Tettnang=Soapy or is it Star San?

Brewed my standard Pils recipe a couple of weeks ago but instead of using Hallertau I used some Tettnang. I wanted to make a bit of a change and try something new and the price was right.

It's on tap just today and there is a bit of a soapy flavour to it as well as a bit in the nose. It's not hugely unpleasant but it is noticeable (to me) and wondering if it's the hops that I'm not used to. Everything else about it is fine.

Now the other part to this puzzle is that I also filtered this beer for the first time ever. I usually just gel and cold crash but I was given a Buon Vino Minijet filter unit and some #2 pads last week and figured I'd give it a go. The instructions say to soak the filter pads in water before assembling but seeing as it's beer I soaked them in Star San. Mistake? I figure the worst case scenario is that if the Star San is giving the slightly off flavour it will break down in a reasonably short amount of time.

So two new factors on this beer and one slight off flavour I'm trying to trouble shoot. Was it the hops or the Star San?

Starsan is tasteless.

I second the motion. I left almost a quart of starsan in my bottling bucket and racked my beer on top of it. I went ahead and bottled it anyway with absolutely no bad side effects, taste or otherwise.

FWIW, I've switched to sanitizing all of my bottles with Star San before filling (and thus probably have a lot more in the finished product than you) and have not noticed any soapy or off flavors since the switch. That being said, I don't brew lagers (ciders and ales), so if it's as faint as you're suggesting, it may just be going unnoticed. I say make up some Star San and smell it and see if it has a soapy aroma. While I've never noticed any, I try not to sniff my chemicals.

EDIT: I should add that my last batch I messed up and accidentally dumped about a quart of Star San into my fermenter and it still tasted great.

I don't think it is the starsan. Is it possible that the pads or filter had been washed in a concentrated soap or detergent?

My only experience with Tettnang was in Sam Adam's Alpine Spring and it definitely has a good bit of a weird apricot taste that I could definitely see being described as soapy. I would say it's not a bad beer, but the hops definitely make it unusual enough that I would never duplicate it intentionally.

I have used StarSan for a long time and no off flavors from it.

"Soapy" almost always comes from stressed yeast, or of course from soap in the brewing equipment. Could you be having effects of the breakdown of some of the yeast?

Did you use gypsum?
Prevents "soapy" taste from hops for me.

Yooper said:

"Soapy" almost always comes from stressed yeast, or of course from soap in the brewing equipment. Could you be having effects of the breakdown of some of the yeast?

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It was fresh US-05 and had only been in primary for a couple of weeks. I had read about stressed yeast as a potential source for soapy off flavours but ruled it out. I'm thinking It's the new flavour for me of the hops.

US-05 for a lager?

SiriusStarr said:

US-05 for a lager?

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Shhhh... Don't tell anybody.

pcollins said:

Shhhh... Don't tell anybody.

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Haha, I didn't know that was possible. Does it actually lager well? I'm a fan of US-05 ales.

SiriusStarr said:

Haha, I didn't know that was possible. Does it actually lager well? I'm a fan of US-05 ales.

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LOL, never lagered it so I don't know.

I use this recipe for what I call my "10 'n 6" Pils: 10 days in fermentation and 6 hours for carbonation. US-05 is super clean and I have used it in many lager-style beers: Schwarz, Bock, Pils. It works perfectly albeit not necessarily "true to style".

I entered a Schwarz that I did in a competition and although it didn't win it got many favourable comments... in the lager category.

I'm tempted to try this now. Might make lagers interesting to me.