Consistent off flavor in all my homebrews

Hello All,

I've been brewing for about 2 years now and have made about 10 beers. Every beer I've made (wheather extract or all grain) have all had a consistent after taste that you don't find in craft beer. I wish I could describe it but I can't. To me it taste like "homebrew after taste." I've taken the following into account. Am I missing anything?

1) Water chemistry is good. My Chicago tap water just needs to be treated with a campden tablet.

2) My mash temps are always on point and I've never had a stuck sparge

3) I can usually get to just about a rolling boil. Usually 210 is as high as I can get

4) I ensure the proper amount of yeast cells are pitched (I use starters for liquid yeast) I always Aerate my wort before pitching

5) I have the ability to completely control my fermentation. I usually ferment at 66 for regular Ales. I increase the temp for a few degrees as the weeks progress

6) I normally transfer to secondary and then cold crash for 4 days

7) I bottle for 2 weeks. From pitching yeast to drinking is usually 6 weeks.

Hello All,

I've been brewing for about 2 years now and have made about 10 beers. Every beer I've made (wheather extract or all grain) have all had a consistent after taste that you don't find in craft beer. I wish I could describe it but I can't. To me it taste like "homebrew after taste." I've taken the following into account. Am I missing anything?

1) Water chemistry is good. My Chicago tap water just needs to be treated with a campden tablet.

2) My mash temps are always on point and I've never had a stuck sparge

3) I can usually get to just about a rolling boil. Usually 210 is as high as I can get

4) I ensure the proper amount of yeast cells are pitched (I use starters for liquid yeast) I always Aerate my wort before pitching

5) I have the ability to completely control my fermentation. I usually ferment at 66 for regular Ales. I increase the temp for a few degrees as the weeks progress

6) I normally transfer to secondary and then cold crash for 4 days

7) I bottle for 2 weeks. From pitching yeast to drinking is usually 6 weeks.

This may be a stupid suggestion, but have you ever tried to make a batch with bought water (RO, for instance) to see if the flavor goes away?

As shaky said, trying new water might be a good idea. Also, are you getting all of your ingredients from the same store? If it is a local place then they might not have very fresh stuff.

Any more specific info about the flavor would be very helpful.

jro238 said:

As shaky said, trying new water might be a good idea. Also, are you getting all of your ingredients from the same store? If it is a local place then they might not have very fresh stuff.

Any more specific info about the flavor would be very helpful.

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I've tried R/O water as well. No improvement. I've also shopped at 3 different brew supply stores. Most in Chicago have a very high turnover rate so product always seems to be freshy fresh.

brewczyk said:

Hello All,

I've been brewing for about 2 years now and have made about 10 beers. Every beer I've made (wheather extract or all grain) have all had a consistent after taste that you don't find in craft beer. I wish I could describe it but I can't. To me it taste like "homebrew after taste." I've taken the following into account. Am I missing anything?

Click to expand...

For starters you are going to have to give a more exacting description beyond "homebrew after taste".

brewczyk said:

1) Water chemistry is good. My Chicago tap water just needs to be treated with a campden tablet.

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What does "good" mean? Again there is a severe lack of specifics here. I have seen many posts from homebrewers in the Great Lakes area and the one constant seems to be a high residual alkalinity. Pleas post your water profile. Without knowing what the actual numbers are it is extremely difficult to give you any meaningful feedback.

brewczyk said:

2) My mash temps are always on point and I've never had a stuck sparge

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Problems in that area are unlikely to cause any unusual aftertastes.

brewczyk said:

3) I can usually get to just about a rolling boil. Usually 210 is as high as I can get

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Please see above. Boiling is boiling. 212F is sea level. What is your elevation? A thermometer calibration is never a bad thing.

brewczyk said:

4) I ensure the proper amount of yeast cells are pitched (I use starters for liquid yeast) I always Aerate my wort before pitching.


5) I have the ability to completely control my fermentation. I usually ferment at 66 for regular Ales. I increase the temp for a few degrees as the weeks progress

6) I normally transfer to secondary and then cold crash for 4 days

7) I bottle for 2 weeks. From pitching yeast to drinking is usually 6 weeks.

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None of that sounds out of the ordinary.

You mentioned that you get " just about a rolling boil" at 210. Are you actually boiling?

Also, are you diluting your wort after the boil? A full batch boil will make a huge difference, BTDT.

I recommend not raising ferment temps. I like to keep towards the low end as the wort temp is usually 3-5 degrees warmer then your set temp.
Don't secondary let it sit 2-3 weeks in the primary (it will help "clean" up some off flavor profiles) then cold crash.

brewczyk said:

I've been brewing for about 2 years now and have made about 10 beers.

