Belgian Dubbel Off Taste

I just brewed the Dubbel Your Pleasure Ale from JOHB by Charlie P. While there is no burn marks on the bottom I taste a bitterness. I thought I smelled a wee bit while it was boiling so I tasted it and it hits the back of the tongue with a bitterness like a burn. I did the recipe exactly except for a hit of .25oz Mt Hood for the last 15 mins. I wanted to use them up. I always lower the flame when adding LME and stir constantly and vigorously. I dont see any black specks in the strainer either. Could the bitterness be from a 2month old, opened bag of Mt Hood hops? or Could you burn the malt without any evidence but the taste?

Or should I get the pot still built to distill after fermentation?

Such a letdown.

Boy its tough getting a response here. Oh well I found some interesting threads here and elsewhere. I never used to taste the wort when done boiling and maybe I should have. The consensus is wort tastes like crap. Super sweet with the back end being extremely bitter. Exactly my situation. Thats probably why making bread with the spent yeast tastes very bitter. Thanks anyway.

Oh well no one replied but I am going to update this brew. The off taste must have been from the briess traditional dark. It needed to meld with all the different ingredients. I left it in the fermenter because I thought I burned the extract and didn't want to jam up a keg space in the fridge with a f##ked up brew. I finally kegged and force carbed and what a brew! Fantastic and what an ass kicker. So just FYI for newbies. Don't judge your brew from the wort or even after 2 weeks of fermentation. Pappy pappazian says this brew ages really well and I hope to let this brew age a bit in the keg but I just kicked my Belgian wit and the next wit is on its 3rd day of ferment. Patience is so hard with good beer.

I was going to say that dubbels take a long time to smooth out, months in my experience. But very worth the wait.

I'm sure your beer will be good in a keg, but Belgian higher gravity beers do very well aged in bottles. No need to take up keg space with a beer that may actually be better in a bottle than a keg. I say bottle it if you can. Good to hear it came out well.

Cyclman said:

I was going to say that dubbels take a long time to smooth out, months in my experience. But very worth the wait.

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+1.

I've got a dubbel at 2 months in the bottles that's just now starting to taste like I want it to. Another few weeks and it should be legit.

Hey man! I appreciate the record of events that you have documented for the sake of us n00bs! I plan on doing a Dubbel some day so this is extremely helpful. I will remember your sage advice which you wrangled through unanswered posts to attain.

"back of the tongue bitterness" sounds like astringency. does the recipe call for any steeping grains? any chance you steeped those at too high a temp?

congrats on making a tasty beer. here's another +1 to big, complex beers needing time to sort themselves out. for example, if the astringency was from grain tannin extraction, that will fade a little with time. other that IIPAs/DIPAs, big beers should be given weeks if not months to age.

lawlessamps said:

Oh well no one replied but I am going to update this brew. The off taste must have been from the briess traditional dark. It needed to meld with all the different ingredients. I left it in the fermenter because I thought I burned the extract and didn't want to jam up a keg space in the fridge with a f##ked up brew. I finally kegged and force carbed and what a brew! Fantastic and what an ass kicker. So just FYI for newbies. Don't judge your brew from the wort or even after 2 weeks of fermentation. Pappy pappazian says this brew ages really well and I hope to let this brew age a bit in the keg but I just kicked my Belgian wit and the next wit is on its 3rd day of ferment. Patience is so hard with good beer.

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Thank you for this update!
I tasted my belgian dubbel (NB) when racking to secondary and it tasted like you described. I was worried but figured it would all work out in the end. Now I cant wait for it to be bottled conditioned and ready for drinking!

-Danny

lawlessamps said:

Don't judge your brew from the wort or even after 2 weeks of fermentation.

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This really is hard to stick to!! My first batch was a belgian dubbel similar to yours and yesterday was the 2 week mark in the bottles. I wanted to try one just to see the change over the months. I noticed that it has a sharp flavor to it that I cant really put my finger on i think similar to the bitterness you are taking about, it doesn't taste bad just…off. Is this something I should expect round off over time?

Wow so you say its off after "months". Mine was really off after I chilled the wort before pitching. Then it was off but not as much after 2 weeks fermentation. It sat in fermenter for another month then I kegged and carbed up and that was when it finally started to taste good.

I think what he was getting at here, is his Wort was tasting like all wort does when its yet to be fermented. It is not a "great" flavor, and will taste nothing like beer. Try tasting the wort when you take your pre boil gravity, it will not have that HARSH acrid flavor that freshly boiled hops tend to yield. The acids from the hops mellow out a lot as fermentation starts as you have realized from your brew.

I think you miss read what he was saying about dubbels taking months. They typically take months to mellow, not become terrible. Sometimes they can have a harsh flavor which mellows out as time passes. My dubbel with figs is just now hitting its stride 4 months later.

Age is key when talking about a big belgian brew.

I've also been logging fermentation temperature, and when dealing with "trappist style" yeasts, fermentation temperature has much to do with the final flavor of the brew.

high 65-69 yields a fruitier brew. 75-80 yields a spicier brew that takes longer to smooth out.

If I keg it too soon, it takes much longer at lower temps to smooth out. I'm finding that it's almost double the time it would take at room temp.

and patience is so difficult when it comes to this hobby!

"patience is so difficult when it comes to this hobby!"

Whoa you are so correct!

Unless you are brewing multiple batches or larger batches or constantly brewing while waiting for one of your batches to mature, you are drinking your beer too early!! I am down to my last two 22oz Belgian Golden Strong and the 3rd to last finally tasted awesome. Being a new brewer the beer always tastes great but until you let it mature or peak, you dont know the full potential of what you brewed. I drank close to a full batch of great belgian beer, slowly but a 3 month wait time is really hard when you dont have anything else to sip on, and now just tasted what this beer is really all about and only have 2 bottles left!!!

patience IS so difficult!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:rockin: