A couple concerns..

[Slider46]

This is my first "real" brew (extract and steeping grains) and only my second ever.

Brew day went fine except for my first boilover . I hit the estimated post-boil gravity and my US-05 was off and doing its thing within 24 hours. Its in my fermentation chamber which stays at a steady 60-62 degrees F.

Its been 1 week and I pulled off just enough to get a hydrometer reading. (Post boil gravity was 1.064 - gravity 1 week into fermenting is 1.020)

I have two small concerns.

1). My beer smells "apple-like". I can also smell the spices I added (a good thing) but the "apple smell" is present. Could this be because of the turbinado or is it just because it is very "green"?

2). I can't really smell any hops. I did the hop schedule correctly but I don't get much of a hop aroma from the sample. Is this because it is not yet carbonated and the CO2 is what carries the hop aroma up in a finished beer?

I know, I know, RDWHAHB (in my case, having a SBB ) but i'm just generally curious about the apple smell. (The hops I guess I can understand - it is after all not supposed to be a more malty, not hoppy beer)

Anyways, here's the recipe (is this even going to be a stout? seems a little light to me):

(2.5 Gallon Full Boil @ 50mins for 2 Gallon Batch Size)

2lbs 12oz Muntons Extra Light DME
5oz Quaker Quick Oats
5oz Chocolate Malt
4oz Crystal 80L
1oz Black (Patent) Malt
4oz Turbinado

Steep grains at 150 for 45m (in oven).
Rinse with 1gal of 170f water.
While raising to boil and add DME & Turbinado.
Start hops schedule at full boil.

Hops:

1/2 oz Willamette @ 50 mins
1/2 oz Hallertau @ 30 mins
1/2 oz Hallertau @ 5 mins


Spices:

1/2 Whirfloc Tablet @ 5 mins
3 cinnamon stick @ 5 mins
5 crushed allspice @ 0 mins
5 crushed clove @ 0 mins
0.2 oz ground ginger

Post-Boil: 1.064
1 Week: 1.020

 

[scrambledegg81]

Apple smells are usually an indication that your beer is "green" or young, or could be a by-product of the yeast. More likely, since it's only been a week in-bottle, it's much too young at this point. According to how-to-brew:

Acetaldehyde
A flavor of green apples or freshly cut pumpkin; it is an intermediate compound in the formation of alcohol. Some yeast strains produce more than others, but generally it's presence indicates that the beer is too young and needs more time to condition.

 

[Slider46]

Apple smells are usually an indication that your beer is "green" or young, or could be a by-product of the yeast. More likely, since it's only been a week in-bottle, it's much too young at this point. According to how-to-brew:

Acetaldehyde
A flavor of green apples or freshly cut pumpkin; it is an intermediate compound in the formation of alcohol. Some yeast strains produce more than others, but generally it's presence indicates that the beer is too young and needs more time to condition.

Thanks for the info! I actually have not bottled yet, just curious about the smell after being in the fermenter for only a week. It is obviously too young

 

[japhroaig]

a 1/2 of hallertau at 5 minutes is going to give you a delicate hop nose, even 2 gallons, it won't be in your face. it's likely the 'new beer' aromas are over powering it. as far as carbonation goes, no i don't think it increases the hop nose--in fact i personally think it does the opposite. regardless, don't fret, it will be what it is. if you like the recipe but find the hop nose lacking, dry hop a very small amount of hops into your next batch.

 

[Slider46]

a 1/2 of hallertau at 5 minutes is going to give you a delicate hop nose, even 2 gallons, it won't be in your face. it's likely the 'new beer' aromas are over powering it. as far as carbonation goes, no i don't think it increases the hop nose--in fact i personally think it does the opposite. regardless, don't fret, it will be what it is. if you like the recipe but find the hop nose lacking, dry hop a very small amount of hops into your next batch.

I'm betting it'll need another week and a half to fully finish fermenting. After that period I could taste it and maybe dry hop with a tiny bit of hallertau for a few days if necessary.

Also, it doesn't seem dark enough to be labeled a porter or even a stout. Closer to a brown ale perhaps? I guess the extra light DME contributes to that. Maybe next time i'll dry a medium or dark...

 

[dogma9]

both of my mrbeer batchs came out with the apple smell, but my 5 gallon batch from true brew smells like beer when i took a sample from it the other day. I have come up with 3 causes that fixed my problem

1. i didn't know you had to cool the wort down before adding yeast, cuz mr beer instructions suck, so i cooled wort down to 70 degrees this time.
2. i heard your water supply can cause off flavors, so i used spring water this time.
3. its something to do with the mr beer ingredients itself.

