Off flavours in my batch

[brhenrio]

Just tried my first batch and have some serious off flavours. Pretty sure I know what caused it but want to narrow it down for sure.
Brewers best kit Irish red ale. five gallons of water preboil, steeped the grain bag at 160-170 for 30 minutes and then brought to a boil and added extract. Noticed after adding extract that it had a best before date six months prior to me using it. Followed instructions for boil and then my major mistake, took me an hour and a half to cool it down to 27, while I vigorously stirred. OG after boil was 1.040. Rehydrate fresh yeast, danstar nottingham, and pitched at 27 celsius. Sanitized everything with starsan. Vigorous fermentation for 3 days but temp hit 14C after four days. (I left for weekend and house got really cool) I opened lid and krausen was still there and gravity of 1.020. Resealed and left for two more days before moving to secondary. Let sit in secondary for two weeks and a small krausen formed. Final gravity was ~1.008. Bottled and now a week later I tried a bottle. At bottling a strong, malty sweaty gym sock taste was evident. That taste has subsided a little but dominates the aftertaste. Also notice a little green apple. Some carbonation but no head.

My biggest mistake leading to this off taste I think is the way I cooled the wort. I think I may have some oxidation issues. My biggest question is that my assumption is correct? I want to clean up my practices before I switch to all grain and this has definitely turned me off of extract.
Any suggestions greatly appreciated.

Cheers!

 

[flars]

Don't get turned off to extract from one poor batch. The off flavor you are experiencing has several sources, one may be the age of the extract. High fermentation temperature at the beginning is more likely the second cause of the off flavor. Nottingham yeast ferments with the fewest esters around 14° to 16°C. Right now you are tasting a very green beer. Given a few more weeks of conditioning may reduce some, but not all, of the off flavor.

 

[brhenrio]

Thanks. I am definitely not turned off brewing it is all I can think about 24/7, but really want to go all grain.

 

[brewbrah]

Steeping temps range from 150-160 never exceeding 170. Oxidation would create a cardboard flavor. You only have to worry about that once fermentation has started. Yeast like to have some oxygen when starting out.

How was the sanitation for the bottling? what is the temp the bottles were at for the week in the bottle?

I leave my bottles setting at 19C for about 10 days before I even test one. if it is carbed up, I will drop the temp to serving temp. I let it sit like that so it will get better with time. I normally start really drinking them after about a month after bottling.

 

[brhenrio]

Think I am just impatient. The ambient in the "conditioning room" is around 17C

 

[wizzzard]

most new brewers ignore what h2o they use, figuring a good boil will cure all.
hard water,soft,salty,heavy iron etc all has a LARGE play in finish.
the easiest way so solve this is using a neutral water to start.
home delivery bulk water isnt really that expensive, next is a large filter setup.
last is supermarket ion, get your own bottled.
try it youll never go back!

 

[unionrdr]

I switched to spring water from the store or White House Artisian Springs. Better flavors & the lil yeasties seem to like it. And 27C ( 80.6F) is definitely more than 10 degrees too high for clean fermentation. Get the temp down to 64-69F, or 18C- 21C would be a lot better. Those off flavors are likely from the high initial ferment temps. They say now that most off flavors are produced during the lag phase when yeast cells are reproducing, & only get worse during the initial, rapid fermentation.
And at one week, the beer is still green. 3 weeks at about 21C or a bit more is common for bottle carbonation & conditioning. Maybe 4 weeks to clean up some more. Then a week fridge time to give any chill haze a chance to form & settle like a fog from the long wort chill time. This also compacts the yeast & trub more on the bottom of the bottles. It'll also give better head & longer lasting carbonation.