Hi all,
Long time lurker here, appreciate all the advice on this forum. At my wits end with a green apple taste in my last three brews. Have Google'd this extensively but wanted to see if anyone had any ideas as to what could be causing this.
Last three brews have been a one gallon cream ale partial mash from Northern Brewer, a pumpkin ale 3 gallon BIAB kit from Northern Brewer, and a Left Hand Milk Stout Clone, recipe from this forum, adapted to 2.5 gallons with an increase in flaked oats/barley. All with US-05 yeast. I brew outside for the most part (with the exception of that one gallon kit), pitch at 70-72 F then shake the crap out of the fermenter for aeration. Fermentation takes place under the basement stairs; ambient temperature is 68 F. Ferment for two weeks. Do not take serial FG measurements out of fear of contamination (lame probably I know) but all signs point to fermentation being complete (no krausen, no air lock activity, no bubbles when a flashlight is used to look into the beer). With the cream ale I was in fermenter for two weeks, then bottle for two weeks. With pumpkin ale, fermenter for four weeks, bottle for two. With the stout, I tasted the FG sample I took before bottling and it had a green apple flavor as well. OG on the stout was 1.052, FG today was 1.016. Dont have FG numbers for the pumpkin ale or the cream ale.
Not quite sure what to do. From what Ive read, this is a byproduct of not allowing the yeast to do their thing and clean up the acetaldehyde but you would think 2 weeks would be plenty, which leads me to believe fermentation is getting stuck but not quite sure. The yeast could be strained but I am pitching a full packet of US-05, and 68 should be well within its temp range.
Hope all that helps, appreciate any help you all could provide. Thanks!
Long time lurker here, appreciate all the advice on this forum. At my wits end with a green apple taste in my last three brews. Have Google'd this extensively but wanted to see if anyone had any ideas as to what could be causing this.
Last three brews have been a one gallon cream ale partial mash from Northern Brewer, a pumpkin ale 3 gallon BIAB kit from Northern Brewer, and a Left Hand Milk Stout Clone, recipe from this forum, adapted to 2.5 gallons with an increase in flaked oats/barley. All with US-05 yeast. I brew outside for the most part (with the exception of that one gallon kit), pitch at 70-72 F then shake the crap out of the fermenter for aeration. Fermentation takes place under the basement stairs; ambient temperature is 68 F. Ferment for two weeks. Do not take serial FG measurements out of fear of contamination (lame probably I know) but all signs point to fermentation being complete (no krausen, no air lock activity, no bubbles when a flashlight is used to look into the beer). With the cream ale I was in fermenter for two weeks, then bottle for two weeks. With pumpkin ale, fermenter for four weeks, bottle for two. With the stout, I tasted the FG sample I took before bottling and it had a green apple flavor as well. OG on the stout was 1.052, FG today was 1.016. Dont have FG numbers for the pumpkin ale or the cream ale.
Not quite sure what to do. From what Ive read, this is a byproduct of not allowing the yeast to do their thing and clean up the acetaldehyde but you would think 2 weeks would be plenty, which leads me to believe fermentation is getting stuck but not quite sure. The yeast could be strained but I am pitching a full packet of US-05, and 68 should be well within its temp range.
Hope all that helps, appreciate any help you all could provide. Thanks!