Problem: Honey Steam has a bad GrapeFruit/Citrus Taste?

So I brewed the Midwest Honey Steam Kit. 10 Days in the Primary, then 11 in the secondary. OG of 1.070 FG of 1.021. Bottled it and cracked one open at 2 weeks and there is a distinct Grapefruit taste that is not delicious at all. Wait another week and again Grapefruit taste (but not as harsh as before) Both beers are definitely carbed up and there was a nice head on both. Is this beer ruined, infected, or just not delicious? Thanks in advance for the help.

Is there a C hop addition in the recipe at all. Sure you added the hops at the right time.

Cascade is a grapefruit hop.. One of my faves!

And the problem is?



Ilove grapefruit in my IPA's.

Sounds about right to me. Delicious grapefruit!

A strong grapefruit/citrus taste that is fading with age sure sounds like one of the American hop varieties to me. So looking up the kit it uses Cascade hops. There is the grapefruit. Completely normal for that hop in moderate to high proportions.
A bit out of classic style for the beer which is commonly all Northern Brewer, which shows up as more of a spicy bitterness, but Midwest is likely just trying to shake things up a bit and get a fresh take on the style. If you really don't care for the grapefruit make a note of it and don't use Cascade in any kinda quantity in the future. In fact you may want to consider avoiding several of the typical American hops. Do you enjoy any IPA's at all? That may help you tell if you like the more common citrusy American hop varieties. As to the current beer the hop signature will continue to fade over time so you may have to just sit on that beer for a couple months till it fades some more.

Thanks for the help, definitely not an IPA fan. But its not like a traditional hop taste that you get from the California Beers (sierra nevada, anchor steam, etc.), there is a sweetness behind it that isnt enjoyable. Is my FG too high and i bottled too soon?

I will sit on these for a few more weeks-months, luckily the vienna lager I made tastes pretty good despite only being lagered in a cold Indiana garage. Also brewing a dead guy ale this weekend.

Hops that were used in the honey steam:
1 oz Northern Brewer bittering hops for 60 mins
1.5 oz cascade aroma hops for last 2 mins of boil

BMURDA said:

Thanks for the help, definitely not an IPA fan. But its not like a traditional hop taste that you get from the California Beers (sierra nevada, anchor steam, etc.), there is a sweetness behind it that isnt enjoyable. Is my FG too high and i bottled too soon?

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If your reading of 1.021 is correct, yes that sounds pretty high for the style and would definitely leave a good bit of sweetness behind. I would say for a steam beer you want to be more in the 1.012 - 1.014 area for a final gravity. It could be the recipe is designed to finish on the high end of that to leave a bit of sweetness for the honey to play off, but 1.021 still seems too high to me. Does the reipe predict a finishing gravity for the beer?

As to why the beer may have finished a bit to high on gravity there can be any of several reasons. The initial gravity of this beer was quite high at 1.070, so not pitching enough yeast can lead to under attenuation. What kind of yeast did the kit come with and did you make a starter?

Also fermenting at to low a temperature for the yeast can cause under attenuation, or pulling it from the primary too early. Did you verify fermentation was done at 10 days by verifying gravity was no longer dropping? Did you oxygenate the wort before pitching the yeast?

I used a Wyeast Smack Pack the temp was around 68-70 F. THe kit predicted a FG od 1.012-1.014. The predicted OG was 1,062-1.065, but mine was 1.070. The only oxygenation was mixing between buckets.