Off-flavor?

[jtkroh]

Extract brewer, stovetop, 2.5 gal boil for 5 gal batch.

Just brewed and bottled a spiced ale using mulling spices. Threw the spice in at the end of the boil and had it in the primary for two weeks. When I checked the gravity and "sampled" it after two weeks the brew seemed almost watery. I added some more mulling spices for 2.5 weeks in the secondary. When I went to bottle the flavor increased slightly but not as much as I thought it would. Went ahead and bottled anyway thinking that it wouldn't be too bad after getting some fizz in it.

When I popped one after 1.5 weeks of carbing, it has this... well, to me it tastes as if you bit into an orange without peeling it first. The mulling spice does have orange peel in it but im surprised to only find it after bottling. I'm wondering, if this could be that flavor coming through, or if I may have picked up some contamination during bottling? Anyone know of what would produce an off-flavor like this?

Also to note, it took entirely too long to cool this before putting in the fermentor. Could it be the sulfides from the extract? Any other thoughts?

 

[Jsmith82]

I brewed a double orange Bavarian, tons of orange zest went into the beer but I zested into the rind on a couple of the oranges which brought in a very unpleasant orange scent and flavor, a spicy almost pungent scent much like the sting of an overpowering navel orange, flavor was quite bitter as well.

My reason for telling you this, it seems your beer and mine shared somewhat the same problem. I let my beer sit for about 6 weeks and the off scent and flavor dissipated, the more time I gave it the better it got. Keep other suggestions around here in mind always but I'm thinking you may just need to shelve this one for a while and come back to it later, you might be surprised..

And there's a reason to immediately brew another beer. You're welcome.

Cheers!