Help with an off flavor

[Fearspork]

hi this is my first post , i've been extract brewing on and off for 15 years , and i have an extreme off flavor,

i was making an american pale ale, 3lb extra pale DME, 1lb wheat DME, some light specialty grains , i had left over, i think it might have been crystal not more then 3 weeks old, 2 oz cascade and 05 dry ale yeast. everything was clean and sanitized with iodine solution.

it had an OG of 1042, and sat in the primary for 6 days. the bubbling tapered off around day 4. when i went to rack in the secondary i could tell right away the yeast cake at the bottom was loose when i put the cane in, i checked the SG and it was 1006, wich i was very happy with.

i went to taste it cuase i taste my beers at every step. now i've had a few beers over the years taste a little appley. but this tasted like orange juice. when i got neat the bottom of the primary the yeast had kicked up so much it looked like pudding , ended up throwing away about a half a gallon.

i think there was a night or 2 when it reached over 80F which I'm assuming is the problem, its 3 days in the secondary and i'm still seeing bubbles randomly, should i pitch more yeast , more fermentables and yeast nutriant, should i just let it sit for 3 weeks in the secondary and longer in the bottles. or should i toss it and start over

 

[kh54s10]

80 degrees wort temperatures? I ambient it possibly reached 90 degrees wort temperature during the height of fermentation! In either case it was too warm and is more than likely the source of your off flavor. But I have never heard the hot fermentation making the off flavors the way you describe.

Racking so soon might also cause a flavor problem. You should not rack to secondary, if you even do one, until fermentation has finished. It sounds like you might still have had some when racking.

Personally I would not invest anything trying to fix this one. Since it is in secondary, with an off flavor I would extend the secondary and hope that off flavors will mellow. Maybe 3-5 weeks. Get another batch going and control the fermentation temperatures.

 

[Fearspork]

hey thank you, i usually like to secondary a couple of days after the fermentation slows down so the C02 pushes the air out, i thought i was good to go. right now i dont have access or room for any kind of temp control, the best i can do is throw some frozen water bottles in the closet , had every problem and off flavor usually described , never had a beer taste like orange juice before. i going to let it site and hope for the best

 

[kh54s10]

Put your fermenter in a big bucket or bin, add 6-12 inches of water, then control the temperature by adding ice bottles. Adjust the number of bottles to keep the temperature under control. "swamp cooler"...

 

[Gavin C]

Yeah. That's crazy warm for an ale. Anything other than a saison or a saison-like ale will not give you a desirable beer at those temps.

Secondary is rather pointless in this instance. Some experts weigh in here.

To me, it sounds like a dumper and move on. But I'm a bit of a pessimist when it comes to these things. I'm unwilling to invest time or effort to make a bad beer less unpleasant. It will still be something you don't want to drink.

But up to yourself of course. Nothing to be lost by bottling/kegging it up and seeing if you like it.

 

[Fearspork]

yeah, i'm going to let it go for a while, i dont have anything on deck, just bottled a irish red that tasted beautiful at every stage. so I'm not itching for something new just yet and i also have a coopers ginger beer going. i know people dont rack allot of ales these days but when i started 15 years ago my friends and family wouldn't drink my stuff unless it was crystal clear.

 

[Gavin C]

Clarity and racking beer are not related but you should of course do what you feel is right for you.

I like crystal clear bright beer too. Secondary vessels play no role in this. But that is an entirely different topic for which there a millions of threads.
One of my Primary only beers


Was the flavor apple like at all? I'm thinking about buying the off flavor kit I've heard about to educate my palate some. i'm pretty useless in that regard. Would be great to be able to learn more about these things and how to identify and describe them.