Can You Taste Yeast in Your Finished Beer

I cannot pinpoint the recurring taste in my beer but is always there.

Regardless of equipment, all grain, partial grain, or extract, yeast strain, filtered, bottled, or unfiltered water, kegged or bottled - there's an underlying taste that is present. Not necessarily bad, but there.

For example. I brewed an all grain version of Dog Fish Head's Indian Brown Ale with Ringwood yeast. The taste was there.

I brewed Yoopers all grain Dead Guy Clone and a Brewcraft Dead Guy kit with Pacman yeast. The taste was there.

The taste was there before using a plate chiller and it's there now.

I've fermented at 70 degrees and now ferment at 60 degrees in a refrigerator, still, the same underlying taste.

The only real common denominator is StarSan and the glass carboys I ferment in. I don't leave StarSan in the fermenter, all but a little foam.

I filter my water through a $30 charcol filter, the type of filter many use to filter the whole house water. But I have also used bottled water and I can detect the same taste.

It's driving me crazy, trying to figure out what it could be.

My uneducated guess is that it must be the taste of yeast. Althought it doesn't taste "yeasty" if that makes sense.

I haven't tasted another homebrewers beer so I have nothing else to base it on.

Any ideas?

Can you describe the taste more?

If the only common denominator you can think of is starsan why don't you try a batch with iodiphor (sp ?) To eliminate that possibility.
More information on the off flavor would be helpful indeed.

My 'shot in the dark' answer would be to ask how you prepare your beer for bottling vs. kegging. Do you use dextrose in both?

The reason I ask is I always have this 'flavor' in my beers. It is certainly not unpleasant but it is there. I also always prepare for bottling using dextrose. I will be kegging soon and am looking forward to not using dextrose just to see if it changes the taste...

when I first started i made beer that was good, but still had that "home made" taste vs. commercially/professionally made. the things that fixed it were as follows:
1. pitch a viable amount of yeast
2. aerate/oxegenate
3. Ferment at proper temperature

what are you boiling your wort in? could something be leeching into the beer?

I am no expert but maybe it's something in your water? What is the water situation? I can taste the yeast in my beer but it is different for each strain or even fermentation temperatures. I am sure it's not that. I use tons of starsan that never put any off flavors in my beer.

jiggs_casey said:

My 'shot in the dark' answer would be to ask how you prepare your beer for bottling vs. kegging. Do you use dextrose in both?

The reason I ask is I always have this 'flavor' in my beers. It is certainly not unpleasant but it is there. I also always prepare for bottling using dextrose. I will be kegging soon and am looking forward to not using dextrose just to see if it changes the taste...

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I went from corn sugar to cane sugar and I can't tell any difference in fact it carbs up just as quick contrary to what I have read. Needless to say I haven't gone back because priming sugar is much more expensive.

For me, the reoccurring flavor was from esters. Changing from shaking to the venturi method of aeration made the flavor go away.

The "taste" is hard to describe, to my palate, it appears to be more pronounced when the beer is warmer and I can certainly taste it when I burp. Maybe slightly bitter but not overpowering in any way. Something I can detect but others can't.

What taste is typically associated when burping?

I have never tasted this in commercial beers.

I do not use dextrose and only prime when bottling; the common taste is there when kegged too.

All of my beers now are fermented with starters but it was there before starters.

My beers are clear and carbonated well.

I cannot taste anything like it until post fermentation.

It was there before I started aerating with an .02 micro stone and pure O2.

What does an ester taste like?

Again, it is not a bad taste per se, just something that I cannot pinpoint or describe.

The commonality is water but I have tried bottled water too.

Wouldn't a water filter like the one below cut the "city water" taste out?



What taste does Chlorine or Chloramide contribute?

It is not oxidized either. Fermentation is in a refrigerator and direct to keg.

ultravista said:

What taste is typically associated when burping?

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Chlorophenol, but it's pretty distinctly Band-Aid. Also, if you're carbon-filtering your water, that should remove most of the chlorine or chloramine (if you're filtering slow enough).

It sounds like a water issue to me.

You could rule that out (or prove it) by brewing one batch with strictly reverse osmosis water from the big "water machines" in the grocery store or Wal-Mart.

My first partial grain, a Newcastle clone, was strictly done with bottled water. Not from a machine, but gallon bottles of spring water. The taste is there too.

I thought it may have been the temperature swings during fermentation. Now that I control the temperature via refrigeration, I can rule that out. Almost everything I ferment with Pacman ferments at 60 degrees. This latest batch, an ESB, is fermenting at 65.

When I filter with the charcoal filter, I don't run the water off slowly, I let it run to collect the water quickly. When I smell and taste the water, it doesn't taste like chlorine so the filter must be doing its job.

What in the brewing process brings out the bad side of chlorine? Does it occur during the boil (which should drive it off) or fermentation?

I haven't eaten a band-aid lately so I can't say what it tastes like if burbed up but I can say for certain, that whatever this taste I am experiencing does become apparent when burping and when the beer warms up.

Another thing to consider, is that I usually leave the fermented beer in the "primary" for four to six weeks - all under temperature control.

I don't consider this excessive or out of the ordinary based on what I read here. Could this be the root of a stray off flavor?

Saying it comes out when you burp and when the beer gets warm almost makes me think it's something coming out of solution. I just can't guess what. Since you haven't tasted it in commercial beers, CO2 can't be it (don't know if this is really "taste-able" anyway). My guess would have to be some byproduct of fermentation that is somehow leaching out with the CO2. Wish we could pinpoint the taste a little better. "Off" is just a little too vague to be able to pinpoint.

