Olive odor in finished beer

[dylan8405]

Please help! I'm not a beginner, but I'm having the same problem I had w/my first batch of beer.

I have brewed about 12 batches over 5 years or so.

My last two batches I have tried something different - Hoping to get a higher alcohol level, I have brewed an Oktoberfest Ale and a Winter Warmer with more extract than the recipes called for.

For my Oktoberfest, I used about 8 pounds of light malt extract (recipe said 6.5) and for the Winter Warmer I used 10 pounds of light malt (recipe said 6.5) and 1 pound of dried malt extract (recipe said 1). I used White Labs California Ale yeast for the Oktoberfest and Dry English Ale for the Winter Warmer. I also used Servomyces. They both fermented fine - each was about a week in the primary (airlock then hit 1 bubble a minute) and then a week in a secondary and then 2 weeks in the bottle. Both of the fermentations were somewhat warm - about 72 - 74 degrees or so. ABV on the Oktoberfest was 5.92% and 8.00% on the Winter Warmer.

MY PROBLEM ---

Both of these beers now have a very strong odor of green olives and they have a sour taste which gets stronger in the aftertaste. The beers are drinkable, but they are the worst smelling I have ever made.

What is causing the green olive smell/taste? Any ideas? Is it too much malt? The warm fermentation? The Servomyces? Problems with sanitation?

I feel like I'm losing my confidence because I have made plenty of good batches of beer and now I have two losers back-to-back.

Thanks!

-Dylan

 

[Zymurgrafi]

Several possibilities spring to mind.

Yes, fermentation is a bit too warm for starters. Extra extract is not necessarily a problem unless you are not pitching enough yeast to handle it.

What is your sanitation procedure? What are you fermenting in?

 

[dylan8405]

Several possibilities spring to mind.

Yes, fermentation is a bit too warm for starters. Extra extract is not necessarily a problem unless you are not pitching enough yeast to handle it.

What is your sanitation procedure? What are you fermenting in?

Wow..fast reply.

First ferment - plastic Better Bottle
Secondary - glass carboy

Santitation - Idaphor - 1 tablespoon in the 6 gal capacity carboys. The racking cane, beer thief, funnel, etc. go in a 15 gallon bucket with 3 tablespoons of Idaphor. The bottles go through the wash once with dishwashing soap and then once with no soap, with high temp water and hot air drying (aka I don't press the "air dry" button on the dishwasher).

The yeast was pitched straight from the white labs tubes. Maybe I'm being too picky. I just took another wiff of my glass of beer (Winter Warmer) and it kind of smells like burnt malt. Maybe I burned the malt when I added it.

My technique for adding malt - I steep the grains for 30 minutes in 2 gals of water, strain them out, boil the hops with one cup of malt for 60 minutes and then add the rest of the malt for the last 10 minutes of the boil. I've heard that this helps to cut down on malty flavors.

Thanks!

-dylan

 

[dylan8405]

I'm thinking that I burned the malt both times. I just took some more big whiffs of the beer and it's smelling like what I think that burnt malt would smell like, kind of like burnt toast a little bit.

Would that smell/tast mellow out with age?

 

[TexLaw]

I am trying to imagine the "green olives" aroma. Is it briny or salty? If so, I am not sure what you deal is, unless your water was loaded with sodium.

If you are thinking vinegar, which goes along with the sour taste, you may have a house infection. For that, I recommend changing out your stoppers and tubing and watching your sanitation.


TL

 

[dylan8405]

I am trying to imagine the "green olives" aroma. Is it briny or salty? If so, I am not sure what you deal is, unless your water was loaded with sodium.

If you are thinking vinegar, which goes along with the sour taste, you may have a house infection. For that, I recommend changing out your stoppers and tubing and watching your sanitation.


TL

After taking about 10 whiffs of the glass, I'm not really getting a vinegar or briny smell. I think that it's more more bitter, but not hoppy bitter. The best analogy I can get it that it tastes like burnt raisin bread, which is what I guess burnt malt would taste like.

My pot, which has an aluminium bottom, has dark brown burned malt stains on it. Would that impart any flavors in future batches?

 

[tetrylone]

I think you solved your own problem man.

 

[Revvy]

One possibilty is the dilution ratio of the iodophor...the current info from the BTF people (as of last december) is 1 TBS/5 Gallons I don't know what the extra gallon of water you are dilluting it with would do to the dillution ratio and efficacy of the iodophor as a sanitizer...

 

[dylan8405]

One possibilty is the dilution ratio of the iodophor...the current info from the BTF people (as of last december) is 1 TBS/5 Gallons I don't know what the extra gallon of water you are dilluting it with would do to the dillution ratio and efficacy of the iodophor as a sanitizer...

I always use a TB of the Idaphor. Maybe I'll add a smidge more just to be sure.

The beer itself has been palatable, but it's first whiff isn't so nice. It's drinkable (especially after having one), but that first smell always hits me.

I'm almost certain that I burned the malt in the first batch (the Oktoberfest) because I poured in the malt while the pot was still on the burner. I found out later that I shouldn't do that. D'oh!

I'm buying a grain bag today to use for the grain steeping. Hopefully that will help out with keeping my grain from burning during the hot soak process.

-Dylan

 

[thevalkrye]

you don't really need flame under the pot when you are doing your "hot soak". just get your water close to 160 put your grains in and let em sit for however long you need to.

as far as the extract goes..ya turn the burner off when you add that untill you get it mixed up nice.

what i was told about using Idaphor is that the mixing ratio is pretty important. i use a syringe to measure out the amount of idaphor. its really easy...less messy..and is more accurate.