My beers have a strange taste similarity

[hatepickingnames]

Im new to the game. Is there any reason why my first three beers should share a distinct and unfamiliar taste?

Ive brewed 2 ipas and one english bitter. now i know they are similar to begin with, but... they have a distinct taste that ive never tasted in commercialy made brews. its not a desireable taste though. not bad but id like it gone.

in my experiences its usualy something simple to fix. Without posting entire notes on each recipe, what should i look at as a culprit for the strangeness.

Some info: ipa- one extract with steeped specialty grains, leaf hop, dry yeast, polyclar, moss. other ipa- partial mash, pellets, liquid yeast and moss. english bitter- extract and specials, liquid yeast, moss and pellets. diferent hops in each beer and diferent yeasts.

partial boils of 3.5 gal. sanitize the **** out of everything. aerate sweet wort, no aeration after. no signs of infection. WTF?

I know im just being a noob but i want to do this the best i can.

 

[Newbeerguy]

Hmm...can you describe the taste a little more, is it cidery? buttery? sharp? hot? The more info we have, the easier it will be to help.

What kind of sanitizer are you using? Also how well can you control your fermentation temps? What temp did you ferment at?

 

[RCCOLA]

What temperature are you pitching your yeast at?

If it's over 68F, then your beer could rise too high in temp. through fermentation and give esters/off flavors that you don't want.

Ex: I pitch ale yeast at ~ 62F and it will commonly rise to 68F at the peak of fermentation. (and that's in a chamber set at 62F)

BTW: Welcome to the forum!

 

[hatepickingnames]

Its almost like the wet cardboard papazian talks about from aeration but fruity?? I use diluted iodine (idaphor). I have a stickon temp guage and it sits at 66-68 throughout fermentation.

RCCOLA has me worried with this temp deal. i pitch at 75. it then drops to the aforementioned temps and sits till gravity stops dropping and gets bottled with dme. If this flavor was present in a belgian double, i wouldnt bat an eye.

 

[joety]

How do you mix the DME in when bottling?

 

[hatepickingnames]

boil a pint of filtered water with DME, cool and place in bucket. rack into bucket with no aeration. once racked, i stir it around gently to mix well. i had a low/inconsistant carb batch and this fixed the next one.

 

[RCCOLA]

I would pitch cooler. Even if you have to wait overnight for it to cool down. The first part of fermentation is where alot of yeast flavors are imparted and if the temp is too high, the yeasts aren't happy and will show their displeasure with off flavors.

Another thing I thought of is: What is your water source? If you're using tap--then get a carbon filter to take out any chlorine-- which will give beer a crappy flavor. I used to use a PUR faucet mount (with good results)but now make up my own water profile from RO water & brewing salts.

 

[RCCOLA]

boil a pint of filtered water with DME, cool and place in bucket. rack into bucket with no aeration. once racked, i stir it around gently to mix well. i had a low/inconsistant carb batch and this fixed the next one.

I do the exact same thing--sound procedure.

 

[DavidSteel]

Sounds like the legendary and highly controversial "twang" flavor that extract brewing gives off, combined with higher fermentation/pitching temps. I'd just say to make sure you ferment around 66-68, wait for your beer to be 70 to pitch it (but 75 shouldn't be a big deal at all), and add LME (if you use it) late in the boil.. otherwise, I can't really say. All those weird flavors magically went away when I moved to AG.

 

[hatepickingnames]

Davidsteel is just busting extract balls. just kidding man, i dont know weather to **** or wind my watch. It cant be extract twang, unless it includes incorrect for style twang. if this is the result, no one would use it. im considering all grain, want to donate an 8 gal pot?

i use poland spring bottled water. i will pitch at 62 next and report. thanks brewmeisters, any other ideas are welcome.

 

[Newbeerguy]

Only other thing I can think of would be to switch sanatizers and see if that makes a difference.

As for pitching temps - I try to stay low as possible on the temp range. I normally ferment all my ales in the 62-65 range. My first AG batch I pitched too hot (70) and got some weird flavors....its not just limited to extract.

I wouldn't switch to all grain just to make "better" beer.

 

[Haputanlas]

The twang flavor sounds pretty noticeable to me. I have my Hef almost ready and my Lagunitas clone coming. I am going to pay close attention to this.