Green apple?

I'm trying to pin-point why my lighter beers seem to have a green apple taste. The few IPA's I've done turn out nearly perfect, it's just the lighter beers I brew. I brewed a Boddingtons Pub Ale clone from AHS, and most recently the Lefse Blonde from Northern Brewer. The blonde is still fairly green. It was in primary for 3 weeks and 3 weeks in secondary. It's been bottled for 2 weeks today. The Boddingtons was around the same primary and secondary, but it's been bottled for a month now. The green apple taste (and alcohol taste) is so strong in it that I'm not able to really enjoy it. I figured I'd let it sit for another month or so before trying another. What prompted me to ask the question is the blonde has the same alcohol and green apple taste. Both beers are very sweet smelling as well. I also thought it might be the priming sugar, but for the BPA I used coopers drops, and the blonde I used table sugar.

These were both extract kits. The blonde had belgian candi sugar in it, the boddingtons used a table syrup. Could these cause the off flavors? Both beers sat at a steady 65 - 68 during fermentation.

I'm sure I'm missing info many need to properly determine the cause so please ask if I've not covered enough.

Thanks!

Does it get better or worse with time?

Honestly with the BPA I've not noticed it getting better or worse, it's just a strong alcohol taste with that green apple after taste. The Blonde is still new so can' say with it.

I brewed Northern Brewers Warrior IPA a week after the Lefse blonde. I didn't secondary it, but bottled it the same time as the blonde. The IPA is downright amazing, the blonde has the off tastes I described. I used the same method to brew both so I'm at a loss where it's coming from.

Acetaldehyde is the cause of the green apple flavor. It can be created by taking the beer off the yeast too soon, or getting some oxygen into the beer that oxidizes the alcohol back to acetaldehyde. I wonder if it is caused by underpitching or yeast not having enough nutrients. Lighter beers will show the defect more readily than darker beers due to the lighter flavors.

By the way, I would suggest the Boddy's is pretty old now, it's a beer that should be able to be brewed, conditioned and at it's best in about a month, in my opinion, but then I like young beers. With out the green apple flavor that is.

It is possible that adding the sugars instead of more malt could stress the yeast due to lack of nutrients. Do you add a yeast nutrient to you kit beers? Are you pitching enough yeast? What yeast are you using? These answers may help pin down the issue.

I just opened another Boddy's. First since last weekend. It was so bad that I just dumped the glass. A very sweet, alcohol laced green apple taste. The Blonde isn't THAT bad. So I think it's getting worse.

With the Boddy I did use a yeast nutrient, the one AHS has in their kits. The yeast used was Wyeast British Ale 1098.

The Blonde I didn't use a nutrient, the yeast was Wyeast 1762 Belgian Abby 2.

Thinking about it now I'm thinking I racked off the yeast with both at 2 weeks, I'd have to check my notes to be sure, but would 2 weeks be too soon? I know 3-4 is better.

I'm using a starter with all my brews now, but both packs swelled nicely within 12 hours of brewing.

2nd bottle of Blonde is better, I'm racking that one up to being green, especially after tasting the boddy's earlier. I'm thinking the Boddy's is toast, just curious what caused it.

Well I tried another Boddy today...still horrible. I normally would let it sit, but needed bottles. This beer would be gone if it tasted good....so she's dumped...and now my Pumpkin Ale is conditioning away in the once wasteland of the boddy clone.

HoosierDaddyBrew said:

Well I tried another Boddy today...still horrible. I normally would let it sit, but needed bottles. This beer would be gone if it tasted good....so she's dumped...and now my Pumpkin Ale is conditioning away in the once wasteland of the boddy clone.

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I didn't see which yeast strain you used for the Boddy's clone, but it's possible that it's a stressed yeast issue. Usually green apple flavor is simply young beer, but if it doesn't improve in a week or two, then I'd consider yeast stress (underpitching and/or high temperatures) and yeast strain as possible culprits.

Yooper said:

I didn't see which yeast strain you used for the Boddy's clone, but it's possible that it's a stressed yeast issue. Usually green apple flavor is simply young beer, but if it doesn't improve in a week or two, then I'd consider yeast stress (underpitching and/or high temperatures) and yeast strain as possible culprits.

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I used Wyeast British Ale 1098 on the Boddy. In fact the one I ordered with the kit arrived cooked from the July heat so I drove an hour to my LBS and got another. I smacked it in the parking lot for the ride home. An hour drive along with the 2 hours to brew it made the pack swell nicely. It could be a stressed yeast, I know it was totally undrinkable.