards buying their specific product. It's nice to have a community who cares about helping people make good beer with no alterior motive.

BierMuncher said:

…whiskey is nothing more than distilled beer...

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BierMuncher said:

....nothing really wrong with that [whiskey] aftertaste...

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LOL. Good thing we aren't on the 'scotch' forum -- man would you get flamed!

FlyGuy said:

LOL. Good thing we aren't on the 'scotch' forum -- man would you get flamed!

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I've got two unopened bottles of select single malt at home. You'd think I'd know better. :cross:

I haven't had a second opinion yet, so I'm not sure what's going on. Whether the aforementioned off-taste is subsiding or I am becoming acclimatized to it doesn't matter. I'm digging this batch.