Malto-dextrine powder, over the hill?

I was 3 degrees under my desired mash temp in doing my 70 Shilling, and so to compensate for lost body, I reached for a 10-year old, half-empty packet of Malto-Dextrine powder I had laying around.

The beer is only 7 days old. As usual, I sampled after racking to the keg. The beer finishes with a nice malt character, and I’m very happy with the medium-full body. However, there’s a slight battery-acid sort of ‘zing’ right at the start. Kind of like the attack on the front of the tongue you get from over-carbing. Not so much a flavor as it is a sensation. It seems to be accentuated when I swish it in my mouth. It eventually fades into the regular malt flavor, but it is noticeable at the start.

On the off chance anyone regularly uses 10-year old ingredients stored in opened packaging, might the 4 ounces of elderly malto-dextrine powder be to blame?

Certainly could be, but odds are it is just some young/green flavor. Give it a few weeks and hopefully it will go away. If you have any more of the malto-dextrin left you could boil it with some water and see how it tastes.

Oldsock said:

Certainly could be, but odds are it is just some young/green flavor. Give it a few weeks and hopefully it will go away. If you have any more of the malto-dextrin left you could boil it with some water and see how it tastes.

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Thanks for chiming in, Oldsock.

I’m hoping you’re right, and that it’s something that will dissipate with a little time spent in the keg.

No more MD-powder left, though. I tossed in all that I had. I really should have at least tasted it raw before using it, like the narcotic cops do with cocaine on TV. What’s more, my LHBS is literally only 1 block away, so I have absolutely no excuse for my actions and I probably deserve to drink all 5 gallons of battery-acid malty yumminess alone. Curse my lazy human condition!!

I made an Irish Red a couple months ago and it had a similar thing going on when it was young. I'd like to think these two styles are kinda similar. It was this weird little citrus peel bitterness that really aggravated the entire flavor of the beer. It went away after about 10 days in the keg, and once again affirmed that I'm a young-drinkin' beer perv.

kanzimonson said:

I made an Irish Red a couple months ago and it had a similar thing going on when it was young. I'd like to think these two styles are kinda similar. It was this weird little citrus peel bitterness that really aggravated the entire flavor of the beer. It went away after about 10 days in the keg, and once again affirmed that I'm a young-drinkin' beer perv.

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That's right. Lock those red Irish youngins away in a dark, cold place for a few weeks, THEN take them out and enjoy them the way a man should...

You DISGUST me, kanzimonson! Foul, filthy fiend!!!

Thanks for the hopeful remarks though. Cheers!

Sounds young. What yeast?

Wyeast scottish.

Sampled again and it's still present, but diminished. Feeling better.

Same yeast I used. 3 months later it still has that same hint of flavor you speak of.

FWIW, I fermented nice and cool @ 60 F, so it should not be a reaction to extreme ferm temps.

Anyway, it's tasting a lot better. Actually, I should say it's feeling a lot better, since it was never a 'taste' thing to begin with. This is a 70 shilling @ 3.3% ABV, so there's no way it's going to see the light of day 3 months from now.

I did, however, harvest the Scottish slurry to ferment an Imperial (hoppy) Red, which seems to be wrapping up now after 5 days in the primary, also @ 60 F. I'll probably take a gravity reading and sample of that tonight, and see if I can detect that same sensation through the wall of hops.

Mine was 4.5% and it still has a weird twang to it. It could be the 2oz of Peat Malt I used... I doubt I will ever use it again, not a nice flavor.

Post up your recipe if you don't mind.

boostsr20 said:

Post up your recipe if you don't mind.

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Not at all. This is the exact recipe:

5.25 lbs Maris Otter
2 lbs Munich 20L
4 oz Crystal 80
4 oz Crystal 120
2 oz Roasted Barley
4.5 oz Malto dextrine powder
0.80 oz US Fuggles (5.1%)
Mashed @ 154

OG was 1.038, so adjust the MO base until you hit that target.

Anyway, it's tasting just fine now. Every once in a while I think I detect that same sensation, but I think that's just my brain playing tricks on me. Nobody down at my LHBS could detect it.

Sorry to hear about your twang.

I definitely did not get any of that same thing from the "Double American Amber" I brewed using the harvested yeast, so I declare the yeast innocent. Whatever it was in mine, it seems to have resolved with some time and temp. Still, the scare was enough for me that I don't think I'll be using any 12-year old ingredients anymore, just in case.

Here is mine. I think I'll try your recipe out. Must be the combination of the Peat and Rye that I'm not liking in this one. It has a really smoky flavor that just stays with you. The twang type flavor I was getting is finally gone after just over 2 months since primary.
Amount Item Type % or IBU
8 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (1.8 SRM) Grain 81.97 %
8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) Grain 5.12 %
4.0 oz Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 2.56 %
4.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (80.0 SRM) Grain 2.56 %
4.0 oz Chocolate Rye Malt (250.0 SRM) Grain 2.56 %
4.0 oz Coffee Malt (150.0 SRM) Grain 2.56 %
2.1 oz Peat Smoked Malt (2.8 SRM) Grain 1.33 %
2.1 oz Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM) Grain 1.33 %
1.00 oz Goldings, East Kent [7.20 %] (50 min) Hops 25.7 IBU
1.00 oz Fuggles [5.10 %] (10 min) Hops 3.9 IBU
1 Pkgs Scottish Ale (Wyeast Labs #1728) Yeast-Ale

boostsr20 said:

4.0 oz Chocolate Rye Malt (250.0 SRM) Grain 2.56 %
4.0 oz Coffee Malt (150.0 SRM) Grain 2.56 %
2.1 oz Peat Smoked Malt (2.8 SRM) Grain 1.33 %

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I'm not familiar with the first two in this list, so I can't speak from experience, but that combo sounds like it might be to blame for some clashing flavors.

Anyway, if you're interested in doing mine, I've updated the recipe in my post above to the exact numbers. For the record, I think next time I'd bump the proportion of crystal malts just a wee bit. Up there, it's 6.5% crystal. I might swap out some Maris Otter and bump the crystal up to about 8%. It's a good, malt-forward beer, but I'd like just a little more flavor.