Brewing Confesional

[BigJack]

I've been brewing for ten years, and most of my beers (say 85%) have been extract-based, including many canned kits (doctored up, of course.) Never in that time have I tasted "extract tang" until after Cooper's bought out Mr. Beer. In fact, I've frequently (not on here, I don't think) argued with AG-only brewers, insisting that extract tang simply doesn't exist, at least not unless the can was old or something else went wrong.

In the last 18 months, I've done eleven batches- one all grain, one partial mash, two old Mr. Beers, three new Mr. Beer (Coopers,) three unhopped extract-based (two w/ steeping grains, one liquid MO SMaSH) and one Brewferm kit. They've all been fermented in the same lbks, at the same temps.

All three of the Coopers-produced Mr Beer kits have had an sharp, cider-like aftertaste present in none of the other brews.

So I am publicly eating my words. I was wrong. Some canned kits do indeed have a strange aftertaste. My apologies to anyone I might have argued with on this or any other brewing board.

If anyone else wants to post a brewing confession, feel free.

 

[Pie_Man]

A cidery flavor is usually indicative of acetaldehyde and is commonly the result of young beer. Different yeast strains produce more acetaldehyde than others. Perhaps the new Mr. Beer is using a different yeast strain that produces more cider/acetaldehyde flavor? Maybe the beer needed a little longer to condition? Without knowing more of your process it's difficult to tell.

Personally, I am unsure what extract tang tastes like, although I am not disputing it's possible existence. Some people seem to believe it's basically new brewers tasting young beer, others seem to think adding the LME late in the boil solves the problem. I suppose burnt/caramelized LME may create a weird flavor that people describe as extract tang.

Anyway, I am not trying to say you're wrong. You taste what you taste. Just thinking about potential solutions and exploring alternative causes to your issue.

 

[BigJack]

Pie Man- I didn't use Mr. Beer yeast in any of the three batches, all three cans were late editions to the boil, and one of the batches is seven months old and still exhibits the flavor.

Like I said, I've been doing this for ten years. I know young beer. I know yeast off flavors. This is something else that I can't quite put my fingers on.

 

[Yooper]

Pie Man- I didn't use Mr. Beer yeast in any of the three batches, all three cans were late editions to the boil, and one of the batches is seven months old and still exhibits the flavor.

Like I said, I've been doing this for ten years. I know young beer. I know yeast off flavors. This is something else that I can't quite put my fingers on.

I've tasted what you're describing. It's not acetaldehyde, it's "twangy"er than that but not fruity exactly. Not exactly like cider but dry like that, and not wine, either, exactly. Hard to describe, but you know it when you taste it.

I noticed it years back in canned prehopped LME, both John Bull and Cooper's kits but not in extract kits made with fresh extract and hops.

 

[BigJack]

Yooper- yes, exactly!

I never got it from the old Mr. Beer kits (though they had issues of their own in some cases) or from Brewferm kits (the only canned kits I can honestly say I love.)

As a general rule, I prefer LME and/or DME plus steeping grains and hops over the HME canned kits- but I often get canned kits as gifts from well-meaning relatives. If this is the new normal for Mr Beer, I'm going to have to get real creative to hide that taste.

 

[GASoline71]

Ah... Eating a little humble pie now and again keeps things in perspective. Might be a tad bitter (or twangy ), to swallow... but it still goes down.

I steered away from AG brewing at the beginning, and stayed extract with steeping grains, long after my friends had all switched over to AG. Then I too had a couple of batches come out with a serious twangy after taste... One beer would almost hit you right in the saliva gland. So I finally gave AG a try about a year ago, with the help from one of my longtime brewing buddies. We both have been brewing for almost 3 years now, and he started with AG right from the beginning. After all the times he and I would argue over my extract beers vs. his AG beers, I recently had to admit that The AG beers weren't "harder" to do, and that the risk of twanginess was way greater with extract beers.

I have now been full on brewing AG for almost a year, and have yet to experience any kind of twang whatsoever. That being said... would I ever brew another extract brew? Yep... I'd do it in a heartbeat. Just have my brew system now set up to brew the beers I like with AG.

Nothin' wrong at all with extract. Heck... in the 3 years since I've been brewing, there are more quality extracts available now than just a short time ago.

Gary

 

[Speedbird]

I've done 10 batches in the last year (first year of brewing). Only one batch tasted weird to me, but everyone else likes it. It was a honey ale recipe from Alaska brewshop that i got from a coworker. It may just be me being paranoid or not used to tasting that style of beer, but it was the one batch that boiled over bad, a bee flew into it during boil, the extract burned bad when it hit the bottom of the pot, and I tried adding an extra half pound of honey to the recipe. The point is, it left a weird aftertaste no matter how long the bottle aged before I opened it. A few have tasted alright but I attribute the burned extract and extra honey to the taste. All batches have been extract except the one the other day which is my first AG one. Ill report on that when it's ready

 

[Fishin-Jay]

I went AG 3 years ago, but I still brew one or two extract beers every year when I want a quicker brew day. Heck, I've brewed 3 extract beers in the last 12 months and one of them, the honey-lemon lager, went faster than any other beer I have ever made.

Nothing wrong with extract. The only reason I brew AG is because I enjoy the process as much as the beer itself.

 

[wmcc75]

I've done mostly extract with a few partial mash thrown in. I used to think extract tang was stuff of myths, however after a batch of wit I made a couple months ago (using a can of coopers wheat malt) I now know it to be a real thing. Fortunately I have friends that will drink just about anything. The can was kinda old, I didn't discover this until after brewing and noticed my lhbs had put a new date sticker on top of old date sticker.