Off flavor - cannot figure it out

[BirchBeer]

@BirchBeer FYI, most supermarkets sell vegemite in the internation sections around all of the British good. I only know this because I’m immature and chuckle every time I walk past the Spotted Dick.

My money is on your water. Arrowhead isnt bad but the southern distro is bottled in Riverside. Not exactly an ideal place of clean water. If your northern I think they bottle in Redding (may be wrong).

@seatazzz I would like to know what happened with the overpitched Kviek. If you’ve already posted I’m happy to go hunting

Will try the Camden tabs in my next brew. Fingers crossed that solves it.

 

[BirchBeer]

With what?

Just new pvc tubing

 

[wsmith1625]

Great comparison on different types of beer lines and off flavor produced by them.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/beer-line-tests-solution-to-the-plastic-taste.60380/

 

[BirchBeer]

What temperature do you pitch your yeast and what temp do you Fermentations at? I know you use temperature control and and immersion chiller, but it hasn't been asked yet.

I try and pitch as close to the temp that I’m going to ferment at as possible but it usually winds up being around 70 degrees. I ferment in the middle of the manufacturers suggested range for the yeast I’m using. Last beer was a German hefe and was fermented at 63 (I use a thermowell in my carboy).

 

[day_trippr]

Good reference, but dated. EVAbarrier tubing is the current hands-down barrier tubing winner and the price is surprisingly reasonable.
I switched all of my beer and gas lines over to it and recommend it.

But...I doubt the dispensing has anything to do with the OPs meaty beer...

Cheers!

 

[wsmith1625]

I ferment in the middle of the manufacturers suggested range for the yeast I’m using.

Maybe try going to the lowest side of the temperature range. Some yeast will do well even lower than the manufacturer's recommended minimum temp. You'll get cleaner beer with less off flavor. Curious of it helps with what you're experiencing.

 

[Morgz]

+1 for evabarrier tubing. And +1 to disassembling everything to thoroughly clean. I doubt its a water issue with a description of "meaty". Take my suggestion for what its worth, but I would try buying a few packets of dry yeast and directly sprinkle ontop. I know this is not good practice, but for testing purposes, it will remove all handling of yeast, if the problem is there, that will show you pretty quick. Then can work on this process.
My 2 cents is to also take it back to basic and temporarily remove all unnecessary things, eg, aeration stone.

Can you smell it in the fermenter putting your head completely inside? Are there scratches in it or whatever?

I had a problem with a fermenter that had to clean several times with different things to rid of odour.

Anyway, goodluck. Its heartbreaking to spend all that energy and time in a brew to be disappointed.

 

[madscientist451]

Looking for some suggestions. All of my brews have the same off flavor. I cannot identify the cause, and it is driving me crazy. The taste is almost a meaty flavor. It is not very strong, but it is in everything I brew - both all grain (BIAB), and extract. The flavor is not present in the sweet wort, but is noticeable after fermentation is complete.

So this is before packaging? Are you kegging or bottling?

 

[AMessenger]

Has somebody else tried the beer and noticed this? A sanity check from others could be helpful for making sense of things.

Beer is a complicated and complex thing. From personal experience, I’ve had times where I’ve become fixated on a particular ”off flavor” and then with time come to realize it was a flavor within the range of normal that I just hadn’t noticed before.

Not saying you don’t have an issue here but it could be that the obsession and frustration you are naturally feeling now could be clouding your judgement. I would say step away for a bit, let the impacted beers sit and age for a couple weeks, and maybe drink some commercial beer to reset the palate. Also, get somebody else to try one of your home brew, without hinting that you think something is wrong at first, and see if they detect something.

 

[Nick_G]

This sounds just like a problem one of our brew club members was having recently. Changed water, changed equipment, problem still there across multiple beer styles. Eventually tracked down to the fact that fermentation was incomplete every time - our brewer was not checking FG's and giving the yeast time to clean up. Not sure if this is the case here but worth checking. Otherwise I would recommend getting someone with sensory analysis / beer judging experience to assist in identifying the off-flavour you are picking up which should enable you to narrow down the problem. Good luck!

