Common taste issue

[BrewStooge]

All this time brewing things and I've got one issue that remains. It seems that many of my brews, regardless of recipe, have this slightly tart almost citrus-y flavor. My only real suspect at this point is temperature causes (it's the only consistent variable across the batches) since I've never really gotten a good system set, though I do tend to stay pretty stable between 60-75 (by the fermometer) just by the ambient temperature keeping things in check.

Could that be it, or might I look at something in the mash, somewhere else? This is something that stays around, even my long term 'archive' brews seem to maintain it.

 

[BierMuncher]

Well...citrus flavor is highly desirable in many beer styles and is imparted by certain hop varieties. It may be you are tasting exactly what you brewed.

Without knowing your recipe, it's tough to determine if it is an ingredient or your process that is giving you this flavor.

 

[djfriesen]

That seems like a pretty big swing in temps to me, so that could be an issue (though, honestly, I haven't had any experiance with "citrus-y" as an off-flavor due to fermentation temps). That's definitely a good place to start. Set up a swamp cooler (you can search for threads, they are all over) and see if maintaining that temperature a little better gets rid of it.

Beyond that, I've heard of sour tastes coming from certain bacterial infections. How's your sanitation? Are you using plastic or glass to ferment in? Scratches in plastic buckets can be a great place for bacteria to hide and infect multiple batches, especially if not carefully sanitized. Also, if you're using a bottling bucket, the spigot on the end can be tough to sanitize properly. It should be removed, washed, and sanitized with every use.

 

[BrewStooge]

Unfortunately Beersmith2 is being fickle and wont let me copy/paste right now (fun with linux/wine probably), but the flavor has show up in (that I can think of) a bock, an Irish red, a brown ale, and a Bavarian wheat so I'm not real inclined to believe it's recipe related. As for the sanitation, I'd call it pretty good, all glass fermentation and everything is doused in starsan, plus the batches I mentioned where at very separate times of year. Another quality they all seem to share is a very thin feel, thus why I considered mash issues. I still BIAB, pretty consistent on the temps with that in a 15lb SS kettle.

I'll try and kick around Beersmith a bit to get the recipes on here, it's a lot to type for all those

 

[mrgstiffler]

I'll try and kick around Beersmith a bit to get the recipes on here, it's a lot to type for all those

Try screenshots

 

[BrewStooge]

Use screenshots? Brilliant! Scratch that, not so clear... try again. Ah much better.