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You are expecting a lot if you hope to compete with craft brewers after 10 brews especially when stretched out over 2 years.

brewczyk said:

1) Water chemistry is good. My Chicago tap water just needs to be treated with a campden tablet.

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This is a telling statement. Your water may be good for a beer or 2 with only a Campden tablet but it is certainly not good for all styles with only a Campden tablet. Water needs to be adjusted to the style being brewed and in most cases acid needs to be added to attain proper mash pH. But in some cases it is alkali that is required. Depends on the beer. Control of mash pH is a sine qua non for good beer. It is often the difference between blah beer and ah beer.

brewczyk said:

3) I can usually get to just about a rolling boil. Usually 210 is as high as I can get

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If you are at 210 °F at sea level your boil is not rolling. There are definite advantages to a good vigorous boil. Your marginal boil alone is probably not wholly responsible for your lackluster brews but could be a contributor.

brewczyk said:

4) I ensure the proper amount of yeast cells are pitched (I use starters for liquid yeast) I always Aerate my wort before pitching

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Aeration isn't going to do it for most yeast strains. Oxygenation is usually required.

brewczyk said:

5) I have the ability to completely control my fermentation. I usually ferment at 66 for regular Ales. I increase the temp for a few degrees as the weeks progress

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It is the usual practice to hold fermentation temperature until terminal gravity is reached and then reduce temperature, either gradually or in a crash, depending on the style of beer being brewed. Some brewers will raise for a day or two in order to eliminate diacetyl in lagers but this is followed by a crash.

It is very hard to diagnose what your problem(s) might be beyond lack of experience. Best thing for you to do is rub elbows with some experienced brewers. Join a club.

I just had my first "off-taste" that was not part of my brewing regime. It was a sanitation problem. I did not rinse my cleaning agents properly. If you could describe the taste as i.e. Chemical, sour, cardboard, etc. It would point in the direction of the cause.

BigEd said:

What does "good" mean? Again there is a severe lack of specifics here. I have seen many posts from homebrewers in the Great Lakes area and the one constant seems to be a high residual alkalinity. Pleas post your water profile. Without knowing what the actual numbers are it is extremely difficult to give you any meaningful feedback.

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Water profile is as follows (in PPM)
Calcium: 34
Magnesium: 11.8
Sodium: 7
Chloride: 13.8
Sulfate: 28.1
Alkalinity: 108

Before adding the campden tablet, my PH is about .8 above what it needs to be

Early8 said:

You mentioned that you get " just about a rolling boil" at 210. Are you actually boiling?

Also, are you diluting your wort after the boil? A full batch boil will make a huge difference, BTDT.

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I am not diluting after boiling. Only full batch boils. I'm at sea level so 210 isn't exactly a boil. The wort slightly moves in waves and ripples, but it doesn't look like a rolling boil

Do you keg or bottle? I found moving to kegs greatly improved my beer and it started tasting much more like craft. I attribute it to the longer cold conditioning the beer had and less suspended yeast. Before that solid temp control made a big difference.

I bottle my beer

Transferring to a secondary, are you introducing oxygen to the beer?

Why can't you get a full boil? That's the one thing that jumps out at me.

Are you covering your pot during your boil in a effort to keep it boiling?

If you are, you're not releasing the DMS (Dimethyl Sulfide).

It has the aroma and flavor of cooked or creamed corn, or maybe cabbage.

People can perceive DMS even at very low flavor thresholds, so it can have a significant impact on the flavor of finished beer.

Water sounds likely to me. You might want to try a brew with distilled or RO and adjust your pH.

The water primer on this site is good.

An alternative is here:
http://woodlandbrew.blogspot.com/2012/10/mash-ph.html

Why did you post this exact question twice?

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/consistent-off-flavor-all-my-homebrews-436469/

I'm still curious if you boil with the lid on in an effort to keep the boil going.

2 weeks in the bottle? Try 6 to 12 weeks.

I have nothing to add, but I was wondering how you heat, electric or gas?

How are you storing and sanitizing your bottles? I know this is an elementary school step in the process but I took it for granted once. I'll never do it again! I know a lot of folks use the dishwasher for cleaning their bottles and I tried it once. I am almost positive that residual detergent ended up in my bottles. This was the only batch that I have brewed that ended up with extremely poor head retention and a variety off flavors. It was bad enough that I offered the beer up as a sacrifice to the Septic Tank God!

insanim8er makes a very good point, especially with pilsner malts. Outside of what everybody else has mentioned, try adding a small amount of acid malt to your mash. A couple ounces to the mash might help level your water out a bit.

Do you drop the entire kettle contents to the fermenter, or do you filter out the trub?

I would try a batch scaled to 50-75% of your normal batch and try to get a full rolling boil and a solid hot break. That or do a brew with top off water (boiled and treated as normal). Give it a try or maybe make a few 1 gallon SMaSH brews changing 1 element of your process to figure it out.