 

[BirchBeer]

So this is before packaging? Are you kegging or bottling?

Kegging and it is present before I transfer from primary to keg.

 

[BirchBeer]

+1 for evabarrier tubing. And +1 to disassembling everything to thoroughly clean. I doubt its a water issue with a description of "meaty". Take my suggestion for what its worth, but I would try buying a few packets of dry yeast and directly sprinkle ontop. I know this is not good practice, but for testing purposes, it will remove all handling of yeast, if the problem is there, that will show you pretty quick. Then can work on this process.
My 2 cents is to also take it back to basic and temporarily remove all unnecessary things, eg, aeration stone.

Can you smell it in the fermenter putting your head completely inside? Are there scratches in it or whatever?

I had a problem with a fermenter that had to clean several times with different things to rid of odour.

Anyway, goodluck. Its heartbreaking to spend all that energy and time in a brew to be disappointed.

No noticeable off smell in the fermentation chamber. I’m using a glass bigmouth carboy so no noticeable scratches. Am going to try an extra extra deep clean on all equipment before my next brew to see if it helps. Thanks for the suggestions.

 

[seatazzz]

@BirchBeer FYI, most supermarkets sell vegemite in the internation sections around all of the British good. I only know this because I’m immature and chuckle every time I walk past the Spotted Dick.

My money is on your water. Arrowhead isnt bad but the southern distro is bottled in Riverside. Not exactly an ideal place of clean water. If your northern I think they bottle in Redding (may be wrong).

@seatazzz I would like to know what happened with the overpitched Kviek. If you’ve already posted I’m happy to go hunting

Pretty much I didn't read enough before pitching an entire jar of Loki slurry into a 1.055 SG batch. Too much yeast, not enough for all of them to eat and a lot died, leaving a fairly expensive orange Wit with a huge bandaidy/phenolic/autolysed flavor. I've since done another batch (with the same strain) where I pitched a scant 1/2 cup of slurry and it resulted in HUGE pineapple esters, exactly what I was going for in that particular beer. Live and learn.

 

[Mtrhdltd]

I would stop using dish soap personally. It seems to be a common part of these off flavor threads. I reccomend an oxygen cleaner like PBW. Just my opinion.

 

[IslandLizard]

I would stop using dish soap personally. It seems to be a common part of these off flavor threads. I reccomend an oxygen cleaner like PBW.

Yeah, using dish soap can lead to other problems such as killing foam creating components and thus head.

(Generic) Oxiclean is a lot cheaper than PBW, as much as by a factor of 10, and just as effective in most all-round brewery cleaning. Or use washing soda, Oxiclean.without.the.oxygen.

Where it really counts add some TSP or TSP/90 (10-30%) turning it into homemade PBW or just save your PBW for that.

 

[dwightr8]

Yeah, using dish soap can lead to other problems such as killing foam creating components and thus head.

(Generic) Oxiclean is a lot cheaper than PBW, as much as by a factor of 10, and just as effective in most all-round brewery cleaning. Or use washing soda, Oxiclean.without.the.oxygen.

Where it really counts add some TSP or TSP/90 (10-30%) turning it into homemade PBW or just save your PBW for that.

Here's a pretty good article about it:

https://www.bertusbrewery.com/2012/11/super-charge-your-oxiclean.html

 

[jakegreen58]

"I thoroughly clean all equipment with unscented dish soap". This could be a source.

 

[jakegreen58]

2022 update. Ends up: It was my hops. Very old hops give a bandaid, almost burnt plastic flavor to the beer that was aweful. Never use old, been lying around sack of hops. Mine were 2-4 years old. almost no concern for storage. I had around 6 beers ruined by this.

 

[IslandLizard]

2022 update. Ends up: It was my hops. Very old hops give a bandaid, almost burnt plastic flavor to the beer that was aweful. Never use old, been lying around sack of hops. Mine were 2-4 years old. almost no concern for storage. I had around 6 beers ruined by this.

Did you intent to post that ^ in this thread? Seems out of context.

 

[Gilbert Spinning Horse]