American Brown Ale Critique/Smell

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bucknutbrew

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I have an off smell/taste in my beer that I can't quite describe.

Morebeer American Brown Ale.
Recipe
7lbs Ultralight LME

Yeast = Safale S-04

Steeping Grains
8 oz crystal 60L
8 oz Honey Malt
4 oz Chocolate

Hops
1 oz Glacier (bittering) boiled 60 minutes
2 oz Glacier (Flavoring) 5 minutes
1 oz Cascade (Aroma) 1 minute

Whirlfloc (last 5 minutes)
4 oz priming sugar at bottling

bottled 12/13
put case in the refrigerator on 12/27

Final gravity 1.10
I carefully added the sugar at the very end (i should have added sooner). I let it sit a couple of hours in the bottling bucket (covered) before bottling.

The beer tastes okay at this point, but there is definitely a smell that shouldn't be there and I can taste something "off". I know that someone is going to ask me more about the specific smell. I know it is not the bandaid smell.

I used tap water and added a campden tablet.

The beer doesn't have a lot of foam but is carbed.

Thanks, Gary
 
First off, relax. You said it tastes good, and we believe you. My beer always tastes like beer to me. Second, as the mighty Rev stated, it will heal itself. Third, your recipe looks pretty solid. As long as you are a sanitation droid this beer will be the libation of your dreams after a yoda-like meditation.

Sorry, my son is beating me over the head with his star-wars christmas presents, but you get the point.
 
What did he get, lightsaber?

Pfft.. He's had the light saber for a few years. Last year it was the AT-AT, the long-legged walker thing. This year it was another AT-something. They keep the movies and cartoons coming and pump the toys out to go along with it. I've watched the newer movies with him, but I still ask questions about the toys that he wants. I wasn't into star wars when I was young, just a transformers/GI-Joe/He-Man guy. Guess I should have paid more attention.
 
Will it matter that I refrigerated half of the batch after 14 days....meaning, can the beer heal while being refrigerated?

I was just concerned because I was reading about the extract twang, but I don't think that this is my case.
 
I am new to this, but from my reading and re-reading of brewing books and lurking around this forum, I think cold-conditioning is a good way to smooth out your beer, even after bottling. If you have let it carb up already, then run a test with it and see what happens to the chilled stuff and the stuff at room temp. then let us know how it went.
 
Cold condition can clear up the beer and aid final carbonation, but initial bottle ocnditioning should be around 70 degrees for up to three weeks...
 
How was your temperature during fermentation?

I had some clove flavor that I didn't want one time in a regular blonde ale which mellowed out a lot with age but is still noticeable. It wasn't a flavor I was really familiar with so I was worried something went wrong. Revvy called me a noob though and everything turned out ok.
 
It was in carboy for 4 weeks around 66 degrees. I really have been racking my brain trying to figure out what the smell is...I know that I've smelt something similar before, but it is nothing on the link provided above.
 
So you made an excellent beer, except for an "off" aroma?? It looks like you handled it well. Your recipe looks sound. Maybe some more time will heal it. Don't get too wound up about making it perfect. The pros don't always hit one out of the park either. I've had two beers from local micros that had MAJOR fermentation byproducts from their brewpub taps. The Bell's hefe-wiezen really suprised me with how gawd awful it was. It tasted just like my primary smells after racking with NO cleaning. The (Fat Tire type) amber at the Dark Horse Brewery tonight had a nasty sulpher aroma. Both of these breweries make some great beers.
 
I just want to report back that all ended well. Time was what the beer needed. I am drinking a glass at the moment and the smell is gone. I would recommend the Morebeer American Brown Ale.

Currently I am waiting for Grape and Granary Belgian Wit to cool so that I can pitch the yeast
 
I just want to report back that all ended well. Time was what the beer needed. I am drinking a glass at the moment and the smell is gone. I would recommend the Morebeer American Brown Ale.

Currently I am waiting for Grape and Granary Belgian Wit to cool so that I can pitch the yeast

glad to hear it, i am also doing a B3 beer and waiting. My question is did your beer have a decent head to it?
 
I refrigerated a 12 pack after two weeks and they still don't have much head (bottled Jan 13). The beers that were at room temp for 3 weeks have a good head to them. I have no idea why.

I started my next batch, a belgian wit from Grape and Granary and I think that I am going to put a few in the refrigerator after 2 weeks to see if the same thing happens. I may just repeat a recipe to see if I can achieve some sort of consistency.
 
The beers you put in the fridge early aren't as carbed because it's too cold for the yeast to be very active. Take them out for a couple weeks and they should finish up.

Ales are probably best aged cool...the mythical "cellar temperature". My basement is in the 60's all year, low 60's during winter so it's good.
 

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