I think it may be due to not getting all the way to a boil. Is your beer hazy when you pour it to a glass?

The OP comments that the Chicago water chemistry is good and the water only needs a campden tab for treatment.

This is a common misconception: Good tasting water can make good beer. In a few cases, that is true. However the truth is that good tasting water can still make bad beer. For the Chicago water, I expect that there are some amber to brown beers that could be brewed without any other water treatment. For other styles, a Chicagoan would have to either acidify or possibly add alkalinity in order to improve the brewing outcome. Sure, water treatment is NOT required to make beer. However, it is almost always required to make great beer. You decide if you want your beer to be drinkable or great.

PS: it applies to extract brewing too. Water treatment can make a profound difference. Good Tasting Water can still make Bad Beer.

By the way, the boiling point for water in Chicago would be just under 211F.

I have found that my beer had that "Homebrew" flavor as well when I first started. You can get that from a scorched mash at the bottom of your kettle where the sugars are being burned by direct contact with your boil kettle being hotter at the bottom. I have recently used a steam jacketed kettle that I could control exact temperatures of the entire kettle at all times and the beer didn't have that flavor anymore. This could be your issue

Hold a glass of your homebrew up to your nose. Close your eyes and imagine that you have a steaming bowl of hot creamed corn instead - does it smell like that? I ask because you may be getting DMS from your very slight boil.

This is a very common "home brew taste/smell" that people get. I have tasted many other people's homebrews, and most of them seem to have either DMS or Diacetyl in some amounts in their beers - though most of them think they made great beer for some reason. Try to describe the flavor and aroma you are getting.

yeahfairly said:

How are you storing and sanitizing your bottles? I know this is an elementary school step in the process but I took it for granted once. I'll never do it again! I know a lot of folks use the dishwasher for cleaning their bottles and I tried it once. I am almost positive that residual detergent ended up in my bottles. This was the only batch that I have brewed that ended up with extremely poor head retention and a variety off flavors. It was bad enough that I offered the beer up as a sacrifice to the Septic Tank God!

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A good lesson to be learned here. You should only use your dishwater on the sanitizing setting and do not added detergent or you'll end up with beer good for cleaning and not drinking.

No, I am very careful to put the tube on the very bottom and avoid splashing at all costs

My stove isn't strong enough and I'm not mechanically inclined enough to make a "heat stick"

Good catch. I half cover it in attempts to increase the boil. I figured all the nastys could still escape, but I could be wrong.

brewczyk said:

Good catch. I half cover it in attempts to increase the boil. I figured all the nastys could still escape, but I could be wrong.

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I'm willing to bet money that's you're problem

I filter using a mesh strainer

I don't think it's DMS then. The smell is slightly sharp and registers as acidic. I'm thinking now it could be fusel alcohols caused by not oxyginating the work correctly. I think I'm going to invest in a Oxinator

brewczyk said:

I don't think it's DMS then. The smell is slightly sharp and registers as acidic. I'm thinking now it could be fusel alcohols caused by not oxyginating the work correctly. I think I'm going to invest in a Oxinator

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I think you should invest in a propane burner to get a real boil and not have to cover your pot. Many people get great results from oxygenating the wort by simply passing it between a few buckets or shaking the carboy.

Having an oxygen stone just makes it easier, but I think a good boil with an uncovered pot is more important.

Do you drink from the bottle? Stir up the yeast when you pour? That's a pretty gross taste and prob what a lot of people describe as "home brew taste."

If its water, wouldn't all Chicago brewers who don't treat it get the same taste? A Chicago style after taste?

Now excuse me if this has been mentioned or not yet as I don't have time to read through everything, but maybe you should (assuming you're not already) utilize a hop bag during boil. I found this process removed a gross aftertaste for me because it eliminated scorched hops.

Just a thought, good luck!

Oh, and from what I've read about forgetting to oxygenate wort. If you're pitching yeast starters, or dry yeast, the oxygenation isn't AS important. I'm not sure if you do starters—you should if you dont. I'm guessing at least one of ten batches was pitched with dry yeast. If that's the case and you still got the flavors, I'm guessing it's not the oxygen.

Another thing, do you let the beer sit on the lees for extended periods of time? I know you transfer to secondary and cold crash for four days, but do you of let the beer sit in primary for long periods of time? It's claimed that after 45 days or so on the lees, off flavors start to happen.

insanim8er said:

I think you should invest in a propane burner to get a real boil and not have to cover your pot. Many people get great results from oxygenating the wort by simply passing it between a few buckets or shaking the carboy.

Having an oxygen stone just makes it easier, but I think a good boil with an uncovered pot is more important.

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Im with the above poster a propane burner is the best for full boils, i was doing partial extracts on the stove but full boils will benefit greatly from a propane burner