Funky taste and smell / odor in brews? Thought it might be infection…have waited !

Well I brewed 2 batches (amber ale and weizenbier BB kits-extract) and they both had a distinct taste and smell to them. I couldn’t quite pinpoint it at first. It was on the sides of the tongue in the back. The smell was kinda sour. I was thinking I might have had an infection. After being patient and waiting (the bottles have been carbed for well over a month) the taste and smell didn’t go away.

Then it finally hit me after having a Sam Adams Boston Lager at a restaurant one day. It was the exact smell and the taste….well was less in the SA but was there.

Is this normal? I’ve brewed 3 more batches (all extract from NB –Honey weizen, kolsch and cream ale) and have yet to taste them fully carbed.

Am I worried about nothing and this is what they’re supposed to smell like?

Is it just because my BMC taste buds and smeller haven’t been accustomed to this? I mean afterall drinking beers out of a can doesn’t really give you a chance to actually SMELL the beer

is this the/a difference between an ale and a lager?

What did it smell like? Can you describe it?

sillyburt said:

Well I brewed 2 batches (amber ale and weizenbier BB kits-extract) and they both had a distinct taste and smell to them. I couldn’t quite pinpoint it at first. It was on the sides of the tongue in the back. The smell was kinda sour. I was thinking I might have had an infection. After being patient and waiting (the bottles have been carbed for well over a month) the taste and smell didn’t go away.

Then it finally hit me after having a Sam Adams Boston Lager at a restaurant one day. It was the exact smell and the taste….well was less in the SA but was there.

Is this normal? I’ve brewed 3 more batches (all extract from NB –Honey weizen, kolsch and cream ale) and have yet to taste them fully carbed.

Am I worried about nothing and this is what they’re supposed to smell like?

Is it just because my BMC taste buds and smeller haven’t been accustomed to this? I mean afterall drinking beers out of a can doesn’t really give you a chance to actually SMELL the beer

is this the/a difference between an ale and a lager?

Click to expand...

It's hard to say without knowing exactly what the smell was like (other than beer).

I hope that your question is, my beer doesn't smell like BMC, it smells good. Is this right? :cross:

The different between an ale and a lager is primarily the type of yeast used -- ale yeast or lager yeast -- but there are some additional processes involved in lagering to produce a lager.

If your brewing from no-boil extract kits then this is probably the problem. Lots of those kits like Mr. Beer have a distinct taste/aroma. Usually the problem is old extract or a quality issue with the extract. SA doesn't brew with extract so if that is the taste your tasting then it's not the extract twang.

sillyburt said:

Is it just because my BMC taste buds and smeller haven’t been accustomed to this? I mean afterall drinking beers out of a can doesn’t really give you a chance to actually SMELL the beer

is this the/a difference between an ale and a lager?

Click to expand...

That taste/smell is probably the hops. Sam Adams claims to use way more hops in their (Boston) Lager than "the other guys" (BMC). I call beers with this flavor "bitter" instead of "sour". Bitter = hops. Sour = vinegar, spoiled milk, etc. Yes, your taste buds need some practice. You should make an effort to try a wider variety of beers. Try buying single bottles of different kinds of microbrewery beers instead of cases of BMC. This will help you refine your taste buds. You may soon find that you like the bitterness of the hops when it is well-balanced with other tastes.

it smelled sour. other people have said same thing (again BMC or non-drinkers). it tated kinda....well biting, perhaps sharp.

the heffeweizen I got at the store (which is why I made the weizen bier) did not taste at all like the one I made. I mean not even remotely close. the one at the store tasted really smooth, maybe subtle.

I don't think I really boiled these first batches well. I think of this form the comment that I could have used no-boil extracts...there were not. BUT I kinda really simmered these instead (being my first batches).

the last batch I did was the honey weizen and that tated (on bottling day) really grat. in fact I think it's my bext so far.

could this tate be coming from not boiling Vigorously enough?

I know it's hard to describe in text and my limited BMC pallate doesn't help

does anyone think the lack of vigorous boil could cause this?

or I guess a better way to ask the question is, what is the result of a lacking vigorous boil?

In general, lack of a vigorous boil will leave some DMS (corn/buttery) precursors in the wort. You may also not drive off some of the other volatiles. But with extract, this is typically not a problem since the DMS precursors, etc have already been boiled off.

Using the words "bite" and "sharp" makes me think of hops. Are you sure that maybe you didn't get a bit more hop utilization than expected? Go pick up an IPA; maybe you just aren't used to the hop bite. Did you boil longer than the amount listed in the instructions? Boiling longer will increase hop utilization, leading to more bite. Don't boil longer to make up for lack of a vigorous boil.


I would say to try a batch with filtered water. I had an odd, hard to pinpoint off flavor in some of my brews, which I could slightly taste in some commercial brews. When I went to 100% filtered water, it went away. My last nut brown, I had a 5 gallon batch, and accidentally used ~1/4 gallon of unfiltered water and could still slightly taste the issue, so make sure that all of the water is filtered, even the rinsing water.