How to get rid of extract twang

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brewdude76

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I recently had a long talk with the main brewer at The Woodward Avenue Brewery where he told me that the best way to get rid of extract twang is to dry hop with 1/2 an ounce of a low alpha acid hop, preferably one that is in your hop schedule. I have yet to try this, but plan on doing it with my next batch. He recommends Fuggle. Has anyone heard of this technique before?
 
I've never heard of dry hopping to reduce extract twang. Honestly, I don't see how that would work at all. Two techniques that do tend to work are a late extract addition and switching to all grain. Other than that, I don't see hops doing anything to reduce it. Did he happen to mention how that worked?

I get a big BS vibe from that, to be totally honest. Sorry if that sounds like an a-hole comment, but without some kind of reason how/why it would work, I'm just not feeling it.
 
I've never heard of dry hopping to reduce extract twang. Honestly, I don't see how that would work at all. Two techniques that do tend to work are a late extract addition and switching to all grain. Other than that, I don't see hops doing anything to reduce it. Did he happen to mention how that worked?

I get a big BS vibe from that, to be totally honest. Sorry if that sounds like an a-hole comment, but without some kind of reason how/why it would work, I'm just not feeling it.

You would be feeling it if you had woodward ave. beer !!!
 
I think its not necessarily getting rid of extract. Its just getting rid of bad extract. Make sure all liquid extract is very fresh. DME keeps longer but shouldn't be stale. Full boils with late additions will also help.

If that doesn't work, then its AG. I'm an AG'er, but I don't blindly endorse it. There are plenty of great brewers here who brew PM or Extract with no problems. It can be done, just pay attention to every detail.
 
At best I would think it would only mask it. I've had excellent success with LME by a) always shutting off heat when adding and stirring constantly and b) late add addition.
 
I've been doing extract with steeped grains and the occasional partial mash. I have not had the twang for some time, and this coming from others not my own baised taste buds. I think the biggest factor was late additions. I can only do 4g boils, but adding the extract in the last 20 minutes has made a drastic improvment in the beer overall.
 
I've never heard of dry hopping to reduce extract twang. Honestly, I don't see how that would work at all. Two techniques that do tend to work are a late extract addition and switching to all grain. Other than that, I don't see hops doing anything to reduce it. Did he happen to mention how that worked?

I get a big BS vibe from that, to be totally honest. Sorry if that sounds like an a-hole comment, but without some kind of reason how/why it would work, I'm just not feeling it.

I am building an all grain setup gradually and plan on switching next year, or this summer/fall if I am feeling frisky. He did not say how it worked. It came up when we were talking about bottle conditioning. I find that the twang goes away after 3-4 months in the bottle, which is way longer than I am willing to wait. My next batch is going to be a partial mash, considering adding half of my extract late. I don't blame you for not feeling it, kinda sounds too good to be true.
 
You would be feeling it if you had woodward ave. beer !!!

In that case, my LHBS says that you can reduce or even eliminate extract twang by shipping some of this Woodward Ave beer to certain lethargic quadrapedal relatives of the alpaca. PM me for more info about that particular program. ;)
 
Worth a try...

One I started full(or near full) boils for extrac my beer flavor improved immensely.
 
There are a number of good sources regarding getting rid of extract twang. I recall there was a whole segment about it on some homebrew radio site. Basic Brewing Radio, I think it was. I seem to recall that they concluded the number one cause of twang is old extract. One way to obviate that concern is to use dry malt extract which has less aging issues, presumably because there's less water in it.

Having said that, I recently encountered that twang in a brown ale I made with LME. Suspecting the can of LME I used, I spoke to my LHS owner who felt it was probably process related. One thing he pointed out that I had never heard was that in addition to turning off the heat when adding extract, it is also advisable to remove the brewpot completely from the burner you've been using. His feeling was that, even on a gas range, the metal will be so hot that if it's in contact with the brewpot it will scorch your extract causing twang. The LME syrup just sinks to the bottom where it can scorch before it has a chance to dissolve. Also when you think about using DME, it tends to float on the top of the water before it dissolves which would also avoid the scorching issue.

