Barleywine hydro sample tastes like ****?

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rocketman768

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So, made a barleywine last week. I'm not sure what the OG actually was since I used a precision hydrometer that only goes up to 1.070, but it was definitely above that, and probably close to the 1.100 it should've been. It was down to 1.030 a week after pitching and staying in the fermentation cabinet at 64F, but that hydrometer sample tasted like crap!

I'm not really too sure about all the off-flavors, but I'm pretty sure I got a lot of fusels in there. My starter was 1 gal on a stirplate (got loads of yeast, pitched the whole thing) and it took off like a rocket within a few hours. I know barleywine is supposed to be aged for like 1 year in the bottle, but this has got me worried. For those of you that've made it before, what was your experience after you tasted the first hydrometer sample?

Also, how long can I leave it on the yeast cake to help clean these flavors up?

Code:
Barleywine - English Barleywine
================================================================================
Batch Size: 5.000 gal
Boil Size: 5.750 gal
Boil Time: 0.000 s
Efficiency: 70%
OG: 1.095
FG: 1.024
ABV: 9.3%
Bitterness: 67.7 IBUs (Tinseth)
Color: 15 SRM (Mosher)

Fermentables
================================================================================
                       Name        Type    Amount Mashed Late Yield Color
       Pale Malt (2 Row) US       Grain  6.000 lb    Yes   No   79%   2 L
 Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L       Grain 16.000 oz    Yes   No   74%  60 L
    Extra Light Dry Extract Dry Extract  6.000 lb     No  Yes   95%   3 L
                   Molasses       Sugar 16.000 oz     No  Yes   78%  80 L

Hops
================================================================================
       Name Alpha   Amount  Use       Time  IBU
  Hallertau  3.0% 4.000 oz Boil   1.000 hr 48.3
 Willamette  4.8% 1.000 oz Boil 20.000 min 11.7
 Willamette  4.8% 2.000 oz Boil  5.000 min  7.7

Yeast
================================================================================
                     Name Type   Form    Amount   Stage
 WLP007 - Dry English Ale  Ale Liquid 0.250 cup Primary

Mash
================================================================================
                  Name     Type    Amount    Target       Time
      Conversion Step  Infusion 2.625 gal 148.000 F   1.000 hr
          Batch Sparge Infusion 4.035 gal 170.000 F 15.000 min
 
And in a year, when it is time to drink, it will be magnificent.

You are making a big beer, and big beers, mean a looooooong time til they taste good.

One of our ex members, Lazy Llama came up with a handy dandy chart to determine how long something takes in brewing, whether it's fermentation, carbonation, bottle conditioning....

chart.jpg



I post this whenever someone freaks about a taste or smell early in the game;

revvy said:
The thing to remember though is that if you are smelling or tasting this during fermentation not to worry. During fermentation all manner of stinky stuff is given off (ask lager brewers about rotten egg/sulphur smells, or Apfelwein makers about "rhino farts,") like we often say, fermentation is often ugly AND stinky and PERFECTLY NORMAL.

It's really only down the line, AFTER the beer has been fermented (and often after it has bottle conditioned even,) that you concern yourself with any flavor issues if they are still there.

I think too many new brewers focus to much on this stuff too early in the beer's journey. And they panic unnecessarily.

A lot of the stuff you smell/taste initially more than likely ends up disappearing either during a long primary/primary & secondary combo, Diacetyl rests and even during bottle conditioning.

If I find a flavor/smell, I usually wait til it's been in the bottle 6 weeks before I try to "diagnose" what went wrong, that way I am sure the beer has passed any window of greenness.

Fementation is often ugly, smelly and crappy tasting in the beginning and perfectly normal. The various conditioning phases, be it long primary, secondarying, D-rests, bottle conditioning, AND LAGERING, are all part of the process where the yeast, and co2 correct a lot of the normal production of the byproducts of fermentation.

Lagering is a prime example of this. Lager yeast are prone to the production of a lot of byproducts, the most familiar one is sulphur compounds (rhino farts) but in the dark cold of the lagering process, which is at the minimum of a month (I think many homebrewers don't lager long enough) the yeast slowly consumes all those compounds which results in extremely clean tasting beers if done skillfully.

Ales have their own version of this, but it's all the same.

If you are sampling your beer before you have passed a 'window of greeness" which my experience is about 3-6 weeks in the bottle, then you are more than likely just experiencing an "off flavor" due to the presence of those byproducts (that's what we mean when we say the beer is "green" it's still young and unconditioned.) but once the process is done, over 90% of the time the flavors/smells are gone.

Of the remaining 10%, half of those may still be salvageable through the long time storage that I mention in the Never dump your beer!!! Patience IS a virtue!!! Time heals all things, even beer:

And the remaining 50% of the last 10% are where these tables and lists come into play. To understand what you did wrong, so you can avoid it in the future.

Long story short....I betcha that smell/flavor will be long gone when the beer is carbed and conditioned.

In other words, relax, your beer will be just fine, like 99.5%. And if it si too biter AFTER it has carbed and conditioned for a few weeks, it WILL mellow with time.

Your beer, being a high grav one, is even more in need of time to mellow. I had a 1.090 belgian that took three months to carb, and another 6 months to lose the rocket fuel taste. It turned out quite nice at a year.

Yours will too.

:mug:
 
Yup Revvy, I know you're famous for those posts. I was just wondering. I stressed out some yeast about a year ago, and got the same off-flavors as I'm tasting now, and those beers never mellowed even a year later.

Bobby: yup. I put 1 lb in there. It doesn't taste too molasses-y.
 
I'm not a molasses fan, so I've never used it. I wonder if some of that "off flavor" you're describing is from the fermented molasses? I'm trying to imagine what sugarless molasses would taste like. I bet it would take quite a while to be palatable.
 
I'm not a molasses fan, so I've never used it. I wonder if some of that "off flavor" you're describing is from the fermented molasses? I'm trying to imagine what sugarless molasses would taste like. I bet it would take quite a while to be palatable.

I've used some in the Ben Franklin "Poor RIchard's Ale" recipe, I think it was 1/2 cup/ 5 gallons. It's a hot alcohol kind of taste, and yeah it needs some time to mellow.
 
I've used some in the Ben Franklin "Poor RIchard's Ale" recipe, I think it was 1/2 cup/ 5 gallons. It's a hot alcohol kind of taste, and yeah it needs some time to mellow.

Ah crap. The 1 lb came out to be about 1.5 cups. I figured it would be alright since the stuff is only about 38% sucrose by weight, and I assumed it would pretty much all become invert sugar in the acidic boil. Oh well, I guess I'll let you know next year.

http://www.grandmamolasses.com/data/pdf/PDS_Fancy_Grandma_Feb_2007.pdf
 
I think my apprehension there is that my barleywine tastes like it has molasses in it even though it has none. I think it would be over the top if I actually added it. As someone said, it is quite dense and that's kinda the point. It's got a ton of burnt sugar flavor packed in there. I'm not saying it's going to be a problem for sure, but you'll have to reserve judgment for at least 6 months.
 
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