Soapy taste, freaking out!

I just checked the gravity of my trappist style ale. It's dropped from 1.076 to 1.022, and it smells and tastes great, EXCEPT...

I get a slight hint of a soap flavor in it. Now, this comes from my little sample I pulled with my turkey baster, which I had just sanitized with iodine, so it's possible I'm tasting that? On the other hand, doesn't soapy tasty mean that fatty acids are breaking down? I've only had it in primary for eight days, but it was a very vigorous fermentation.

I'm just looking for any advice or explanation. This beer tastes really good other than that one off-taste.

I had a summit IPA once and to me it tasted like soap. I think it was the hops

Check out the Flavor Wheel. It pretty much covers it all.

First of all, don't panic - I'd give it time.

Yes, soapy tastes can be attributed to high levels of fatty acids in the beer. Also, alkaline leftovers from a cleaner such as bleach or TSP. And, IIRC, underpitching yeast and/or underaeration. I've heard that stale hops and excess trub can be a source of it, too, but I'd be skeptical of that.

I think that I know what you are talking about. I had a few beers that had a very slight aftertaste that was odd. The more and more I thought about it, it tasted like soap . . . almost. It was just in the finish . . . .almost like the breath after the drink tasted a bit soapy.

I was worried about it.

It faded with age, but there was something just not right. I think that it may be in the hops, because I had two beers tasted that way. One was a Pale Ale and the other was an IPA. I used "C" hops that I had bought on the same day at the same place.

Well, I tried it again a bit later, and it didn't seem as noticeable. I have developed a theory, which is both a huge relief and terribly embarrassing.

I've been cleaning the labels off bottles all day, and I think I have a strong smell and taste of glue on my hands. I think it's possible I was smelling/tasting that when I sampled my beer, because I still notice it on my hands a bit. Let's hope that's all it was!

glibbidy said:

Check out the Flavor Wheel. It pretty much covers it all.

Click to expand...

I am not fully understanding how you use this.

Morten Meilgaard developed his flavor wheel in 1975, It was eventually adpoted as an industry standard for flavor analysis. Consider this a tool to use when describing flavors of beer.

What I mean is, do you work your way from the inside out? Like The odor is grassy, specifically nutty? Or the taste has a mouthfeel that is metallic?

Start from the inside of the wheel, smell and taste the beer, and then think of that flavor that comes to mind, find it on the periphary of the wheel and then work your way back to the inside.

ok cool, thx!

glibbidy said:

Start from the inside of the wheel, smell and taste the beer, and then think of that flavor that comes to mind, find it on the periphary of the wheel and then work your way back to the inside.

Click to expand...

The cool thing about that is it backs up my theory that perhaps I was just smelling soap on my hands. I may take another sample today just to check.