sharp taste, no head

hi all,

I have a nut brown ale that has been bottled for three weeks now. I followed the 1-2-3 and it tasted really good after two weeks. nice carbonation and great flavor, smooth and roasty. now after three weeks, it has a sharp initial bite to it, then goes almost cidery tasting then i can slightly taste the roasty nut after. It doesn't really have any head to it. Do you think this would mellow out or get worse. It did taste great at two weeks. It was a lhbs kit that started to ferment within 8 hours with a liquid white labs - english ale yeast vial and was in my closet around 70-72. thanks for any advice.

hey methoddman, saw that you hadnt gotten a reply. Sometimes threads need to be bumped to the top.

Sounds odd that it developed the off flavors between week 2 and 3 in the bottle. I had a porter earlier this year that I liked fresh, but a month or so later I lost a taste for it. Im not sure if it had developed new flavors, or if the weather got warmer and it just didnt apeal anymore.

From what Ive heard the cidery taste can come from improper fermentation temperatures, but you should have been in the window.

- magno

thanks for your reply. yeah it's weird it would go from great to ok. I been thinkin about it and I may have taken it off the cake too soon. being an anxious noob trying to get some inventory i transfered to secondary right at 7 days. but their was still some activity in the airlock. very slow, but still there. I've been drinkin a couple every night, and it's just ok right now. Some are harsh and others are just ok. I guess i'm thinkin to much about it now, cause it was great during week two. i didn't take readings, but if i took it off the primary too soon, is it maybe fermenting again in the bottle causing that taste? my bottles were stored in a dark place in a cardboard box maybe between 75-78. Could that be a problem too? Sorry so lenghtly, just kinda bummed. I do have another one going, just racked it, and did take readings this time. left it in primary for 10 days. i know this one was completley done. JUST TRYIN TO MAKE SOME KILLA BREW.

thanks

Without taking gravity readings you do not know for sure that the brew was completely fermented.

The beer may have not been completly fermented when you put it in the bottle. The unfermented Malt will give you more flavor which would explain why it tasted so good week 2. It also had correct carbonation early.

As the beer sat, it fermented out and over carbed. This reduced the flavor and added the carb twang that actually drowns out what flavor is left.

I am speaking from experience. I have a batch of nut brown ale in the keg now. At week 2 in the keg, it tasted amazing. Roasty, Malty, Smooth. I did not take a final gravity reading on that batch because I was busy and just "assumed" it was completely fermented after 1 week primary and 2 weeks secondary. After I forced carbed it, it tasted a little heavy and was a little sweet. Uh Oh....incomplete or slow fermentation , But I loved it!

After a trip out of town for 10 days, I came home and the beer had completely changed for the worse(it is 6 weeks old now). Most of the Maltiness and residual sweetness was gone. I was left with about 1 gallon of almost tasteless beer. Good thing I chugged it down when it was young!

I think it boils down to being a recipe that needs to be tweaked to have more of what I liked so it will age out a little better. Add a little carapils, or lactose. Or maybe swap yeast to one with lower attenuation so it leaves a little more unfermented malt. I used White labs California Ale because I had it handy....i should have used an English or European Yeast which brings out more Maltiness. Of course increasing the amount of steeped grains is a definate.

This is what our hobby is all about. Trial and error. Sometimes a goof-up will steer you in the right direction!:rockin:

Keep on Brewing! But remember to always check your gravity before you pitch the yeast, and check it again before you move it to the secondary, then do not bottle it until the gravity stays the same for 3 days. If the gravity stays the same for 2 days but it is too high......Shake the fermentor to try to get the fermentation going again. Or repitch yeast to try to finish it off.

Not taking gravity readings is like not checking a condom for leaks.....sooner or later it is bound to cause you problems.

hey thanks for your insights. I'm sure that's what I'm experiencing. When I discovered the beer going that way, I stuck them all in the fridge. hopefully it slowed it down a bit. I'm gonna get to drinkin, real fast like. I find that now with this current batch I have going, a pale ale, that I have much more patience to let it do what it's suppossed to do. I have high hopes for it. and I have definitley learned from this one. And I'm not even close to giving up. I'm gonna be brewing a winter ale this weekend.

dougjones31 said:

Without taking gravity readings you do not know for sure that the brew was completely fermented...The beer may have not been completly fermented when you put it in the bottle...I am speaking from experience...and just "assumed" it was completely fermented...Trial and error...remember to always check your gravity before you pitch the yeast, and check it again before you move it to the secondary, then do not bottle it until the gravity stays the same for 3 days. If the gravity stays the same for 2 days but it is too high......Shake the fermentor to try to get the fermentation going again. Or repitch yeast to try to finish it off...Not taking gravity readings is like not checking a condom for leaks.....sooner or later it is bound to cause you problems.

Click to expand...

Sounds like a PRO-hydrometer commercial. I love it!