Cola Taste in Stout?

[jlinz]

Help! My oatmeal stout has a cola taste and smell to it. I noticed it when tasting it when kegging, now a week into the keg and not fully carbed, and it’s still there. The roasty flavor I would expect tastes more like sweet fruity and sort of cola like. Any ideas what could be going on?

 

[RM-MN]

The recipe you used would help us sort out the flavor. My guess would be that there was too much caramel malt so it is sweeter than you like. It could also be from some of the byproducts of fermentation and that it needs some time to mature.

 

[jlinz]

Right, thanks! Here was the recipe. This was a tested recipe that usually yields great results. Never had this cola smell and flavor before.

10 lb Marris Otter
1 lb Flaked Oats
.5 lb Roasted Barley
.5 lb Crystal 120
.5 lb Chocolate Malt
.25 lb Carapils
.25 lb White Wheat
.12 lb Blackprinz

WLP 002

OG: 1.065
FG: 1.016

Fermented for 2.5 weeks or so at 66. I noticed a slight cola essence when tasting before kegging. It's been in the keg for a week and the flavor and smell is definitely still there. Don't know exactly how to describe it except sort of like sweet flat cola and not very stout like. Like I said, never had this before, and it doesn't seem to fit any infection profile I've heard of.

 

[GnenieGone]

Interesting you say that. I'm converting from 5.5 to 3.5gal batches. One of my 1st 3.5gal stouts had a cola flavor. Finally dumped it. IDK, but think it was due to low FG (like yours) with the malt combination. 1.016 is too low for me. I like them around 1.025 so maybe that has something to so with it??

 

[jlinz]

Interesting you say that. I'm converting from 5.5 to 3.5gal batches. One of my 1st 3.5gal stouts had a cola flavor. Finally dumped it. IDK, but think it was due to low FG (like yours) with the malt combination. 1.016 is too low for me. I like them around 1.025 so maybe that has something to so with it??

So, it didn't age out? My hope is just that it is green and so the flavors are just weird right now.

 

[DayLghtBreaks]

I would say let it age, I had a cola taste with a dubbel I brewed a few months back. I bottled that batch rather than kegged, like everyone I was impatient and tried it too early, maybe after 2-3 weeks.

I just opened a bottle a few days ago, after about 2 months and the beer has completely changed, cola off flavor vanished and now it's tasting the way it's suppose to.

 

[jlinz]

My other thought is that maybe I'm pulling up a bunch of yeast from the bottom of the keg. Still, not sure I would get a cola like taste from the 002, but then again, I've never taken a gulp of 002, haha.

 

[rhys333]

Help! My oatmeal stout has a cola taste and smell to it. I noticed it when tasting it when kegging, now a week into the keg and not fully carbed, and it’s still there. The roasty flavor I would expect tastes more like sweet fruity and sort of cola like. Any ideas what could be going on?

So cola is sweet with an acidic bite to it. That makes me think your pH is too low, which is very easy to do with dark grain heavy stouts if you're not controlling the mash pH.

What are you using for your water source (identify your region, if tap water), and are you taking steps to get the mash in the 5.4 pH range?

 

[jlinz]

So cola is sweet with an acidic bite to it. That makes me think your pH is too low, which is very easy to do with dark grain heavy stouts if you're not controlling the mash pH.

What are you using for your water source (identify your region, if tap water), and are you taking steps to get the mash in the 5.4 pH range?

I haven't done anything to control the pH of the mash. But, I've used this water many times to make this same stout, and it was always good.

 

[rhys333]

I haven't done anything to control the pH of the mash. But, I've used this water many times to make this same stout, and it was always good.

I'm puzzled then. Other than your hop bittering being way lower than it should be, for whatever reason. I'd say your water source could still be the culprit here, particularly if its from a river source as the mineral content can swing drastically (and therefore pH). I don't know how else you could get that distinctly sweet-acidic bite cola is known for.

 

[GnenieGone]

I haven't done anything to control the pH of the mash. But, I've used this water many times to make this same stout, and it was always good.

Yeah, gave it a couple months. Pretty sure it was just a combo of too dry and not enough darks..

 

[jlinz]

Aargh. Not getting any better...