Vladens
Member
Hello!
I've done a good bit of searching on this forums, and have found threads that touch similar subject, but don't answer the questions I have...
Problem:
Few of my recent batches had unpleasant bitter aftertaste. The best comparison I could think of is the smell of yeast sediment in the bucket after primary fermentation of a hoppy beer (hops ad diretly to wort, no bag). Somewhat yeasty & kinda bitter. That taste comes very soon after swallowed and I feel on the back of the tongue.
I first noticed it in one batch of saison which I had dry-hopped just slightly. It was my first experience dry-hopping, and I attributed this problem to my inexperience. Recently I made another saison and rye-beer; no dry-hopping. Same issue with saison as before, and rye - same issue except multiply the unpleasant factor by 5.
First taste is ok, doesn't feel as if it was contaminated, not sour, but unpleasant after swallowed.
Question:
I see a lot of you were addressing question about water, fermentation temperatures, mashing etc. I still have to work on my water adjustments, temperature control for fermentation and on my mashing techniques.
# mashing - I'm new to all-grain, and mash in a cooler adjusting temperatures by adding increasingly warmer water (infusion method I guess?)
# fermentation - keep them in basement at around 65F (+/-5), still need to build a temp controlled chamber. As far as length of time - most of the beers that are not particularly high gravity I do total of 3 weeks before kegging (either 1 week primary/ 2 secondary or 2 weeks primary / 1 secondary)
# water - use tap water, and have not researched yet how, when and why should I adjust
I've brewed easily easily over 20 batches since I started a year ago (all-grain only this summer, maybe 5-7 batches). Most of these processes/variables that are mentioned above have not changed. Yet 3 batches had this problem.
OK, real question now
Can it be my equipment that spoils the taste? I haven't replaced my plastic buckets yet. I remember hearing somewhere that they should be replaced after a while, just don't know how long....
I usually clean my buckets, carboys and kegs well with dish soap and sanitize with Star San. Could it be because I dry-hopped my IPA in the plastic bucket? (BTW - it was Two Hearted Ale clone, and turned out awesome!).
Also kind of important detail I think - I tried my rye beer (first personal recipe) before kegging it, and I'm pretty sure it did not have this problem. Now it's almost undrinkable.
Let me know if I need to provide some other detail about my process, but I'm really leaning more towards a problem with equipment at this point. I wish I would've kept track of of what bucket I used for what beer; maybe I could've pointed right away if bad beer comes from same bucket?!
I have 2 plastic buckets, 2 glass & 2 plastic carboys, and 5 kegs.
I've done a good bit of searching on this forums, and have found threads that touch similar subject, but don't answer the questions I have...
Problem:
Few of my recent batches had unpleasant bitter aftertaste. The best comparison I could think of is the smell of yeast sediment in the bucket after primary fermentation of a hoppy beer (hops ad diretly to wort, no bag). Somewhat yeasty & kinda bitter. That taste comes very soon after swallowed and I feel on the back of the tongue.
I first noticed it in one batch of saison which I had dry-hopped just slightly. It was my first experience dry-hopping, and I attributed this problem to my inexperience. Recently I made another saison and rye-beer; no dry-hopping. Same issue with saison as before, and rye - same issue except multiply the unpleasant factor by 5.
First taste is ok, doesn't feel as if it was contaminated, not sour, but unpleasant after swallowed.
Question:
I see a lot of you were addressing question about water, fermentation temperatures, mashing etc. I still have to work on my water adjustments, temperature control for fermentation and on my mashing techniques.
# mashing - I'm new to all-grain, and mash in a cooler adjusting temperatures by adding increasingly warmer water (infusion method I guess?)
# fermentation - keep them in basement at around 65F (+/-5), still need to build a temp controlled chamber. As far as length of time - most of the beers that are not particularly high gravity I do total of 3 weeks before kegging (either 1 week primary/ 2 secondary or 2 weeks primary / 1 secondary)
# water - use tap water, and have not researched yet how, when and why should I adjust
I've brewed easily easily over 20 batches since I started a year ago (all-grain only this summer, maybe 5-7 batches). Most of these processes/variables that are mentioned above have not changed. Yet 3 batches had this problem.
OK, real question now
Can it be my equipment that spoils the taste? I haven't replaced my plastic buckets yet. I remember hearing somewhere that they should be replaced after a while, just don't know how long....
I usually clean my buckets, carboys and kegs well with dish soap and sanitize with Star San. Could it be because I dry-hopped my IPA in the plastic bucket? (BTW - it was Two Hearted Ale clone, and turned out awesome!).
Also kind of important detail I think - I tried my rye beer (first personal recipe) before kegging it, and I'm pretty sure it did not have this problem. Now it's almost undrinkable.
Let me know if I need to provide some other detail about my process, but I'm really leaning more towards a problem with equipment at this point. I wish I would've kept track of of what bucket I used for what beer; maybe I could've pointed right away if bad beer comes from same bucket?!
I have 2 plastic buckets, 2 glass & 2 plastic carboys, and 5 kegs.