Why does my barleywine have a cidery taste.

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chiteface

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It's not a biting cider, just kind of sweet, but definitely not something I expected. Bulk aged for about 4 months. Bottle conditioned for about the same. 1.092 down to 1.018. May have fermented a bit warm. 70-72. But would expect if it was acetaldehyde that would have mellowed by now...thoughts?
 
Four months is pretty minimal for a Barleywine IMO. What was your recipe? Most people cite excess sugar as a cause of cider but I've read/heard that it can result from a stressed fermentation too. How much yeast did you pitch?
 
Temp is the most likely cause. Not all fermentation flaws age out. The sugar=cider link is an old myth; besides, shouldn't have much (if any) sugar in a barleywine.
 
inhousebrew said:
Four months is pretty minimal for a Barleywine IMO. What was your recipe? Most people cite excess sugar as a cause of cider but I've read/heard that it can result from a stressed fermentation too. How much yeast did you pitch?

Well it was 8 months total, which if it needs more time thats fine, but i wouldn't consider this a huge barleywine. Outside of the tiny amount of priming sugar(3oz for a 5 gallon batch), it was legitimately all grain. I pitched a washed cake from a low gravity batch of pa.
 
TyTanium said:
Temp is the most likely cause. Not all fermentation flaws age out. The sugar=cider link is an old myth; besides, shouldn't have much (if any) sugar in a barleywine.

I would lean mostly towards Temp, just because I've heard the mass of yeast can significantly raise liquid temp over the ambient air temp, but haven't found anything that has indicated that acetaldehyde flaws shouldn't be overcome(or at least muted significantly) with age...
 
I guess I should have worded my previous statment differently, most people cite excess sugar additions as a cider flavor inducer but I don't really buy it anymore. Instead, it can be stressed fermentation, which could be caused by high gravity (ie. sugar additions or just plain old sugars for the mash) that can cause cidery off flavors if you don't worry about temp control or underpitch on yeast. Which brings, me back to my question; how much yeast did you pitch?
 
Sugar does cause cidery flavors indeed. Ask me how I know in a tripel that had 30% dextrose and ws fermented fairly cool with a huge amount of yeast.
 
This is almost always a cold side issue. Fermentation temp/temp control, yeast pitching rates, O2, sanitation, etc
 
I washed a cake from a lower gravity, under 1.060, pale ale, and pitched that. It was good clean thick white slurry, right under a gallon. I hit the fg exactly where I was supposed to according to the beer software I was using.
I didn't sugar except to bottle.
My guess due to fermentation temp is acetaldehyde, although I thought that normally fades with time and this seems to have gotten progressively more pronounced.
 
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