Taste differences b/t very cold and cold beer

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theveganbrewer

theveganbrewer

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I almost finished drinking my 1st batch of beer, which was an all extract True Brew kit, and noticed a huge difference in taste when it was chilled to 36 degrees and when it was around 44. Also, a big difference in the first sip and then the last sip in the glass.

Since making this batch I've gone on to make 3 more without any tasting issues but my curiosity is bringing me back to this first batch. I'm interested to know what is causing this taste. I would describe it as molasses with a hint of caramel. There was no scorching in the pot but that is a taste that comes to mind when I first sip the beer. Overall, not a bad beer, especially when it warms. Are there certain things that would cause?
 
LME tends to do that if you use it all at the beginning of the boil. That's why many of use now do late malt additions. Better flavor/aroma,& lighter color.
Anyway,ales give more flavor/aroma complexities around 50 to 55F. For good or bad,colder temps mask them somewhat.
 
if you can drink your beer at 50+ degrees and enjoy it, then its a good beer. if it has to be just above freezing in order to enjoy it, then you have off-flavors that are simply being masked by the cold temperature.

thats why coors suggests that their beer be as cold as you can possibly get it, and engineered a color changing label to warn you before you sling back a mouthful of warm goat piss (you know- in case you somehow lost the sense of touch but still had working eyes).
 
audger said:
thats why coors suggests that their beer be as cold as you can possibly get it, and engineered a color changing label to warn you before you sling back a mouthful of warm goat piss (you know- in case you somehow lost the sense of touch but still had working eyes).
Click to expand...

I wouldn't say that any of the BMC crowd have off flavors. Yeah that style of beer is better ice cold, but as much as you may hate them, BMC has their process down a lot better than most of the homebrew crowd ever will.
 
Thanks to all their computer controls every step of the way. But I do like that they admit to needing humans to make the final call on batches of their beers as to which are up to standard per recipe.
 
JeepDiver said:
I wouldn't say that any of the BMC crowd have off flavors. Yeah that style of beer is better ice cold, but as much as you may hate them, BMC has their process down a lot better than most of the homebrew crowd ever will.
Click to expand...

Some BMC have carved their place with off flavors! Rolling Rock is almost pure DMS! BREW had a clone of it a few issues back and suggested to leave the lid on for the entire boil...lol. That does not even get into the corn or rice "adjunct flavors" which may not be a technical off flavor to some people but to me it is... /vom

@OP It does sound like extract "zing" to me. Many extract brews have that same "zing" in them. I agree with the statment that the cold is masking these flavors.
 
It's not the extract that automatically makes the zing,twang,etc. It's improper use that does it. You can't put LME through a full boil a second time without paying for it one way or another. We've had this argument many times before.
 
unionrdr said:
It's not the extract that automatically makes the zing,twang,etc. It's improper use that does it. You can't put LME through a full boil a second time without paying for it one way or another. We've had this argument many times before.
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What do you mean a second time through full boil?
 
I don't use LME anymore but if this is a common occurrence, why would the recipe kits all instruct 60 minute boils when adding during the last 20 or so would be better?
 
Malt extract,whether dry or liquid was made from malted grain combos. In other words,AG. It is then spray dried or concentrated. It goes through a 2nd full boil when you try to brew from scratch in a full 60 or 90 minute boil. That's round two. It was originally meant to make it easy on beginners by eliminating the step of making wort from scratch with grains.
And God knows how old those instructions originally are. We've just found it's better to add about half the extract malts at the end to get cleaner flavor,& lighter color.
 
cold temperatures desensitize your tastebuds - this includes masking some flavors but also decreasing perceived bitterness
 
But this beer tastes better warm than cold. Doesn't that go against the temperature assumption or am I reading that wrong?
 
theveganbrewer said:
I almost finished drinking my 1st batch of beer, which was an all extract True Brew kit, and noticed a huge difference in taste when it was chilled to 36 degrees and when it was around 44. Also, a big difference in the first sip and then the last sip in the glass.

Since making this batch I've gone on to make 3 more without any tasting issues but my curiosity is bringing me back to this first batch. I'm interested to know what is causing this taste. I would describe it as molasses with a hint of caramel. There was no scorching in the pot but that is a taste that comes to mind when I first sip the beer. Overall, not a bad beer, especially when it warms. Are there certain things that would cause?
Click to expand...

I believe the Industry Terms are "Cold" and "Super Cold";)

Terms brought to you by the good people of Miller-Coors.
-Jefe-
 
I think the idea is that with the cold masking some of the flavors, you're not actually tasting the entire flavor profile, only the parts that stand out the most. When it warms up, you're tasting everything together as it should be.

I drink mostly heavier/darker beers, and usually don't even take a sip until its sat for a good 10 minutes.

On a GREAT beer, to me, that last sip is 10x better than the first.

Kosch
 
Edit: ^^^^ what they said. Work got in way of my posting.

I think it is the same thing. Depends on the beer. Some good beers taste better a little warmer because it brings out the flavors that would be lost served colder. Some bad beers taste good cold, because off flavors are masked, if served warmer those bad flavors would be more apparent. Some good beer taste great ice cold!
 
That's one of the tests I do for all my beers: how does it taste at room temperature?
If it's good; I made a nice beer, if there's a flaw in it; the warm temp makes it much easier to tell what it is.
 
As I stated before,50-55F is still cool so you taste the whole malt profile with the hops,but not warm. It'd be a downright cold basement temp that doesn't go below 45-48F in cold weather,imo.
 

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