Tabacco taste in beer???

My APA has a really odd and strong tabacco taste to it. I didn't use anything particularly odd in it. But i did use some new green bullet hops at about 20g for bittering and another 20g plus 10g of saaz at 10mins.

Does anybody know where this taste comes from?

My best guess at the moment is tannins. I don;t think I raised the grain bed above 175f but I'm struggling to find a source for this flavour. I also have had some infection problems recently. Could this also be infection.

What yeast did you use? I have noticed tobacco-like notes when using wlp0002.

It was US-05.

With this beer it's really full on. I just syhoned off in to another bucket with some finings to see if that will do anything and it not only tasted rough it also smelled strongly. It made me a bit nauseous.

I'm starting to think more and more it might be infection. Also it has a similar haze to a previous infected batch.

Define infection problems. Maybe your process is in need of a review.

iijakii said:

Define infection problems. Maybe your process is in need of a review.

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Well I have had 3 infected brews out of the last 8. Which really sucks. And yes i'm sure they where infected.

But this off flavour is quite different from my previous infected brews.

Any chance you scorched the wort during the mash or boil? I had the same thing happen to an oatmeal porter. It has an ash tray flavor from using a heat stick in too thick of a mash. I always used a heat stick for step mashes, but this time I screwed up and it was way too thick. There was a black crust on the element. It tastes like tobacco ash.

What are you doing to get so many infections? Just getting careless on the sanitizing or what?

ILBMF said:

What are you doing to get so many infections? Just getting careless on the sanitizing or what?

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Could it be the buckets?

Just replace your plastics, and life will be good. I had 2 infected batches, after a solid cleaning/sanitation regiment. I replaced my plastics a few weeks ago (just primary and auto siphon), and life has been far less stressful, with a minimal investment.

Kingpin from Bridgeport in Portland tastes like sucking on cigars to me.

I think it is a harsh bitterness that gives that Tobacco perception, I could be wrong but I've noted it in harshly bitter beers before. Yuck !

Could be a mild scorching as mentioned already, although the one time I scorched wort it was beyond undrinkable.

I guess stop smoking over the top of your boil kettle is my best guess mate?

seabass07 said:

Any chance you scorched the wort during the mash or boil? I had the same thing happen to an oatmeal porter. It has an ash tray flavor from using a heat stick in too thick of a mash. I always used a heat stick for step mashes, but this time I screwed up and it was way too thick. There was a black crust on the element. It tastes like tobacco ash.

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****! I bet that's it. I have an electric element in my boiler and it has become quite crusted over. I can't get it off.
Just brewed a batch with it yesterday. Nooooooooooo

Just boiled some water up in my boiler to check. It doesn't taste too bad. Maybe a hint of ashtray. My batch before this one was an oatmeal stout. I wonder if this covered up the scourched flavour(if that's what this is).
So, could I save this batch by steeping some black and chocolate malt and adding to the secondary? Is it worth it?