I shoot for consistency (I guess most of us do), so what I do when I have an issue with my beers, whether it's an off flavor or any other issue, I make a list of theories as to what may be causing it. I then check my brew notes and see what I may have changed in my process (or have done consistently) to cause the issue. I then only change one or (two factors if they are associated), based on my theories so I can pinpoint the problem. If that change doesn't resolve it, I move on to the second most plausible theory. I did this with small batches when I first started brewing and it really helped with my all-grain process and figuring out mash pH.

There are so many moving parts to a brewing process that, for me, to narrow down the issue, I needed to to do this.

djfriesen - I am with you here. As I have not experienced this taste anywhere else, I cannot put a flavor profile to it.

I ran through John Palmers commong off-flavors and cannot pinpoint what I am tasting in my beer.

Acetaldehyde: A flavor of green apples or freshly cut pumpkin
* NO

Astringent: Astringency differs from bitterness by having a puckering quality
* NO

Cidery: Cidery flavors can have several causes but are often the result of adding too much cane or corn sugar to a recipe
* NO

Diacetyl: Diacetyl is most often described as a butter or butterscotch flavor
* NO

Dimethyl Sulfides (DMS): Cooked Vegetable Flavors
* NO

Estery or Fruity
* NO

Grassy: Flavors reminiscent of chlorophyll and fresh cut grass
* NO

Husky or Grainy: These flavors are akin to the astringent flavors produced from the grain husks
* I don't think so

Medicinal: These flavors are often described as mediciney, Band-Aid™ like, or can be spicy like cloves
* I don't get a medicinal taste from my beers

Metallic: Metallic flavors are usually caused by unprotected metals dissolving into the wort
* NO

Moldy: Molds are quickly recognized by their smell and taste
* NO

Oxidized: the beer will sooner or later develop wet cardboard or sherry-like flavors
* NO

Soapy
* NO

Solvent-like: This group of flavors is very similar to the alcohol and ester flavors
* I don't think so

Skunky: Skunky or cat-musk aromas in beer are caused by photochemical reactions of the isomerized hop compounds.
* NO

Yeasty
* Is this my culprit?

Have you tasted any Belgian beers? if not, try a couple and see if that is the same offending flavor. It has been for me on occasion and I think it is due to wild yeast somehow getting into my beer. Thankfully, it is a rare thing but I hate it when it happens. A lot of guys complain of that funky flavor that is hard to describe but Belgiany seems to fit best. Good luck.

ultravista said:

My first partial grain, a Newcastle clone, was strictly done with bottled water. Not from a machine, but gallon bottles of spring water. The taste is there too.

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Bottled spring water may be the exact same water as your tap. We have a water company in our county that bottles "Crystal Spring Water". It comes right out of the city of Crystal Fall's water system. It's technically a spring, I guess. But it's the exact same water (chlorinated and all!) that comes out of our tap.

I'd try reverse osmosis water- it would have low alkalinity, and low minerals.

ultravista said:

I ran through John Palmers commong off-flavors and cannot pinpoint what I am tasting in my beer.

Yeasty
* Is this my culprit?

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This is the one flavor I think I could always recognize!

1. Brew a batch of ale (a bitter, amber, or something else without lots of hop aroma), use dry yeast.
2. Bottle condition for 3-5 days, chill for 0-2 days.
3. Pour & Drink. For me, at least, there was a huge yeasty flavor.

You may be able to get this flavor by just swirling the yeast cake back into a bitter. You could also try tasting the yeast directly from a packet (re-hydrated).

If the flavor is the same, then yes... this is your problem. The best solution should be to bulk age your beers longer and/or wait longer after they're bottled.

My first beer was a Copper Ale (kit) brewed with Safale US-05. I thought it was horribly yeasty, but I found a bottle a couple of months later hiding in my fridge. The older bottle tasted excellent with none of the bready, yeasty flavors.

I would think that if it were yeast, you would get a different flavor with the different beers. Assuming that you are using different yeasts with each batch.

When you say you ferment at 60 is that the air temp or the temp of the beer inside the carboy?

I'm guessing water, too.

The thermo probe is attached to the carboy, covered. It maybe 2 degrees +/- but there are no swings in temperature.

My Indian Brown Ale, fermented with Ringwood, has been kegged for 5 months now. That should be sufficient for the yeast to settle down.

I will try to find some RO water for the next batch, Double Dead Guy all grain. My Wal-Mart has a water machine. How do you tell if it's RO?

Now that I'm reading about filters, that you've got to trickle them slowly, this may be the root of the problem. I assumed I could run it full blast.

If I go with a campden tablet, how much do I use per batch. My typical batch size is 5.25 gallons and I use about 7.25 of water.

Do you use the campden when mashing too?

Here's the exact filter I use:
http://www.lowes.com/pd_149004-59019-WHKF-DB1_0__?productId=1137153

I don't have instructions on use. Shouldn't I be able to run the water through without slowing it down?

Reverse Osmosis Filtration No
NSF Safety Listing Yes
Package Quantity 1.0
Package Contents Product label
Type Replacement filter
Removes Sediment Yes
Removes Chlorine Taste and Odor Yes
Removes Lead No
Removes Cyst Yes
Removes Chemicals No
Removes Micro-Organisms No
Removes Pharmaceuticals No