Wht does my beer burn my throat a little?

Hi,
I just brewed my first batch, an Extra Pale Ale from a liquid extract kit. I fermented it for 2 weeks in a primary bucket, bottled it and tried the first one after 2 weeks. I tried a second one 4 days later. Both tasted pretty good, however both left a very slight burning feeling in the back of my throat like if I drank ginger beer.

Does anyone have an idea why this could be? My thoughts are:
- Maybe I'm sensitive to whatever is in Whirfloc?
- I sanitized everything with C-Brite at the .8oz per 2 gallon of water concentration and let it drip dry but didn't rinse with water afterward.Was that bad?
-Maybe I need to let it age more?

Any thoughts? I'm hoping I don't need to pour it all out.

Thanks!

The only thing I would assume it could possibly be is your sanitizer. It could taste high in alcohol (burny) but only with higher alcohol concentrations. I'd let it age out and try it again. There's really no reason to dump it unless you don't like the taste. I doubt it's even remotely harmful. Someone that uses c-brite may be more helpful.

How much corn sugar did you put in your beer? The only time I've experienced that cidery burn was when I had a kilogram of corn sugar in my beer.

What's in Whirlfloc is powdered seaweed. I doubt you're allergic to that.

Frankly, I doubt it's an allergy at all, although some people react to certain hops. Brew another one and see if it happens again!

I had this while drinking an aged stone 13th anniversary, though it did say do not age, I found it at the liqour store and had to buy it 2009 limited release bought in dec 2010, tell me you wouldn't buy it.

Just a guess; no temperature control. Probably tasting higher/fusel alcohols. Others may argue, but I don't think it is going to go away.

Drink it by all means, but be aware that it can cause nasty headaches (even if you don't drink too much).

Two things we should know:

-ABV on the brew (you did take gravity readings, yes?)

-Average temperature during fermentation. If you don't have a brewmometer, grab one.

Reason being is the alcohol percentage has a pretty heavy influence on taste & mouthfeel of the final product--hence why liquors tend to "burn" going down. Also temperatures during fermentation can also affect the final outcome--higher temps can produce fusel alcohols which cause a burning sensation like you described.

Calder said:

Just a guess; no temperature control. Probably tasting higher/fusel alcohols. Others may argue, but I don't think it is going to go away.

Drink it by all means, but be aware that it can cause nasty headaches (even if you don't drink too much).

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That's my guess too. Fusel alcohols don't go away, but they mellow considerably with time.

Just to put this out there, C-Brite really should be rinsed off. It's not a no-rinse sanitizer, and at least when I've used it, it tends to have that "bleach" smell to it.

I don't know if this would produce off flavors or not, but it's worth mentioning for your next batch.

onipar said:

Just to put this out there, C-Brite really should be rinsed off. It's not a no-rinse sanitizer, and at least when I've used it, it tends to have that "bleach" smell to it.

I don't know if this would produce off flavors or not, but it's worth mentioning for your next batch.

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Yup, could be some chemical burn...worth looking into what's in the stuff. As well, fusels as mentioned can give some light alcohol burn.

Bensiff said:

Yup, could be some chemical burn...worth looking into what's in the stuff. As well, fusels as mentioned can give some light alcohol burn.

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I have some packets. Ingredients are:

Sodium Dichloro-s-triazinetrione dihydrate, Sodium Sulfate, Sodium Tripolyphosphate.

Thanks everyone for all of the great responses. I did probably ferment the beer at a higher temperature than I should have. The room was 70 degrees which I thought was the ideal temp but after reading this forum I realize now that a 70 degree room temp means that the beer is actually fermenting at a temp that is several degrees higher than 70.

I called Crosby Baker, who distribute C-Brite, and they said that I should have rinsed with water but drinking the beer I made would not be harmful.

I didn't use the hydrometer correctly, so I don't know what the alcohol by volume is, unfortunately.

I got the same issue with my first brew, and I think it's from fermentation temp as well, because I had 2 warmer than average days early on. The sticky thermometer on the side of it got up to around 70-72 for a day or so. I'm assuming that's the issue. Luckily it's still plenty drinkable.