Lemon Flavors

I'm still pretty new to the whole brew thing, but I'm doing plenty of research, and constantly learning. And most importantly, making and drinking lots of brews.

On to the question... so far in my only couple batches that are really bottle conditioned, I'm noticing that there's a very distinct lemon taste. My first batch was some old beer kit that was laying around for a while. I replaced some of the perishables, but it was pretty simple. Basically 3.3lbs Coopers Light Liquid Malt and 1.5lbs of Amber dry malt. Throw in like 1.5oz hops and that was basically it. My second batch I tried brewing from scratch. I ended up with a porter-ish brew made from 3.3lbs Coopers Dark Liquid Malt, 1.5lbs of Honey, and 3lbs of Sugar in the Raw (this was before I knew that large amounts of Sugar in the Raw can cause funky flavors). Added 2oz Cascade and 1/2oz Fuggles. I don't have my recipe book in front of me, but that sounds right-ish. Both brews used US-05.

But as soon as anything in my house starts to ferment, it gets this strange lemon flavor that overpowers the beer. It seems to mellow out a bit with 3-6 weeks in the bottle, but it's still there. Is that from a lack of grain? Or a weird wild yeast in my house? Or is it normal? Just curious....

Thanks.

my gut instinct here is that the hops your using are giving you the lemony aroma/flavor. also -05 if fermented warm (over 70f) will produce esters that are fruity in profile which might be why you notice the lemon during fermentation.

eriktlupus said:

my gut instinct here is that the hops your using are giving you the lemony aroma/flavor. also -05 if fermented warm (over 70f) will produce esters that are fruity in profile which might be why you notice the lemon during fermentation.

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Yes and yes. What type of hops are you using? My bet is that SF is fairly hot right now, what are your ferment temps?

During both of those batches it was warm and I have no AC. I'm guessing temp varried from 70 to as high as 80 in my house. The porter probably a bit cooler.

As stated above, the warmer fermenting temperatures can produce alot of esters and off flavors.
I would start by finding a way (swamp cooler) to controll your fermenting temperatures, keeping them in the 65-70 degree range.
I would also opt for fresh extracts and a known recipe. The yeast is a good choice.
Get your process down first and the start to experiment.
Good luck
Bull