Help in identifying off flavor...

[PistolaPete]

All my recent batches have been turning out great. I usually use put together my own recipes with help from the "Brewing Classics Styles" book. I usually do extract w/ grains or partial mash brews. Since we now carry Homebrew supplies where I work I brewed a Brewer's Best Red Ale kit about 12-13 days ago. The idea was to brew a kit we sell and keg it and give out free samples to get people excited about brewing themselves. I did a gravity test last night to make sure everything is on track, and it tasted weird! It could be described as a type of green apple (acetaldehyde) or metal kind of taste. Def had a "twang" to it. There is no weird smell, only a slight beer smell. Since the kit ingredients are quite different than what I usually use I can only assume it's the ingredients. (I usually use liquid yeast vs dry yeast this time, usually plastic extract containers vs metal extract cans this time) I usually let the beer sit 3 weeks in the primary, so I will wait the full 3 weeks with this one as well to see if the weird taste clears up. The sample did seem to have some carbonation still, do you think it just needs to condition another week or did something go wrong?

 

[eobie]

What yeast did you use. Irish ale yeast has a very narrow temperature range.

 

[duboman]

Green apple, acetaldehyde is the sign of a young beer that just needs more time to condition. The CO2 has probably not fully saturated the beer yet so give it some time to fully condition.

BTW, not sure of the liquor laws there but if you are planning on handing out free samples at your store you might be best to do some research first and be sure it's legal

 

[Mojzis]

Sounds like acetaldehyde. Let it sit for a while longer...

 

[PistolaPete]

What yeast did you use. Irish ale yeast has a very narrow temperature range.

It was the Nottingham that comes w/ the kit. It was no where close to the expiration date and the gravity has dropped to finishing levels.

 

[DrawTap88]

Check the expiration date on those cans of LME. If there is a metalic taste, in addition to the green apple, I'd bet that's where it came from.

 

[ktblunden]

BTW, not sure of the liquor laws there but if you are planning on handing out free samples at your store you might be best to do some research first and be sure it's legal

I was thinking the same thing. It's one thing to hand out samples of your homebrew yourself, but you could risk a lot doing it as a business.

 

[PistolaPete]

Ok, thanks guys! I threw out the cans already but I will look into the alcohol laws.

 

[cosmo]

Do you have a water report? I live in Central Florida also and have much better luck with RO filtered water rather than tap water, even though my tap water tastes great. I would guess your water might be similar. I suspect it is due to high alkalinity. Also, I have found that using hop sacks to keep all of the hop matter out of the fermenter also improves the flavor. These two things helped me get rid of a kind of astringent flavor I was getting in my extract batches. Also, going to all-grain helped improve flavor for me also. Good luck.

 

[PistolaPete]

Do you have a water report? I live in Central Florida also and have much better luck with RO filtered water rather than tap water, even though my tap water tastes great. I would guess your water might be similar. I suspect it is due to high alkalinity. Also, I have found that using hop sacks to keep all of the hop matter out of the fermenter also improves the flavor. These two things helped me get rid of a kind of astringent flavor I was getting in my extract batches. Also, going to all-grain helped improve flavor for me also. Good luck.

I always use bottled spring water and hop bags. My previous batches have come out great and the only thing I did different (besides the ingredients) is try a sample at around day 12-13. Usually I don't sample it until around day 19-20 right before bottling on day 21. So maybe the beer is just still "green". I will know more at the end of this week when do another sample and it will be almost 3 weeks in the primary.

 

[cosmo]

Yep. Green beer would be my guess in this case. Although, you may be getting unwanted minerals from the spring water. Hard to tell. It's usually safer to use RO or distilled water. The extract should have all the minerals you need.