1st Not so good beer batch. Need help!

[aaronius79]

OK, I'm a fairly new homebrewer, but have enjoyed much success with my brews up until my most recent brew. I'm trying to figure out what went wrong. I'm thinking it was something with the yeast but thats where I need some advice sO, I can avoid this problem in the future.

Here is what I did

-- 8.0 lbs. Rahr 2-Row Pale
-- 1.0 lbs. Cara-amber
-- 0..25 lbs. Belgian Biscuit malt
-- 0..25 lbs. English Chocolate Malt

1 0z - Styrian golding hop pelletss (60 minute)
1 oz - Fuggles (20 minute)

Mashed for 60 minutes at 152 and mashed out for 10 at 170.

Yeast piched at about 75 degrees with S-04


Fermentation temps were around 66-68 degrees

stayed in primary for 2.5 weeks. then moved to bottling bucket. Bottle conditioned for 4 weeks.

The beer has this fairly strong tanginess to it that I can't quite make out but it's not pleasant. It kind of overpowers the flavor of the beer.

Am I tasting excessive esters? No real sign of an infection and my OG and FG were spot on ( 1.050 and 1.010 respectively).

I was going for a smooth tasting beer with an extra hint of hops and instead i got this "yeasty tanginess" that is off putting. It's drinkiable just not very good.

Advice please. Thank you guys.

 

[ericrichards420]

Sounds like you under pitched your yeast to me, was the wort still hot when you pitched? If it was dry yeast did you rehydrate? These things make a difference.

 

[aaronius79]

Hi, I pitched at about 75-77. According to the pitch calculator I used. I only underpitched slightly. The OG was 1.050 so not a big beer. It called for like 1.1 packs of S 04 which seemed like such a small difference didn't seem necessary to get an additional pack to only use a 10th of it. I did pitch it dry, but I always pitch dry and have never had a problem with yeasts like S 05 or Danstar Nottingham yeast. If 68 degrees is too hot for S-04 fermentation then maybe that was it cause I can't think of any other reason.

 

[JonM]

A lot of people don't like Fuggles just like some people don't like cilantro. Maybe you just discovered that you're a Fuggle hater?

My other thought is with a pound of cara-amber and the biscuit and chocolate might have been enough dark stuff to drive your mash pH down below the ideal 5.3-5.6 range. A low mash pH can make a twangy-ness.

EDIT: And some people don't like the particular esters that S-04 produces. Maybe try 1968/002 or something else next time you do an English style ale?

 

[Yooper]

I dislike S04 when it's fermented above about 64 degrees. It's pretty good in the low 60s, but any warmer and it gets weird, and it could be described as you described it- "yeast tanginess".

I would blame the yeast if it was pitched at 75 (it generally starts pretty quickly) and then held in the high 60s.

 

[aaronius79]

thanks for the advice guys. I'll keep that mind the next time I use S 04

 

[solbes]

+1 or 2 to Yoopers advice with S04 and proper pitching temps. I used it twice an had similar thoughts on the proper pitching temps. It's just not my favorite yeast in the world.

 

[ericrichards420]

The important thing about using dry yeast is to re-hydrate the yeast to begin with. If you just pitch the yeast dry your going to kill about half your yeast. The proper way is to add the yeast to about 2-3 oz of warm water and give it 15-30 minutes then pitch to wort. The sweet wort isn't good for the dry yeast cells.