My young weizenbock tastes hot

[urg8rb8]

I just opened a bottle after two weeks bottle conditioning and I can taste the alcohol and its overshadowing the maltiness. I know the beer is still green but is the alcohol taste a common green beer characteristic?

 

[RM-MN]

I just opened a bottle after two weeks bottle conditioning and I can taste the alcohol and its overshadowing the maltiness. I know the beer is still green but is the alcohol taste a common green beer characteristic?

The hot alcohol taste is normally from fermenting your beer at too high of temperature. It will mellow some with time but never completely go away. The maltiness will improve with more time conditioning in the bottle so all is not lost. Making beer is a game of patience. I've found that my strong stouts taste best after a year in the bottle. They become drinkable much sooner than that but continue to improve for a long time.

 

[urg8rb8]

The hot alcohol taste is normally from fermenting your beer at too high of temperature. It will mellow some with time but never completely go away. The maltiness will improve with more time conditioning in the bottle so all is not lost. Making beer is a game of patience. I've found that my strong stouts taste best after a year in the bottle. They become drinkable much sooner than that but continue to improve for a long time.

I know I didn't ferment hot because I have a temp controller. However can fermentation of priming sugar while bottle conditioning in warm temperatures cause hotness?

 

[yono1986]

I know I didn't ferment hot because I have a temp controller. However can fermentation of priming sugar while bottle conditioning in warm temperatures cause hotness?

No. There is so little priming sugar in each bottle that you won't get any off tastes from that. With any high alcohol beer, the key is time. My barleywine spent 3 months in secondary and still took a year in bottles to really come into its own. Brew something else in the meantime, and come back to it in 6 months. It will be night and day.

 

[Yooper]

What is the alcohol content of the beer? Some weizenbocks have a pretty high ABV, so will taste a bit hot when young.

 

[urg8rb8]

What is the alcohol content of the beer? Some weizenbocks have a pretty high ABV, so will taste a bit hot when young.

I calculated 7.2%

 

[urg8rb8]

What is the alcohol content of the beer? Some weizenbocks have a pretty high ABV, so will taste a bit hot when young.

I calculated 7.2%

 

[urg8rb8]

The just tried a new bottle and the hotness is almost gone. I smell a very slight fruity aroma. I can taste a bit of spices but it seems to have a hoppy taste. Wheat beers aren't supposed to taste hoppy.

 

[urg8rb8]

I just opened up another bottle. Alcohol taste is much less and the bitterness is much less. I'm starting to taste more of the malty flavors.

It's amazing how the flavor changes over time.

 

[iijakii]

They always get less hot with age.

 

[kombat]

They always get less hot with age.

Not unlike the rest of us, sadly ...

 

[urg8rb8]

After letting this beer age another month, I noticed that it has a minerally taste. Not sure if I'm even explaining it correctly.

I used RO water and small amounts of calcium chloride. Any ideas?

 

[gspot]

The 7.2% is probably the cause of the hotness. I had the same issue with one about the same strength, and it also mellowed after a couple weeks.

How much calcium chloride? You only need about a tsp per 5 gals. You might try the Brun-water spreadsheet...

 

[urg8rb8]

The 7.2% is probably the cause of the hotness. I had the same issue with one about the same strength, and it also mellowed after a couple weeks.

How much calcium chloride? You only need about a tsp per 5 gals. You might try the Brun-water spreadsheet...

I put in 2 teaspoons for 10 gallons of water. You think that mineral/chemical taste is from the alcohol?

 

[urg8rb8]

dp

 

[JimEb]

In my early days I’ve come across a few hot alcohol brews. Never could figure out what exactly was causing it. I wasn’t fermenting too warm, which was the obvious answer.

I looked at my process and changed some things and haven’t had an issue since. Not sure if any one of these was the culprit or maybe a combination of both.

I started rehydrating dry yeast before pitching. I know what the instructions on the package says, but seems rehydrating gently with water is better than being thrown head first into a sugary wort. Think of it as the difference of being gently woken up by the rising sun and chirping birds vs being thrown out of bed at O’dark thirty by a screaming drill instructor banging on a metal garbage can.

I used to always get impatient when cooling wort and pitch the yeast a little too warm. Used to rationalize that by pitching the yeast and topping up with cool water it should all be good….or be good shortly after. No, after I started using my temp control fridge and seeing that actual live temp of the wort broadcast brightly in red LED’s, I realized it takes a long time for the wort to cool ambiently. In that time, who knows what that yeast was doing. I don’t do that now and just suck it up no matter how long it takes to drop those last few degrees.