English Bitter overripe fruit taste

[DDQ]

I thought I had nailed this all grain recipe. It has a rotten fruit nose, a slightly sour taste. I don't know if I'm trying to make it taste like something it's not.

crisp pale malt 9.5 lbs
Crisp crystal 60. 4 oz.
Dingmanns aromatic 4 oz.
weyerman roasted barley. 0.25 oz.

Warrior 6 aau 60 min
Challenger 0.5 oz 15 min
Fuggle 0.75 oz 5 min.

I hit my temps in the mash, batch sparged, cooled it to 65 F pitched a starter of White Labs Irish Ale yeast. Gave it 6 days at 67 F in primary and 7 days in secondary at 67 F. Kegged it and it's been in the kegerator for 35 days at 12 psi. This is the second bitter I have made that tastes this funky.

I've since read that 3 weeks or so in the primary should do, but not sure that is the source of this bad flavor.

Hope there's a simple answer. Getting a little discouraged. I'm gonna buy a couple of bitters and see if they are similar. Maybe I just don't like bitters!

 

[adamdillabo]

Were both bitters made with the same yeast? The specialty grains look a little light to me. I used much more in my 2.5 gallons bitter I just made.

Bitters tend to have a fruity flavor from the yeast maybe it's over powering from the lack of specialty grains.

 

[adamdillabo]

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=419766

This is what I brewed cut in half. So it wasn't that much more in mine but his calls for way more.

Also I've heard bitters produce a lot of diacityles(sp) maybe your getting some of this cause you racked off the trub after only a week.

Just want to say I'm still s total noob and have no clue what I'm talking about.

 

[Qhrumphf]

You might want to double the amount of Crystal malt. 5% crystal is a good formula for a Bitter.

You may also be one of those that doesn't like Fuggles hops. I enjoy them. Some people hate them. Try subbing the Fuggles for East Kent Goldings, and see if that helps. You could also try a different yeast, go with WLP002/Wyeast 1968 as a standard. I'm not as familiar with the other White Labs strains, but Wyeast 1469 is my go to (no WL equivalent), and Wyeast 1318 is good too (also no WL equivalent). I've used WLP023 before in a Bitter with good success, so that's worth trying too.

 

[DDQ]

Were both bitters made with the same yeast? The specialty grains look a little light to me. I used much more in my 2.5 gallons bitter I just made.

Bitters tend to have a fruity flavor from the yeast maybe it's over powering from the lack of specialty grains.

No, the previous batch was London Ale yeast. And no fuggles.

Thanks for the comments.

 

[DDQ]

Thanks for sharing the recipe Adamdillabo! I'm determined to brew a good bitter and that one sounds just right!

 

[DDQ]

Qhrumphf would you describe the fuggles as giving a stone fruit type of character, kind of fig-like?

 

[Qhrumphf]

Fig-like is one of the potential yeast esters. I like 1469, and its profile is kind of a blend of stone fruits and nuttiness.

Fuggles, I find very earthy. Some folks describe it tasting like dirt. Doesn't sound like what you're talking about, but I'm not tasting what you're tasting, and I know some folks hate Fuggles. Saw it on the recipe, figured I'd toss it out there.

 

[DDQ]

Qhrumphf would you describe the fuggles as giving a stone fruit type of character, kind of fig-like?

 

[McKnuckle]

Fuggles is earthy (you already got that response). I just made an English IPA with all Fuggle, including dry hopping. Won't be doing that again! Not horrible, but definitely a bit blah. It's not a fruity hop at all, or even spicy really. It's... earthy. Try using Kent Golding for your late addition hops, and save the Fuggle for bittering.

As Qhrumphf points out, stone fruit is a typical yeast ester.

 

[unionrdr]

I use an ounce of Northern Brewer @ 60 & 1oz of East Kent Golding @ 10 & 5 minutes. I also use a packet of S-04 rehydrated to ferment it. I get a nice balance between malts & hops with the S-04. The EKG seems to add nicely to the flavor/aroma with it's herbal/lemongrass qualities. Being a classic UK hop, I think it's appropo for the style.

 

[desabat]

My guess is that the beer was taken off primary too soon and the yeast that made it to the secondary was not enough to condition the beer in the normal amount of time. Give it more time to see if it improves.

 

[unionrdr]

+1. More time in primary would've helped. After FG is reached, the yeast then look for other things to eat. Namely, it's own by-products. This is how clean up happens. In my observations, typically in 3-7 days after FG is reached.