Off flavor...

[jdgabbard]

Ok, so I brewed this morning. And while brewing I popped the cap off a 22oz bottle of my "go-to brew" recipe, that had been modified from using Light LME to using a darker amber LME. And this is were I'm stuck. I know there is an off flavor there. It taste similar to fermentation at a little too high of a temp, peppery maybe(?). But I know that is not the case, as I kept the temp down to 67F while this was fermenting. Now I did leave it on the yeast a little long. Maybe three weeks all together. So maybe it is off flavors from that. But it wouldn't be peppery I wouldn't think. This is the same flavor I noticed in another beer about a year ago when I had fermented at too high of a temp. Now while it is not terrible to drink, it is definitely present. One more thing to note, this batch used a recycled yeast cake. I basically pitched the wort onto the yeast cake when I bottled the original batch, which actually came out quite well.

 

[RM-MN]

Was the 67 degrees the temperature of the beer or the ambient temperature? Pitching on the yeast cake would be an overpitch and with that would come a strong fermentation which would try to push the temperature higher. With some yeasts, 67 would have been on the edge for making off flavors and being pitched on the yeast cake may have been enough to push the beer over the edge into temperatures that would cause fusel alcohols or esters.

Now, tell us what the "go-to" beer was and what yeast you used.

 

[jdgabbard]

Well, the ambient temp was 67, actual temp, I have no idea. The beer is a pretty simple recipe I use with a light LME, white wheat, and honey malt. The yeast is Wyeast American Ale. The difference with this one was the LME. The yeast cake and the LME are the only differences between the two batches. So I lean towards possible over pitching. But it still tastes more like a high temp fermentation. I will say this. Fermentation was complete in about three days, per airlock activity.

 

[Calder]

Unless you had some kind of temp control, such as a swamp cooler, I would expect a large temp rise in the wort with pitching onto a whole fresh yeast cake. You can almost guarantee you fermented at temps above the sweet spot for that yeast. Whether that is the cause of your problem, I couldn't tell.

 

[day_trippr]

Unless you had some kind of temp control, such as a swamp cooler, I would expect a large temp rise in the wort with pitching onto a whole fresh yeast cake. You can almost guarantee you fermented at temps above the sweet spot for that yeast. Whether that is the cause of your problem, I couldn't tell.

For sure it'd be a good place to start. That much yeast sans temperature control with a 67°F ambient is likely going to put the wort temperature in the mid-70s at least, not a good place to be for most yeasts...

Cheers!

 

[jdgabbard]

Yeah, I think you could be right there... Well, the beer is drinkable, I guess I should be thankful for that, but it's not the best batch of beer I've made.