Beer to strong and you can taste the alcohol

So I have had my brew (Midwest Honey Porter) finished and in the bottles for a few weeks now and last week it was pretty good and tasty but still had a bit of an alcohol taste to it. Well I waited another week in the bottle and had one last night and it was super strong. The OG was 1.058 and FG was 1.010 so its like 6.4% ABV. The I am just surprised at the fact that my friends and I can really taste a strong alcohol taste. I have had beers with a higher ABV and not tasted this. So what could have happened or what might be wrong?

They need more time. The higher abv beer need more time for that flavor to mellow out.

You didn't wait long enough. Your beer needs to age to taste better, and the higher the ABV the longer you must wait. I try to avoid sampling mine for at least 3 weeks after bottling. I've got a red ale that I didn't particularly care for until 2 months after it was bottled. Got an 8% stout fermenting right now that will bottle condition for 3 months. That hot alcohol taste will mellow out and your other flavors will come through better with time. Patience is the number one tool in a brewer's life.

It's possible that a too-warm fermentation temperature (over 72 degrees) created some "hot" alcohol taste from fusel alcohols.

If that's not the case, and you know the beer never got above 70 degrees, then it's probably just that a higher ABV might take longer to mellow. If it IS from a too-warm fermentation, the alcohol taste might fade a little bit but not that much.

What about during active fermentation when the temps rise to 72-73 does this still create the "hot" taste if it drops back to the 64-68 range. Sorry to drop in

moose123 said:

Sorry to drop in

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Seriously, WHAT THE HELL???????

*bastard, dropping like that......geeez*



......Probably, (to answer your question) hot at any point during fermentation will have an effect, and doesn't every brew drop back down in temp later?


My basement floor (concrete) is perfect year round for keeping temps down.

It could definitely be related to the temperature of fermentation.. But hey you want to taste the alcohol a little right?

moose123 said:

What about during active fermentation when the temps rise to 72-73 does this still create the "hot" taste if it drops back to the 64-68 range. Sorry to drop in

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Yes, depending on yeast strain. Some strains do ok at 73 degrees, while others (nottingham comes to mind!) get really nasty tasting at that temperature.

unionrdr said:

I don't think so,ime. It had to get up around 80F before I got fusels in my 1st batch. But sitting in primary & a few weeks in bottles at cooler temps fixed it.

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My first 2 all grain batches had massive fusels from fermenting in a 68 degree room. Both were over 7% alcohol, so they most likely hit mid 70's during full fermentation. They were in primary for 3 weeks and have been in bottles for 5 months. The hot alcohol taste is still just as nasty today as it was when bottled.

I'm afraid the OP may have fusels if he didn't control temps and keep them below 70.

I am a punk cheesydemon. I'm quickly learning I have so much to learn about brewing and respecting the craft of being a good home brewer. The yeast was a dry English ale I got it dropped to 68 we shall see.

cheezydemon3 said:

Seriously, WHAT THE HELL???????

*bastard, dropping like that......geeez*



......Probably, (to answer your question) hot at any point during fermentation will have an effect, and doesn't every brew drop back down in temp later?


My basement floor (concrete) is perfect year round for keeping temps down.

Click to expand...

I depends too on when the temp was increased - if it was during the active portion of fermentation then yes, most strains (though not all) will produce hot alcohols. However, it is OK, and in some cases desirable, to increase the temp as fermentation winds down to help the yeast with the final push. After fermentation is complete, increasing the temp won't really affect any yeast-derived compounds (though it will increase beer aging/staling).

moose123 said:

I am a punk cheesydemon. I'm quickly learning I have so much to learn about brewing and respecting the craft of being a good home brewer. The yeast was a dry English ale I got it dropped to 68 we shall see.

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When you say you "got it dropped to 68" - was this the air temp or the wort temp? I guess either way once you pitch the yeast you should expect at least a few degrees rise in temp from fermentation activity - sometimes as much as 5-8 degrees F depending on how active the fermentation is. If you can get the wort cooled down further, you'll be in better shape.

Agree.
First three or four days is critical, and the beer temp and ambient temp can be vastly different, unless you use the water-bath method. In a water bath, the wort temp is closer to the bath temp, especially if you circulate the bath with a pond pump or something like that.

Before I did good temp control, I actually measured a 10F rise in the wort over the "ambient' - which is what got me focused on temp control.

HUGE difference in my beers. Now they're in a controlled bath, at 63F-65F. Always.

My air temp is around 63-64 degrees cause it is in my basement pretty much year around. When i said 68 I was talking about the wort temp. It started fermentation within about 12 hours but once it started it did increase about 7 degrees. Regardless i have been fermenting to warm for a long time now so thank you!

Thanks for all the info I will let it hang in the bottles for a bit longer and see if that helps. In the mean time I will start my next batch.