Question about a funny taste!

Hi all, myself and four mates have a comp to see who can brew the best beer. We have completed three larger kits each between us. Every time following the instruction to the letter and using nothing but what is supplied. But all of us are getting what we call a homebrew taste. A ok tasting beer but it always has a funny twang! I asked my local suppler and he said it was the yeast making it this way and to remove the foam every day, that forms on top of it. Please let me know what you think and advise as I'm about to quit the whole thing if I can't get rid of the dreaded TWANG! Cheers Steve

Removing the foam is utter nonsense.

The "twang" most often comes from poor temperature control (specifically, you let the beer get too warm when fermenting), underpitching the yeast (if using liquid yeast, did you make a starter?), or poor aeration prior to pitching yeast.

Most yeasts do best fermenting in the low to mid sixties, temperature wise (in degrees F). Sticking your fermenter in a 65 degree room doesn't accomplish this, however - fermentation creates heat, and your beer is actually 5-10 degrees warmer than the ambient temp. High fermentation temp = off flavors.

Are you actually able to ferment at lager temps??? I can see fermenting a lager yeast at ale temperatures giving you off flavors like crazy. Unless you're brewing a steam beer/California common that is. The reason I ask is because I know most people starting out don't have the ability to lager their beers. I've been brewing for almost a year and I still don't have real fermentation temp control.


*edit* I read "lager kits"...not "larger kits." Doh.

Fermentation temps for sure. Also, since you're using kits, malt extract that isn't very fresh can add a kind of "twang" to the flavor.

Klickmania said:

Are you actually able to ferment at lager temps??? I can see fermenting a lager yeast at ale temperatures giving you off flavors like crazy. Unless you're brewing a steam beer/California common that is. The reason I ask is because I know most people starting out don't have the ability to lager their beers. I've been brewing for almost a year and I still don't have real fermentation temp control.

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I didn't know what he was talking about with "larger kits," but yeah, if he meant lager that's definitely the problem.

What temperature are you fermenting at? I see you are doing lager kits...lagers should be fermented in the low 50's. Diacetyl is a common off flavor for lagers if fermented to high that can have a buttery popcorn taste or slick mouth feel to it.

Plank, I think if you give us a more detailed description about your brewing process and your ingredients I'm sure you'll get a more detailed answer.

Also the only time you should be scraping off the Krausen is if you're harvesting the active yeast for another batch. Most people wait till it settles out to harvest as well.

All of your's first mistake is following the instructions to a "t"................LOL!

Twang can also be associated with boiling all of the extract for the full 60 minutes. You might want to consider the practice of using late additions. Meaning, add half the extract at the beginning of the boil for proper hop utilization and then add the rest at flame out or in the last 2-5 minutes. this will eliminate some of the maillard reaction that occurs when boiling the extract for too long a time.