Brew tastes like CLEAN socks

[ConfusedBoozeHound]

Made a new batch recently, tasted like wet cardboard along with other assorted nasty flavors. This time was oxidation pretty sure. However adding a little apple juice to the brew helped quite a lot, so I am trying with more apple juice this time around. We'll see if that helps.

I also made a brew a little while before that; still getting the socks flavor. However I've confirmed that adding lemonade helps in masking it almost entirely. Though it's proportional. More lemonade, less bad flavor but also less alcohol content. Hopeful to eliminate the flavor or at least drive it down so far only a little additional flavoring is needed to get rid of the taste.

 

[D.B.Moody]

. . . the flavor I consistently get is that of clean socks. mask it?

Made a new batch recently, tasted like wet cardboard

I am seriously concerned about you knowing what clean socks and wet cardboard (and, presumably, dirty socks and dry cardboard) taste like.

 

[bracconiere]

I am seriously concerned about you knowing what clean socks and wet cardboard (and, presumably, dirty socks and dry cardboard) taste like.

i'm glad it wasn't me that took drinking a straight up turbo wash, to the comic element.....

but i did get a tip maybe just use normal yeast, and some potato water? for my swill... i'm trying to take a break from the whole mashing and sparging, boiling stuff.....

 

[ConfusedBoozeHound]

i'm glad it wasn't me that took drinking a straight up turbo wash, to the comic element.....

I'd like to be clear, I'm just clearing old stock at this point. After that I'd very much like to move back to normal yeast.

That said I'm pretty new to winemaking, I was making ciders before. A cursory glance says minimum of 5 days but doesn't specify expected ABV. I'd prefer not to double down with all sorts of equipment unless absolutely necessary. I'll look into it more later, as I come to the end of my final package, but are there any numbers I can reasonably expect? 5 days enough? I doubt this is the subforum for such questions, so perhaps better to wait.

Honestly though, if I can get the taste down, the ABV I can reasonably expect with a turbo is fine by me. I may even continue to use it, though the urea aspect is a bit of a stomach churner.

but i did get a tip maybe just use normal yeast, and some potato water? for my swill... i'm trying to take a break from the whole mashing and sparging, boiling stuff.....

Is potato water enough to provide the necessary nutrients? Cook a lot of potatoes around here, would really slash costs.

 

[bracconiere]

Cook a lot of potatoes around here, would really slash costs.

yes? according to other people... my sugar wash experince is documented in this thread...i haven't tried the potato water yet, but the neutral flavor sounds right, and if wheat germ works...should work?

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/not-distilling-related.701330/page-2#post-9301591

 

[ConfusedBoozeHound]

yes? according to other people... my sugar wash experince is documented in this thread...i haven't tried the potato water yet, but the neutral flavor sounds right, and if wheat germ works...should work?

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/not-distilling-related.701330/page-2#post-9301591

Looking over your thread it appears yeast nutrient may still be needed, though I might be able to supplement that by boiling baking yeast for a low cost alternative. In any case I very much prefer the link and advice.

 

[dmtaylor]

The good side of it is, it doesn't taste like dirty socks.

Like Coors!

 

[ConfusedBoozeHound]

Just tried another brew. First day almost all the flavor was gone, but as time went on the flavor came back. I would guess a combination of oxidation and yeast is the culprit.

 

[ConfusedBoozeHound]

Been a little over a year since my last post...yikes! However I believe I have pinpointed the issue.

Long story short, it's the yeast adding the socks flavor. The closer I get to completely removing the yeast from suspension, the more the taste goes away. This also includes aftertastes which was a major consideration.

I still have yet to get to that neutral, vodka-esque, taste, but I am that much closer and have continued to experiment when I have the time. Boiling water helps quite a bit, but it's not the only factor. One of the biggest factors was not moving the fermentation vessel at all during the brewing process, which I used to do to see it's progress. Nothing major, mind you, but I still did. Leaving it completely still until fermentation is complete or at least very very close is one of the major keys here. If I were to guess, I was kicking old yeast or contaminants back into mixture when I'd do it, both stressing the yeast and just adding them back into suspension. I don't think oxidation was a major issue, though to keep it from being an issue I've started adding more water to the fermentation vessel as well as opening the secondary vessels only as much as needed to release pressure. On a side note, shaking vigorously after initial fermentation makes a world of difference in terms of really nasty, musty tastes.

 

[MaxStout]

Just found this thread...yikes.

If you're looking to make a fermented, sugar water brew with as close to a neutral a flavor as possible, I would say find the most neutral yeast you can get, and ferment at the low end of the yeast's range. Maybe US-05 at around 60F or so. Add just enough yeast nutrient to help the yeast, without too much excess that can add off-flavors.

Bulk-age as long as possible, cold-crash to just above freezing for several days (or even a lagering phase for a month or so) to drop most of the yeast, then package.

 

[hottpeper13]

During covid we had a MBAA video meeting where the tech portion was hard seltzer. The way to remove the slight color and such is to suspend a fine mesh bag with rinsed activated carbon charcoal in the FV and pump from the bottom back to the top and exchange the volume 10 times. You end up with clear neutral taste. You might be able to set up some kind of gravity filter into a keg with one of the small housing carbon one or a fridge water filter one time use. You MUST rinse the filter with DO water.