Indentifying Off Flavor

Recipe:

2.00 lb Amber Dry Extract
3.00 lb Pale Liquid Extract
1.50 oz Cascade [8.50 %] (60 min)
0.60 oz Cascade [8.50 %] (15 min)
SafAle S-05

For a few weeks it had this awful aftertaste. I've noticed it is starting to subside. I couldn't figure out what it was for a while or even how to describe it. Last night, however, I swished up the sediment left in the bottle and tasted it - that is the flavor that has been tainting the rest of the beer. I am very careful when I pour but for some reason this flavor has seeped into the rest of the beer. Why is it doing this and how do I stop it from happening again?

All that you had wrong with your beer was that it was green...The "off" flavors are there in the beginning, then they SETTLE DOWN into the yeast...They don't taint your beer they clear out of your beer....

That's why you noticed the beer tasting better over time...

It's called "Bottle Conditioning" it takes a minimum of 3 weeks @ 70 degrees before the beer is fully carbed and condition...Sometimes longer depending on the style....

Read this thread... https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=54362

Or at least this post...https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showpost.php?p=558191&postcount=101

Makes sense - I guess I was a little confused because it has been in bottles for about 6 weeks and I'm still tasting it some. I would have thought with such a simple recipe 3 weeks would have been plenty of time. So I was starting to think there were other causes.

Logan said:

Makes sense - I guess I was a little confused because it has been in bottles for about 6 weeks and I'm still tasting it some. I would have thought with such a simple recipe 3 weeks would have been plenty of time. So I was starting to think there were other causes.

Click to expand...

Beer is alive, therefore it has it's own agenda...All we have are rough guestaments as to when it is drinkable...I've had stouts and Porters that have taken a couple months...

How clear was it when you bottled? How long had it been in the clearing tank (secondary)?

If the beer was cloudy with yeast when you bottled, it will take some time to settle out. S-05 leaves a very clean flavor, but the sediment is pretty bitter, as you found out.

I bottled right from primary - I'm not really sure how clean it was.

So is the time it is taking to clear up a result of my yeast choice?

If you're just using a primary, any less than 3 weeks is too young to bottle. Next batch give it enough time to settle out before bottling. Also, the darker and/or higher gravity the beer is, the longer it will need to age.

Logan said:

I bottled right from primary - I'm not really sure how clean it was.

So is the time it is taking to clear up a result of my yeast choice?

Click to expand...

No, that's just your impatience. US-05 is a pretty fast working, well flocculating yeast. RDWHAHB and give it a few more weeks.

I've bottled from the primary many times after the beer drops mostly clear. As long as you don't disturb the trub, it works fine.