Help me diagnose this flavor

[HalfPint]

Well, I "In-Keg-Dry-Hopped" with a little device that has some plastic on it. I know, I know, not the best Idea, but wtf.

My beer tastes a bit grassy, but not like too over dry hopped. It tastes a bit alcoholic like each beer has a 1/3 shot of vodka perfectly blended in with it. It's just overall not very tasty and almost tastes rubbery.


What do you guys think it could be?

Thanks,
J

 

[Walker]

well.... which flavor are you asking about? You mentioned grassy, alcoholic, and rubbery all in that one short post.

Grassy = dry hopped too much/too long.

Alcoholic = if it feels "hot", then you posibly fermented at too high a temp and have fusel alcohol in it.

Rubbery = possibly autolysis (yeast canabalizing each other, caused by leaving the beer on the yeast too long)

 

[HalfPint]

well.... which flavor are you asking about? You mentioned grassy, alcoholic, and rubbery all in that one short post.

Grassy = dry hopped too much/too long.

Alcoholic = if it feels "hot", then you posibly fermented at too high a temp and have fusel alcohol in it.

Rubbery = possibly autolysis (yeast canabalizing each other, caused by leaving the beer on the yeast too long)

Well, I had a pint last night and I think it's a bit grassy, but not too bad. The problem is a rubbery taste. I racked onto a cake from an IPA, so maybe that could be autolysis and a mixture of 5 oz of hop goo from the IPA that the yeast originally fermented. Since I put that stupid hop ball in there, there is no way of getting it out of the keg unless I racked to another keg. I'm not sure what to do.

What would you do?

Thanks,
J

 

[maida7]

All the hops in the cake from the first beer would add to the grassy / vetegal flavor.

Rubber? Perhaps phenolics? What was your fermentation temp?

 

[Sedge]

And what did you dry hop with? Some hops just taste that way.

 

[HalfPint]

Dry hopped with 1 oz of 5.4 AA Cascades. Fermentation temp (external) ranged from low to mid 60's for the entire period.

Do you guys think that the doohickie I dry hopped with could have given these off flavors?

 

[Walker]

I don't know what the doohicki is or what it was made of, but I doubt any small piece of plastic would cause the whole batch to taste rubbery.

The only time I tasted rubber in something I fermented was when I made a small batch of cider and let it sit WAY too long on the yeast. It was horrible... like licking the tire of a car that just peeled rubber on the road.

 

[HalfPint]

It was horrible... like licking the tire of a car that just peeled rubber on the road.

ROFL.

Yeah, I made a batch of Apfelwein that sat on the primary cake for like 4 months and it tasted like shat when I first bottled it and it still tastes like shat a year later. Do you think that this will get better with age? Should I just let it age longer?

 

[Shooter]

I've gotten rubbery tastes from hot fermentations before. Actually to me it tastes like sulfur, but my brother swears it's a rubbery taste.

 

[steelerguy]

Do you use city water? Do they add choloramine to the water? If so, add some campden to your mash or boil water.

If your Apfelwein tasted like **** when done fermenting it is going to continue to taste like ****. Mine was good when I bottled and actually has not changed much over time...I let it sit on the cake for awhile too.

 

[Walker]

I agree with steelerguy. If the apfelwein tasted bad originally, and still tastes as bad a year later, it's a lost cause.

 

[HalfPint]

Yeah, you guys are right.

I do use city water, but I've brewed dozens of batches with it in the past and it's always been fine. Does that autolysis taste go away after time?

 

[Walker]

Does that autolysis taste go away after time?

I don't think so, but I am no expert. I've only had it happen that one time on the cider, and I just dumped it immediately.

 

[Saccharomyces]

Severe overpitching of unhealthy yeast (eg, from lots of hops and/or alcohol) can lead to autolysis. I have overpitched at least one beer, not enough to get autolysis but enough to get lots of acetyldehyde and hot alcohols (fusels). I am pretty sure from your description pitching on the cake was your issue.

 

[HalfPint]

Severe overpitching of unhealthy yeast (eg, from lots of hops and/or alcohol) can lead to autolysis. I have overpitched at least one beer, not enough to get autolysis but enough to get lots of acetyldehyde and hot alcohols (fusels). I am pretty sure from your description pitching on the cake was your issue.

I think you guys are right. You see, I did a batch of BM's Cream ale with S-05 and racked a fresh wort of O Flannigans stout right on top of it without any off flavors, but I think that may because a stout has a lot more flavor to hide off flavors. Regardless of the style, I don't think that I will be pitching on a cake again. If I ever do pitch on a cake again, I'll probably dump 3/4's of the cake out of the carboy before I pitch on top of it.