American wheat seems tart/sour

[urg8rb8]

I bottled an American wheat that had 2lbs of honey. I opened one yesterday and has a slightly tart/sour taste. The beer didn't seem infected though.

Do wheat beers have this flavor? Could the flavor have come from the honey? I put the honey in the boil.

I also used US05 with a FG of 1.009.

 

[shanecb]

Can you post your full recipe?

Wheat beers don't necessarily have a tart flavor as a rule. Though dry ones are kinda tart-ish. It might just need a little bit more aging.

 

[urg8rb8]

Can you post your full recipe?

Wheat beers don't necessarily have a tart flavor as a rule. Though dry ones are kinda tart-ish. It might just need a little bit more aging.

If tartness has to do with it being dry, would age mellow the tartness out?

4 lbs Wheat Malt, Bel (2.0 SRM) 43.2 %
3 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) 32.4 %
4.0 oz Honey Malt (25.0 SRM) 2.7 %
1.25 oz Crystal [3.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min 12.6 IBUs
1.00 oz Crystal [3.00 %] - Boil 20.0 min 6.1 IBUs
1.00 oz Crystal [3.00 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 0.0 min
2 lbs Honey (1.0 SRM) 21.6 %

 

[Dee_Lynn]

Carbonic acid (CO2 in water) is slightly tart and is created when carbonating. Having more or less alcohol (dryness) should not create a tart flavor.

In my experience honey will leave behind a tart/sour flavor once the sugar is fermented out. Some of the "things" that make honey taste different than just sugar persists after fermentation.

Molasses does something similar but with "toasty" notes on top of the tart/sour.

 

[alexpaulsen]

Look over this website and see if the first one doesn't describe your beer. If so, let it age a little longer.

http://howtobrew.com/book/section-4/is-my-beer-ruined/common-off-flavors

 

[urg8rb8]

Just opened a bottle. Seems like the tart/sour flavor has subsided a lot.

 

[aeviaanah]

Lactobacillus?

 

[urg8rb8]

Lactobacillus?

I saw no visible signs of a lacto infection.

 

[Yooper]

Wheat beers have a specific flavor, sort of like a lemony flavor but not exactly, that I just don't like. Maybe that's what you're finding? I simply don't like wheat beers, but so many people do that I realize it's just my preference.
Do you normally like wheat beers? If you do, but this is different, then I'm not sure what to tell you. Since I don't, I"m prejudiced against them I guess. I made a watermelon wheat for a friend, with honey in it, and she loved it, and I didn't think it was too bad, but I still don't make many wheat beers due to "that flavor" that I get out of it.

 

[urg8rb8]

Wheat beers have a specific flavor, sort of like a lemony flavor but not exactly, that I just don't like. Maybe that's what you're finding? I simply don't like wheat beers, but so many people do that I realize it's just my preference.
Do you normally like wheat beers? If you do, but this is different, then I'm not sure what to tell you. Since I don't, I"m prejudiced against them I guess. I made a watermelon wheat for a friend, with honey in it, and she loved it, and I didn't think it was too bad, but I still don't make many wheat beers due to "that flavor" that I get out of it.

Yeah it's a tart lemony flavor... But where does it come from?? The honey? I used the recipe you suggested. I like American wheat beers. I wonder what this bet would have tasted like with the honey.