schmurf
Well-Known Member
I think I'm in need of some help and advice here. I've been brewing for a little more than a year and have this, almost, constant off flavour in most of my beers. Maybe 75% of what I brew is British ales (bitters, milds, browns, IPA), and rest is hoppy American IPAs. I think I've brewed about 30 beers up until now.
From day one I've had this weird off flavour which is most noticeable in the British beers, not so much in the hoppy IPAs. I'd say that 9 of 10 British ales I brewed have had this flavour. The IPAs not so much, maybe the hops are hiding it or maybe it's just not so much of it in those.
When I bottle (used to) or keg (as of lately) the beer usually tastes OK but seems to develop during the first weeks carbonating/maturing, sometimes it somewhat fades away with time, sometimes it stays there all time.
Maybe I have a poor imagination, but I can't unfortunally put the flavour into words, which would have helped tremendously of course. I once shared a brew with beer drinking friends in hope that they would be able to put a name to the flavour, but with no success. To me it's a flavour that sometimes have made me dump the whole batch, it have not been a nice drinking experience.
I started with a simple BIAB setup; bag, 20 litre kettle, plastic fermenter with spigot and bottling. No fermentation control.
During the last half of 2018 I've been upgrading somewhat, I now have a Braumeister, SS fermenter (brewbucket), fermentation control (Brewjacket immersion) and I've started with kegging instead of bottling.
No change in result though, so I suspect there is something I do that produces this flavour, but as far as I know I have tried to reduce any off-flavour producing actions. My usual brew process is to take a known/tried recipe, or a very simple one by myself, mash and boil for 60 minutes, with grains milled by myself. Let my brews sit in the fermenter for 10 to 14 days, and then carbonate/mature for 14 days. I've done both dried yeast and liquid yeast with or without rehydration/starter. Since I purchased a TILT to follow the fermentation process I've noticed that my beer usually is finished fermenting by day 5.
As an example, my last brew I've been able to taste was Orfys Mild Mannered Ale. The brew day was pretty OK and fermentation looked good, a bit lower FG than expected.
I did a closed transfer from fermenter to (previously purged) keg to reduce oxygen uptake, tasted great at that time, but on day 12 after kegging, the flavour was there.
Please help me here to find possible sources for this flavour, I love brewing and I just want good tasting beers that make the effort worth while
From day one I've had this weird off flavour which is most noticeable in the British beers, not so much in the hoppy IPAs. I'd say that 9 of 10 British ales I brewed have had this flavour. The IPAs not so much, maybe the hops are hiding it or maybe it's just not so much of it in those.
When I bottle (used to) or keg (as of lately) the beer usually tastes OK but seems to develop during the first weeks carbonating/maturing, sometimes it somewhat fades away with time, sometimes it stays there all time.
Maybe I have a poor imagination, but I can't unfortunally put the flavour into words, which would have helped tremendously of course. I once shared a brew with beer drinking friends in hope that they would be able to put a name to the flavour, but with no success. To me it's a flavour that sometimes have made me dump the whole batch, it have not been a nice drinking experience.
I started with a simple BIAB setup; bag, 20 litre kettle, plastic fermenter with spigot and bottling. No fermentation control.
During the last half of 2018 I've been upgrading somewhat, I now have a Braumeister, SS fermenter (brewbucket), fermentation control (Brewjacket immersion) and I've started with kegging instead of bottling.
No change in result though, so I suspect there is something I do that produces this flavour, but as far as I know I have tried to reduce any off-flavour producing actions. My usual brew process is to take a known/tried recipe, or a very simple one by myself, mash and boil for 60 minutes, with grains milled by myself. Let my brews sit in the fermenter for 10 to 14 days, and then carbonate/mature for 14 days. I've done both dried yeast and liquid yeast with or without rehydration/starter. Since I purchased a TILT to follow the fermentation process I've noticed that my beer usually is finished fermenting by day 5.
As an example, my last brew I've been able to taste was Orfys Mild Mannered Ale. The brew day was pretty OK and fermentation looked good, a bit lower FG than expected.
I did a closed transfer from fermenter to (previously purged) keg to reduce oxygen uptake, tasted great at that time, but on day 12 after kegging, the flavour was there.
Please help me here to find possible sources for this flavour, I love brewing and I just want good tasting beers that make the effort worth while