Also fermenting temps to high can cause the apple smell/taste, so i've tried to be even more careful this last go around and been keeping temps around 65-68, where they was prob in the 70's with mr beer.

so 4 things i did different lol

I'm gonna make my next mrbeer with spring water and cool the wort before adding yeast and keep temps cooler to try and eliminate the smell/taste. If that doesn't but yet my 5 gallons don't ever get this smell/taste then i know it's mrbeer ingredients.

also my first batch i fermented 2 weeks, been bottled 3 weeks today. so far over the 3 weeks i have drank 5 of my 8 liter bottles LOL and they all had the same apple taste no matter the age so far. doesn't seem to be getting weaker than the the one i opened after 4 days of being bottled

my 2nd mr beer batch i fermented for 2 weeks and took sample and got the same taste as first batch. So i left it another 5 days and it didn't help the smell/taste. so they have been bottled for 2 days now, so i'll see if the extra 5 days paid off in a few weeks i guess.

the weird thing is, 1st batch was cowboy lager. 2nd batch is west coast pale ale, but they smell and taste the same so far. at least by tasting a sample when bottling the other day. will tell if they taste the same after being bottle in a couple weeks.

 

[Slider46]

both of my mrbeer batchs came out with the apple smell, but my 5 gallon batch from true brew smells like beer when i took a sample from it the other day. I have come up with 3 causes that fixed my problem

1. i didn't know you had to cool the wort down before adding yeast, cuz mr beer instructions suck, so i cooled wort down to 70 degrees this time.
2. i heard your water supply can cause off flavors, so i used spring water this time.
3. its something to do with the mr beer ingredients itself.

Also fermenting temps to high can cause the apple smell/taste, so i've tried to be even more careful this last go around and been keeping temps around 65-68, where they was prob in the 70's with mr beer.

so 4 things i did different lol

I'm gonna make my next mrbeer with spring water and cool the wort before adding yeast and keep temps cooler to try and eliminate the smell/taste. If that doesn't but yet my 5 gallons don't ever get this smell/taste then i know it's mrbeer ingredients.

also my first batch i fermented 2 weeks, been bottled 3 weeks today. so far over the 3 weeks i have drank 5 of my 8 liter bottles LOL and they all had the same apple taste no matter the age so far. doesn't seem to be getting weaker than the the one i opened after 4 days of being bottled

my 2nd mr beer batch i fermented for 2 weeks and took sample and got the same taste as first batch. So i left it another 5 days and it didn't help the smell/taste. so they have been bottled for 2 days now, so i'll see if the extra 5 days paid off in a few weeks i guess.

the weird thing is, 1st batch was cowboy lager. 2nd batch is west coast pale ale, but they smell and taste the same so far. at least by tasting a sample when bottling the other day. will tell if they taste the same after being bottle in a couple weeks.

I gave up on Mr. Beer kits after the second one. Their instructions are pretty much the same for all their "different" types of beer. (They recommend the same amount of carbing sugar for a "creamy stout" as they do a lager. Ridiculous) I followed instructions to a T and used filtered water.

The problems I ran into were:

• Bad yeast on the first batch. Only got a few bubbles. I don't think it fully fermented so it tasted too sweet. Also, the "booster" is just corn sugar so you don't get much body. Carbonated, stale brown water is what I ended up with.
• The second recipe was a "premium" recipe using 2 cans of their LME (1 hopped, 1 unhopped) and a can of pureed cherries. Supposed to be a Cherry Brown Ale. After 20 days of fermentation it looked like vomit (the cherries never settled out) and smelled like it too. I took a tiny sip and spat it out - no hop flavor and a definite nasty apple cider flavor. I didn't even bottle that one. Why waste time and space on something that I was convinced was probably going to turn out mediocre at best - even after weeks or possibly months in the bottle?

I finally ordered some real DME and specialty grains and brewed this first "real" batch. Much more fun and more satisfying when you can see everything that goes into it rather than mixing nasty goop from a can and some sugar water.

I just wish I had a larger fermenter. Taking 3 or 4 hydro samples takes away two 12oz bottles. Thats a lot to me when I've only got 24 to begin with

Oh well. The larger fermenter will have to wait till I have more space and more money.

 

[Revvy]

It really is hard to judge a beer until it's been about 6 weeks in the bottle. Just because you taste (or smell) something in primary or secondary DOESN'T mean it will be there when the beer is fully conditioned (that's also the case with kegging too.)

The thing to remember though is that if you are smelling or tasting this during fermentation not to worry. During fermentation all manner of stinky stuff is given off (ask lager brewers about rotten egg/sulphur smells, or Apfelwein makers about "rhino farts,") like we often say, fermentation is often ugly AND stinky and PERFECTLY NORMAL.

It's really only down the line, AFTER the beer has been fermented (and often after it has bottle conditioned even,) that you concern yourself with any flavor issues if they are still there.

I think too many new brewers focus to much on this stuff too early in the beer's journey. And they panic unnecessarily.

A lot of the stuff you smell/taste initially more than likely ends up disappearing either during a long primary/primary & secondary combo, Diacetyl rests and even during bottle conditioning.

If I find a flavor/smell, I usually wait til it's been in the bottle 6 weeks before I try to "diagnose" what went wrong, that way I am sure the beer has passed any window of greenness.

Lagering is a prime example of this. Lager yeast are prone to the production of a lot of byproducts, the most familiar one is sulphur compounds (rhino farts) but in the dark cold of the lagering process, which is at the minimum of a month (I think many homebrewers don't lager long enough) the yeast slowly consumes all those compounds which results in extremely clean tasting beers if done skillfully.

Ales have their own version of this, but it's all the same. Time is your friend.