Sorry, I know you guys are probably rolling your eyes over yet another Extract twang related post. This is driving me nuts though, because whenever I research this I see many stating that it doesn't exist. Brulosopher even did an extract vs all grain test which showed many could not distinguish between the two. But I am getting something strong for sure. Let me explain.
My first few brews I did (probably about 5) were all dry malt extract brews, varying from mildly hopped, to high hopped. Every single one, whether it be a dark porter or a light golden ale had the same distinct smell and taste to it. Very hard to describe, but I would say that it has a cloying smell about it, very malty. The taste is a cloyingly sweet, syrupy after taste that drowns out anything else with the beer. I switched to all grain which has yielded mixed results, largely from my mash PH I believe which I am still working on. But the extract twang went away.
Now I decided to return to extract to give it another go since I've learnt a lot about brewing and improved my process considerably. I brewed an ordinary bitter, that was hopped quite a fair bit for the OG. I did a full boil, and only added the DME in the last 20 mins. I actually subbed 20% of the DME this time with corn sugar to try and dry out the beer a bit more. The beer ended up attenuating very well. I racked to some polypins to try a real ale style dispense. Tried some, and while its not entirely unpleasant, that smell and taste is back! Perhaps a little less so than before buts its very much there and overwhelming everything else. I have tried DME from both briess and muntons from different sources that i know have a high turn around. I'm pretty stumped how people are brewing award winning extract beers without this taste to them. I just can't seem to get it right!
Here the recipe and process for the ordinary bitter. Unfortunately I cant find my old recipes from before but i know they ranged from dark to light and they all had the smell and taste.
DME Golden Light 3.5 pounds (late addition)
1 pound corn sugar
3 oz biscuit (steeped)
3 oz caramel 120L (steeped)
0.6 oz fuggles boiled for 60 mins
0.6 oz fuggles boiled for 45 mins
West Yorkshire yeast fermented at 63F
Beersmith calculated with my equipment and late addition my hop utilization would be 32IBUs
Original Gravity was 1.036
Final Gravity was 1.006
Primed to 1.5 carb unit for a real ale style.
This was the first time i've used corn sugar in the boil. I have also tried Nottingham dry yeast and S-04.
I'm pretty stumped right now as I feel liked I've implemented all the recommendations for getting rid of the extract twang but it is still there kinda ruining my beers!
My first few brews I did (probably about 5) were all dry malt extract brews, varying from mildly hopped, to high hopped. Every single one, whether it be a dark porter or a light golden ale had the same distinct smell and taste to it. Very hard to describe, but I would say that it has a cloying smell about it, very malty. The taste is a cloyingly sweet, syrupy after taste that drowns out anything else with the beer. I switched to all grain which has yielded mixed results, largely from my mash PH I believe which I am still working on. But the extract twang went away.
Now I decided to return to extract to give it another go since I've learnt a lot about brewing and improved my process considerably. I brewed an ordinary bitter, that was hopped quite a fair bit for the OG. I did a full boil, and only added the DME in the last 20 mins. I actually subbed 20% of the DME this time with corn sugar to try and dry out the beer a bit more. The beer ended up attenuating very well. I racked to some polypins to try a real ale style dispense. Tried some, and while its not entirely unpleasant, that smell and taste is back! Perhaps a little less so than before buts its very much there and overwhelming everything else. I have tried DME from both briess and muntons from different sources that i know have a high turn around. I'm pretty stumped how people are brewing award winning extract beers without this taste to them. I just can't seem to get it right!
Here the recipe and process for the ordinary bitter. Unfortunately I cant find my old recipes from before but i know they ranged from dark to light and they all had the smell and taste.
DME Golden Light 3.5 pounds (late addition)
1 pound corn sugar
3 oz biscuit (steeped)
3 oz caramel 120L (steeped)
0.6 oz fuggles boiled for 60 mins
0.6 oz fuggles boiled for 45 mins
West Yorkshire yeast fermented at 63F
Beersmith calculated with my equipment and late addition my hop utilization would be 32IBUs
Original Gravity was 1.036
Final Gravity was 1.006
Primed to 1.5 carb unit for a real ale style.
This was the first time i've used corn sugar in the boil. I have also tried Nottingham dry yeast and S-04.
I'm pretty stumped right now as I feel liked I've implemented all the recommendations for getting rid of the extract twang but it is still there kinda ruining my beers!