metalic after taste

I just popped a sample of my porter tonight (going on 4 weeks in bottle) and i'm getting a slight metallic after taste. I actually just got the same thing a few nights ago with a commercial brew. Someone bought michalob Dunkelweizen and I tried it. Same metallic after taste. Anyone know what causes this?
Thanks
-John

Did you use an extract? My first 3 extracts had a twang to them too. I was told the twang was from caramelization of the extract. So, for my current brew, I saved 3/4 of the extract for the end of the boil to avoid that caramelization.

Maybe someone else has a better reason, or can correct me if I am wrong.

Ya, it was a dry DME and before I switched to Late extract. Also used molasses though. I suppose that could have sunk and burned. Can't remember if I remembered to turn the flame off for it either. Could be

I have had it twice - one with a Nutty Maple which I am sure did it. It fades after a month or two.

Both batches seemed to be over carbed which will do it also. People blame LME but I don't think this is a realistic problem 99.9% of the time. if it was people would not use LME as much.

If the LME is not VERY VERY old and is a late edition I can not see it being a problem.

If you google "metallica beer taste" you will find a lot of info, such as:

According to "How to Brew"

Metallic
Metallic flavors are usually caused by unprotected metals dissolving into the wort but can also be caused by the hydrolysis of lipids in poorly stored malts. Iron and aluminum can cause metallic flavors leaching into the wort during the boil. The small amount could be considered to be nutritional if it weren't for the bad taste. Nicks and cracks ceramic coated steel pots are a common cause as are high iron levels in well water. Stainless steel pots will not contribute any metallic flavors. Aluminum pots usually won't cause metallic flavors unless the brewing water is alkaline with a pH level greater than 9. Shiny new aluminum pots will sometimes turn black when boiling water due to chlorine and carbonates in the water.

The protective (grayish) oxides of aluminum can be enhanced by heating the clean pot in a dry oven at 250°F for about 6 hours.

kendrid said:

If you google "metallica beer taste" you will find a lot of info

Click to expand...

Haha, Metallica beer taste.... reminds me of that video making fun of Metallica for their stance on napster....Beer good, napster baaaad....

That was quite funny. I just saw Metallica this past week and must still have them on the brain...

I think they had to put that section into How to Brew because of the 0.01% of the time people get it.

That is one theory. There are many other ways to get it IF it is a problem. I'm a fan of Palmer but in interviews he said there is not ONE reason. Plus - one persons taste of metallic might not be like anothers.

I normally get it with over carbing OR just green beer and it has always gone away. (twice)

I had a metallic taste show up in an All Grain batch last week.

It was fine while green. Fine one week into the bottle conditioning process.

It showed up somewhere around the second week of carbing. Tonight is week three, and I have a sixer in the fridge since Wednesday.

Hopefully it will have went away.

This question pops up every now and then. Typically, the OP cannot link his process to anything that would have introduced metals into their beer.

A brewer told me that certain hops can take on a metallic flavour under certain circumstances, but he admitted that he didn't know the details. I have also heard Jamil Z. mention the same thing, too, on one of his podcasts. I suspect it is a hard thing to pin down because it seems to be an off-flavour that appears at random and then doesn't reappear again for a long time. My BIL had the same thing happen to him -- but in a recipe that he brews over and over again, and he absolutely couldn't link it to anything specific that he did differently (it was actually the same recipe that later won him an MCAB silver medal, so go figure).

I think the consensus is that Aluminum does NOT impart a metallic taste.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/faq-aluminum-pots-boil-kettles-49449/

The leeching of actual metals into beer enough to cause metallic taste occurs probably about as frequently as HSA affecting beer enough to have to dump the batch.

I have always been able to trace a metallic taste in beer back to hops. And what I have found is that it is usually a fleeting taste in the green beer occuring between weeks 2 and 3 in the bottle. 4 weeks if the beer is conditoned on the cool side. Then what happens is that taste evolves into a distinct hop flavor for a few more weeks before mellowing and melding into the background.

Could at least some of this be conditional on the inherent differences in people's taste buds? In other words, what tastes metallic to some may not to others? The reason I ask this has little to do with home brewing - well in one case perhaps. A lot of people I know go gaga for Sam Adams. Being from Massachusetts, I guess I'm supposed to love it too, but I do not. Sam Adams Boston Lager, (among others in the SA line), has a "soapy" aftertaste to me. I can't explain it, other than to say that it tastes like a plastic cup that hasn't been rinsed properly after washing. I get this aftertaste every single time I drink a Sam Adams, except their Oktoberfest...Weird. Conversely, my father brewed an Irish Ale many moons ago, which he thought was sub-par and I remember him saying it tasted metallic, but I loved it - he gave me the whole batch. I know there's certainly a chemical process to the metallic taste and theories to how/why it happens, but I was just wondering if it's something that may be more magnified to some...

I don't see why not.

Subjective things like taste are very difficult to qualify person to person. There
is no real standard to judge these things and I would take it with a grain of salt
unless there is some standard to judge it against.

Biggest misconception by people ever is that someone else can 100% disagree
with them and both people still be right.

That's one resourceful metalhead

Thanks all,
So the general concesus seems to be that this is something that pops up from time to time, but no one is really sure of the cause I made a note in my brew log and will see if it mellows. I was planning on checking out a new brew store today (if I still get around to it) so maybe I will bring a bottle with me. I'm leaning slightly to it being related to carb atm... even though I didn't use a excessive amount of priming sugar. Reason for, is that A) the taste was not in earlier samples, B) I was getting the same think from the commercial Dunkelweizen (but stronger in the dunkel) C) this is the first sample that seems to be approaching full carb and D) after the glass had warmed up a bit near the end I wasn't noticing the taste as much. Could be either that the carbination had died down some or that the warmer temp brought out the molasses more which cover'd the metallic taste. To try to describe the taste better, it comes out after swallowing if you tap your tounge up against the pallette of your mouth. Almost a tingling dry.... well... metallic taste. Lol. I have always had a hard time describing flavors. I'll see if it goes away in a few more weeks and if it doesn't, oh well. I'll try to nail it down if it keeps happening