bitteral
Well-Known Member
Hello Everyone,
I posted a few weeks ago with some concerns about my first brew experience. I was encouraged to see the batch through, which I did. I followed John Palmer's Cincinnati Pale Ale recipe. The end result was a beer that tastes quite good going down, but that leaves a bitter (ok, not so bad), sharply alcoholic aftertaste, that leaves the back of your mouth feeling like you've smoked a bad cigar.
Anyway, based on reading I see to contributing factors:
1. Eagerness got the best of me and I pitched yeast with the wort at about 80 degrees (now realizing I should have brought the temp down to 70).
2. Secondly, following Palmer's recipe, I used two packets of yeast. After further reading I understand that one should have been fine.
Anyway, Palmer's book does point to high fermentation temp and excessive yeast as two contributing factors to the alcohol aftertaste. And I figure my 2 out of 2 probably account for my result. I'm just posting for the benefit of others who hopefully won't make these same mistakes. And I'm also interested if others have had the same experience with similar conditions.
Meanwhile, I'm still drinking and enjoying the result (despite the aftertaste). The second batch is now fermenting, and I believe was done nearly by the book. One concern though is that I had washed the entire wine thief, but only sanitized the inside before plunging it into the wort for a sample. I'm hoping I didn't contaminate the batch, but will have to wait and see.
Thanks for all your inputs on my last batch.
Bitter Al
I posted a few weeks ago with some concerns about my first brew experience. I was encouraged to see the batch through, which I did. I followed John Palmer's Cincinnati Pale Ale recipe. The end result was a beer that tastes quite good going down, but that leaves a bitter (ok, not so bad), sharply alcoholic aftertaste, that leaves the back of your mouth feeling like you've smoked a bad cigar.
Anyway, based on reading I see to contributing factors:
1. Eagerness got the best of me and I pitched yeast with the wort at about 80 degrees (now realizing I should have brought the temp down to 70).
2. Secondly, following Palmer's recipe, I used two packets of yeast. After further reading I understand that one should have been fine.
Anyway, Palmer's book does point to high fermentation temp and excessive yeast as two contributing factors to the alcohol aftertaste. And I figure my 2 out of 2 probably account for my result. I'm just posting for the benefit of others who hopefully won't make these same mistakes. And I'm also interested if others have had the same experience with similar conditions.
Meanwhile, I'm still drinking and enjoying the result (despite the aftertaste). The second batch is now fermenting, and I believe was done nearly by the book. One concern though is that I had washed the entire wine thief, but only sanitized the inside before plunging it into the wort for a sample. I'm hoping I didn't contaminate the batch, but will have to wait and see.
Thanks for all your inputs on my last batch.
Bitter Al