I have awful taste buds but this is the best way I can describe it. It's kind of grassy, like in a bitter and green sort of way. I've had this flavor in almost every batch of beer I've brewed since I started kegging in September. Sometimes it goes away after 2-3 weeks, sometimes it doesn't. One suggestion from a LHBS owner was to fix my fermentation temperatures, so I brewed twice more before Christmas - once using Omega Labs Hothead yeast, and once using my keezer for temperature control. The Hothead batch is kegged right now, but I didn't taste any of it so not sure if this flavor is there. The other was a Vienna/Mosaic beer, that i just put in the freezer to cold crash. I drank my gravity sample, and it was good but this flavor is still there. Where should I be looking? Infection? Hop schedules? This is across multiple different batches, although usually all lighter beers like IPAs, pale ales, or blondes.
Has anyone successfully gotten rid of a common "grassy" flavor?
- Thread starter vance
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Let's start at the beginning: what was the recipe for your Vienna/Mosaic batch?
fwiw, I use Mosaic all the time and have never gotten grassy notes from it...
Cheers!
fwiw, I use Mosaic all the time and have never gotten grassy notes from it...
Cheers!
Here's what I brewed last Wednesday:
12.5# Mosaic
1 oz Warrior @ 60
.5 oz Mosaic @ 20
.5 oz Mosaic @ 10
1 oz Mosaic @ 0
Fermented with White Labs SF Lager yeast - I've done this before, with good results. Pitched 3 packets, fermented with my freezer set at 54F for 6 days I think. Took it out of the fridge this past Wednesday, let it finish at room temperature (probably ~70) till today.
With that hop schedule it's hard to see where the opportunity for "grassy" notes could occur.
That's usually associated with dry hopping for too long at too high a temperature.
Are you sure you're tasting "grass"?
Cheers!
That's usually associated with dry hopping for too long at too high a temperature.
Are you sure you're tasting "grass"?
Cheers!
JONNYROTTEN
Well-Known Member
Oddly enough I made a Vienna/mosaic smash I'm drinking now that has the exact same grassy/green/bitter aftertaste and missing the sweet hop flavor.It was a split batch.One was a one day dryhop the other 5 days. Now that the keg is almost kicked after 8 days carbed on the one day dryhop the bad flavors are gone and the sweet flavor is there. Not sure why it took so long for this batch to come around. Second keg has been force carrbed and will be hitting soon for comparison.
No, not sure at all, but I have really bad taste buds and sensitivity to flavors so that's the best description I have of it.
It's probably from the flameout hop addition. It will probably settle out in about a month. Maybe a couple months. If you can be patient, I wouldn't worry much about it.
When I have had "grassy" flavors in beers, it has generally been in beers I was rushing a bit. The amount and type of hops you used seems very modest, so it is a bit odd that you would get grassiness to be honest.
Generally, I have found that hoppy beers I have tried to rush into the keg by day 9 or 10 come out harsher than beers I am just a bit more patient with ... day 12-14. (I am using a lot more hops and multiple dry hops too).
Also, perhaps the lager yeast is a bit slower going and needs more time to do its job. Do you have same problem with ale yeasts?
Another thought.... not grassy, but if there is something off with your mash pH (too high) that can make a beer astringent and come across as harsh....
Generally, I have found that hoppy beers I have tried to rush into the keg by day 9 or 10 come out harsher than beers I am just a bit more patient with ... day 12-14. (I am using a lot more hops and multiple dry hops too).
Also, perhaps the lager yeast is a bit slower going and needs more time to do its job. Do you have same problem with ale yeasts?
Another thought.... not grassy, but if there is something off with your mash pH (too high) that can make a beer astringent and come across as harsh....
Fermentation time and yeast health probably had something to do with it, to be honest. Now that I think about it... the other worst offender of this flavor was the time I made the Centennial Blonde recipe and also fermented it with SF Lager. Maybe that yeast just needs more time, or it enhances the hop bitterness more than an ale yeast. The two batches I've brewed since I made the first one with this flavor didn't taste good, but they didn't have quite the same feel and it settled out pretty fast.
I'm reasonably confident my pH was on point for this batch. I've gone to using RO + additions, although I don't have a pH meter. I usually use Bru'n water, but I'm still trying to figure that out completely with where my numbers should be at. For this past batch I went with the recommendation of my LHBS owner and used a product with pre-packaged additions instead of calculating it myself.
I'm reasonably confident my pH was on point for this batch. I've gone to using RO + additions, although I don't have a pH meter. I usually use Bru'n water, but I'm still trying to figure that out completely with where my numbers should be at. For this past batch I went with the recommendation of my LHBS owner and used a product with pre-packaged additions instead of calculating it myself.
This is possible, I get all my hops from one of two different stores near me. I'm not sure if they have dates marked on them, I'll remember to check next time.
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