BrokenBrew
Well-Known Member
This is a little bit rant, with a couple questions thrown in for good measure.
The rant:
I've been brewing now since last November. Just did my 14th batch (2nd AG) so I've got a few under my belt. Some actually turned out pretty good - friends have told me - "Dude, this is better than Redhook's ESB!". So overall I've been pretty pleased.
With nearly all of my batches there has been this slight undercurrent of flavor that I always blamed on "Extract Twang". Kind of a cider, alcohol flavor is the best I can describe it. Sometimes almost imperceptible, sometimes more pronounced. I'd even talked about it with the guys at my LHBS, and they agreed that when I moved to AG, it'd go away. The flavor didn't detract too much, but seemed to always be there.
I recently brewed two batches (a Honey Wheat, and a Pale Ale) for an upcoming July 4th party we host every year. I've got about 20+ people coming over and wanted to have some good homebrew on hand. The Pale Ale, I've been told, is 'one of the best beers I've ever had!'. So I was excited to have it on hand.
A few days ago I cracked one of the Pale Ales. It'd been bottled for just over two weeks. The cider/alcohol taste was pretty strong. Later I opened the Wheat, and close to the same thing. Both had that strong taste. The same I'd tasted before in many of my other batches, but much, much stronger.
After extensive research on this board, I think I've been fermenting too hot all along. Since I started brewing, my LHBS has told me to ferment at about 70 otherwise it'd never finish. Then yesterday I read Yooper's post on high fermentation temps, as well as tons of others, and from that I've figured out I've been fermenting too hot all along. I'd even made a fermentation chamber with a low-watt light bulb to keep the temp about 70. Thus the slight undercurrent of that cider taste.
Since the summer hit, the reading on my fermometer has been 72 - 74, meaning the actual temp was probably closer to at least 78. Thus, the stronger taste of what I'd always thought was 'extract twang'.
What will be very telling is I've brewed two AG batches that fermented high also. If they have that flavor, it's temp, not twang. And I'm certainly not going to ask that LHBS for any more advice!
I had to actually BUY some beer (the horror!) for our party. At least it gave me an excuse to grab a bottle of Russian River's Pliny the Elder - drinking it tonight!
Now the questions:
1) I generally wash my yeast, and one of the batches (fermenting COOLER now, but initially high) is the one I was going to wash from. This yeast will be fine, right? It's WL Calif. Ale. It hasn't mutated into some creature of the black lagoon and should be thrown out, correct?
2) Will the cider / fusel alcohol flavor will go away with time? I'm assuming a few weeks sitting in the corner will fix it.
3) I made BM's Centennial Blonde last Saturday, and it fermented a little high until last night when I moved it to a water bath with a t-shirt. It's now at 69. I'm assuming it's too late for this one since it started high and fermented high for 4 days, and I'll most likely have that off flavor again. Correct?
Thanks for all the helpful advice and postings. This is definitely a great place to get info and answers.
The rant:
I've been brewing now since last November. Just did my 14th batch (2nd AG) so I've got a few under my belt. Some actually turned out pretty good - friends have told me - "Dude, this is better than Redhook's ESB!". So overall I've been pretty pleased.
With nearly all of my batches there has been this slight undercurrent of flavor that I always blamed on "Extract Twang". Kind of a cider, alcohol flavor is the best I can describe it. Sometimes almost imperceptible, sometimes more pronounced. I'd even talked about it with the guys at my LHBS, and they agreed that when I moved to AG, it'd go away. The flavor didn't detract too much, but seemed to always be there.
I recently brewed two batches (a Honey Wheat, and a Pale Ale) for an upcoming July 4th party we host every year. I've got about 20+ people coming over and wanted to have some good homebrew on hand. The Pale Ale, I've been told, is 'one of the best beers I've ever had!'. So I was excited to have it on hand.
A few days ago I cracked one of the Pale Ales. It'd been bottled for just over two weeks. The cider/alcohol taste was pretty strong. Later I opened the Wheat, and close to the same thing. Both had that strong taste. The same I'd tasted before in many of my other batches, but much, much stronger.
After extensive research on this board, I think I've been fermenting too hot all along. Since I started brewing, my LHBS has told me to ferment at about 70 otherwise it'd never finish. Then yesterday I read Yooper's post on high fermentation temps, as well as tons of others, and from that I've figured out I've been fermenting too hot all along. I'd even made a fermentation chamber with a low-watt light bulb to keep the temp about 70. Thus the slight undercurrent of that cider taste.
Since the summer hit, the reading on my fermometer has been 72 - 74, meaning the actual temp was probably closer to at least 78. Thus, the stronger taste of what I'd always thought was 'extract twang'.
What will be very telling is I've brewed two AG batches that fermented high also. If they have that flavor, it's temp, not twang. And I'm certainly not going to ask that LHBS for any more advice!
I had to actually BUY some beer (the horror!) for our party. At least it gave me an excuse to grab a bottle of Russian River's Pliny the Elder - drinking it tonight!
Now the questions:
1) I generally wash my yeast, and one of the batches (fermenting COOLER now, but initially high) is the one I was going to wash from. This yeast will be fine, right? It's WL Calif. Ale. It hasn't mutated into some creature of the black lagoon and should be thrown out, correct?
2) Will the cider / fusel alcohol flavor will go away with time? I'm assuming a few weeks sitting in the corner will fix it.
3) I made BM's Centennial Blonde last Saturday, and it fermented a little high until last night when I moved it to a water bath with a t-shirt. It's now at 69. I'm assuming it's too late for this one since it started high and fermented high for 4 days, and I'll most likely have that off flavor again. Correct?
Thanks for all the helpful advice and postings. This is definitely a great place to get info and answers.