Centennial Blonde tastes like olives?!?

[BamBam0260]

Brewed and bottled 5 gallons of a centennial blonde 3 months ago. Took 6 out and refrigerated all of them taste exactly like an olive. I was meticulous with my cleanliness as usual, not sur why anyone had this before?

 

[bovineblitz]

I had a batch that tasted kind of like pickles and never got better. I basically made the assumption that it was an acetobacter infection and nuked the hell out of all my equipment with bleach and dumped the batch. I'm not 100% that it was acetobacter but the bleach seems to have fixed it in future batches. I've also had a similar experience with a belgian yeast that I don't think was infected, I must've just stressed it to the point where it threw gross flavors.

Olives and pickles both sit in brine which is quite vinegary, so I think it might be the same type of thing.

 

[BamBam0260]

Thanks man hopefully the batch of apfelwein doesn't turn as well, I used the same equipment on it last week but I sterilized with star san hopefully it knocked whatever was doing it out.

 

[SC_Ryan]

Olives have kind of a metallic flavor (black one anywho) which can be an entirely different off flavor. It may not necessarily be sanitation. Is this your first all grain batch?

 

[BamBam0260]

Yep, actually it was my first all grain.

 

[bovineblitz]

Yep, actually it was my first all grain.

What's your mashing procedure/materials?

 

[SC_Ryan]

Yep, actually it was my first all grain.

My first guess would be an issue with your water but break down your procedure for us. The more detail the better.

 

[BamBam0260]

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/all-grain-tutorial-nut-brown-ale-77705/

I actually followed this tutorial, actually used the same cooler as well to sparge. I used grain bought from my homebrew store and milled it with a coffee grinder. as well I used filtered water from a brita. Everything was cleaned with star san before hand. and i used a 6.5 gallon brew bucket for fermentation, and then placed it in another brew bucket for the secondary. I bottled with sam adams bottles that were all cleaned with star san, and they sat for almost 3 months. I drank some out of the secondary and it wasnt bad just watery.

 

[zgardener]

A coffee grinder? Mind telling us what kind? Do you mean like a corona mill?

A normal electric coffee grinder would 1. take forever and 2. be WAY too fine for this type of thing. Could be astringency...

Also, always clean with soapy water, pbw, or some other cleaner before sanitizing. Although Star San is a great product, it cant clean, it only sanitizes.

 

[BamBam0260]

Nope it's a coffee grinder lol it's big though I could do a pound at a time.. Maybe that was the problem damn that Alton brown and his beer brewing show...

 

[zgardener]

Try to get your LHBS to mill it for you, or invest the $40 or $50 for a corona mill. Much better crush for this purpose, you'll get better efficiency, less astringency, easer run offs, and a cleaner beer since the husks will more in tact . I could see how a coffee grain could be ok for mini mash, but not for AG.

 

[SC_Ryan]

Any stuck mash or sparge issues? What type of efficiency did you get?

 

[ericd]

Probably your water. A lot of the flavor from olives comes from the brining process, so your water's probably full of olive-brine-type minerals.

Try jugged water next time.

 

[BamBam0260]

I had to add a gallon of water to the end result to get the 5 gallons. So it could of very well been the water

 

[veritas524]

my first all grain has an olive taste to it as well... I was doing ed's haus pale ale... I attributed it to my buddy tossing in some extra leftover hops from a previous batch and there was a clash between the two. Still waiting to keg my second all grain batch because my kegs haven't arrived yet... hopefully its a better outcome.