Beer becomes worse after bottling

[chungking]

This is just something I've been noticing with some of my beers. And it only seems to happen with my extract batches. My all grains taste great. At bottling time, I of course try some, and they all taste and smell great. However, after a weeks in the bottle, they seem to develop this certain smell and taste, which I am pretty sure i can attribute to being extract "twang". Cause none of my all grains have it. My bottling clean process is pretty standard each time. Run the dishwasher on high heat and sanitize.

So for extract, does the twang get worse with age? Why does it taste good at bottling time, but taste worse when the beer is ready? Anyone else notice it? Maybe it's cause I've been drinking all grain for the past 6 months...

 

[trogdor447]

If your procedures are all the same etc - do you sample your beer before you flip it into the bottle? As you said all grain for 6 months, your buds are expecting a different flava flav. If it were me I would be sampling at each step just to see if it was 'twangy' before bottle.

 

[chungking]

That's what I'm saying. It tasted real good at bottling time, had good hop aroma, not too bitter, but not sweet. No twangy ness. But they have been bottle conditioning for 3 weeks, so I decided to test one. It had that twang that I remember from my previous extract batches. I knew it as soon as I smelled it. The hop aroma had dropped and it just had that extract smell. The taste was a little harsh, kind of like a bitterness bite that lingered in the throat after you swallowed. But you could definitely tell this one was a Homebrew. My all grains are hard to tell if it was a Homebrew or not.

It's not a show stopper, but its making me lean toward sticking with all grain. Even if it adds an extra couple hours to brew day...

 

[ArcaneXor]

It's probably a simple matter of conditioning - the extract flavor doesn't increase, it's other flavors that decrease in intensity, making the extract stand out more.

Consider switching to DME instead of LME, using Pilsen instead of Golden/Pale extract, using late extract additions, partial mashing, reducing your boil intensity, etc. to reduce this flavor.

 

[flars]

Do your extract batches seem to have more cabonation than the all grain batches?

 

[chungking]

Do your extract batches seem to have more cabonation than the all grain batches?

Yeah, a little bit. My all grains tend to take longer to carb up for some reason. I used gold extract from Midwest. I used about 1/3 at 60 minutes, then the remainder at around 10 minutes.

 

[flars]

It is possible you are getting some cabonation bite if the extract recipes are more carbonated. Another possibility is water chemistry. If you adjust your mash pH, but use regular water for an extract full boil or topping off a partial boil, this may allow for some taste difference to become noticeable.

 

[chungking]

I use the same water every time no matter what im doing. It could be carbonation bite, however does this have a certain smell? Like I said, I knew as soon as I smelled it it had that extract smell to it. And ten the taste confirmed it.