My LHS owner wrote an article on this recently in MidAtlantic Brewing News, if you have any access to that publication (they don't archive online). The article was by George Hummel and it was in the homebrewing section of, I think the March issue, and it was about brewing lighter colored brews, but the process applies to getting rid of the homebrew twang.

I agree with the others who have said that dry hopping isn't liable to help, except maybe to cover the twang somewhat.
 
Does anyone else find that the twang dissipates over time? Masking it until it ages out is not a bad idea. Taking the pot off the burner, as well as stirring to further prevent burning, is also a good idea.
 
I switch hit between AG and Extractw/steeping, and I had the twang in the past with the extract. I do the late addition thing with the heat off and only use DME, and haven't had it since.
I know that this has been covered in the previous replies, but I wanted to give it an AMEN:rockin:
 
In a nutshell here are some things you can do to help ET.

Increase your boil size - if you can boil 6 gallons down to 5 then do it.
Dont overheat your 'steeping grains' you may release tanins.
Do a late extract edition. (Last 15 mins of the boil is good)
Control your ferm temps.


(Going AG doesnt hurt either) ;)
-Me
 
When y'all say "late extract edition", does that refer to LME, DME, or both?

Should I be putting just a bit of the extract (I usually use DME) in at the start of the boil, when I add the bittering hops, or just wait until the end - last five minutes?
 
I believe its both. Some people stagger their extracts throughout the boil, when I did (do) extract brews I just add the extract for the last 15 minutes of the boil. This gives it time enough to get sterilized, but not enough to scorch.
-Me
 
personal experience, and practice has shown me that I get less "twang" with dry malt extract. I stopped using liquid after my first 5 batches. also upgraded to stainless steel pots (used ceramic coated aluminum for my first year and they scorched pretty easily) also better glass-top stove has helped reduce scorch.

low steep temps of grains helps a lot as well.

I have moved to some partial mash brews, (not being smart ass) but just don't have the resources for ALL grain... this does make a differnce much fresher tasting brew.

trying my first late additon on my strawberry wheat (all extract) this weekend. using dry malt as I need a quick down and dirty brew session. (hey recipe is great and it's quick just adding 10lbs of fresh strawberries!)

I do think it mellows a bit but never fully goes away.

interesting way to mask it though might need to try on my next quick extract big brew.
 
how would you all describe the taste imparted by scorching your extract and/or steeping grains? Just curious if this might be what I'm getting.
 
My experience on eliminating twang has been a few things. First, order online from a large vendor with fast turnover (AHS, Midwest, NB, B3, Etc). Their ingerdients are fresh. I, for example, orderly mostly from AHS, and I have never had any twang from their LME or DME. Secondly, I moved to partial mashes. I don't have all the resources to to do all-grain, but I do have the resources to do PMs with about 4-5 lbs of grain. Go to walmart and buy a 2-3 gallon cooler to mash in or use DeathBrewer's technique. Both work just as well with limited space and resources. In conjuction with partial mashing, I add all my extract in with 15 minutes left. None goes in before then and I use the wort from my partial mashes and some top-off water to do the full 60 minute boils. I should note this is using a 2.5-3 gallon boil.

Lastly, and this is a personal opinion and not a fact, but I feel people blame extract twang on tastes that aren't really twang, though no doubt twang exists. The majority, but not all, of brewers who use extract are relatively new to the game, myslef included, and we aren't exactly qualitfied to discern what is twang and what is caused by something else in our process. I've made beer with "twang," and I've made beer with twang. Catch my drift?
 
Lastly, and this is a personal opinion and not a fact, but I feel people blame extract twang on tastes that aren't really twang, though no doubt twang exists. The majority, but not all, of brewers who use extract are relatively new to the game, myslef included, and we aren't exactly qualitfied to discern what is twang and what is caused by something else in our process. I've made beer with "twang," and I've made beers with twang. Catch my drift?

Yeah, the "Twang" means different things to different people. It can be resolved by finding the fault in the individual process. For some, it can be doing bigger boils, for others, making late additions etc.....It would seem that just about any fault in anyone's process ends up with something that can be best described as a twang.
 
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