I'm still trying to figure out where my beers are going wrong... I've been all over the place, and it seems to follow me. I started off as an extract + steeping grains brewer, went to all grain after my 2nd batch, went back to extract, and now I'm a partial mash brewer. The one thing that has followed my beers since the very beginning has been the dreaded "homebrew taste". It's not always there, but I've had extract batches that have had it, as well as all grain batches that have had it. I'm still trying to pin it down...
It's really hard to describe the flavor I'm getting, but I'm guessing that many people will know exactly what it is I'm talking about. My first two extract batches had it, so I assumed it was either "extract twang" or an unwanted flavor from the dry yeast I was using. I then went to all grain and my first all grain batch had it. I stopped using dry yeast at this point. I also started controlling my fermentation temperatures by putting it in my keezer with a stainless steel thermowell + temperature probe. The flavor went away for the most part, but every once in a while it would return.
The last batch I did was an extract + steeping grains + dry yeast recipe that my friend recently did with GREAT results. My version came out with the "homebrew taste" and beared very little similarity to his version. Since we both used the same recipe, I'm beginning to think I'm doing something else wrong.
I'm thinking this might be a fermentation problem. I used dry yeast in this one (rehydrated), and pitched it at about 68 degrees. To my horror, I awoke the next morning to no fermentation due to the temperature dropping to 60 degrees overnight. It had to warm up before fermentation occurred, and I think I might have stressed out the yeast.
Any suggestions? What should I change? I think I need to go back to doing yeast starters.... anything else?
It's really hard to describe the flavor I'm getting, but I'm guessing that many people will know exactly what it is I'm talking about. My first two extract batches had it, so I assumed it was either "extract twang" or an unwanted flavor from the dry yeast I was using. I then went to all grain and my first all grain batch had it. I stopped using dry yeast at this point. I also started controlling my fermentation temperatures by putting it in my keezer with a stainless steel thermowell + temperature probe. The flavor went away for the most part, but every once in a while it would return.
The last batch I did was an extract + steeping grains + dry yeast recipe that my friend recently did with GREAT results. My version came out with the "homebrew taste" and beared very little similarity to his version. Since we both used the same recipe, I'm beginning to think I'm doing something else wrong.
I'm thinking this might be a fermentation problem. I used dry yeast in this one (rehydrated), and pitched it at about 68 degrees. To my horror, I awoke the next morning to no fermentation due to the temperature dropping to 60 degrees overnight. It had to warm up before fermentation occurred, and I think I might have stressed out the yeast.
Any suggestions? What should I change? I think I need to go back to doing yeast starters.... anything else?