Off tasting beer

[laerck]

Im on my third brew and yet again I am experiencing some odd aftertastes in my brew. My first was a recipe from Midwest, and the second and third were recipes I got from here (which have all been made by many other people who seem to have no problems with their beer), and they are all extract. With my first brew (a summer ale) it was a fairly strong aftertaste (stronger than the flavor of the beer itself), and with this third one (a irish red recipe) I am experiencing the same odd aftertaste, which can best be described as a slight metallic taste. Im careful about sanitation, and have noticed no infections. With the first brew my beer fermented at a slightly warm temperature and it sat in the primary and then the keg for a while before being refrigerated. But with this one everything stayed at the optimum fermenting temperature for the whole time (save for a few hours here or there where we lost power). I am using plastic buckets and make sure I keep a good seal on it. Only thing I can think of is either oxidation, improper fermenting temperatures, or that I have a bad habit of not matching the suggested original gravity of the wort. Any help would be appreciated, Id love to make another good brew someday.

 

[Captain Damage]

I'm thinking it's your brewing water. What is the source of your water? Is it the same for all three batches? If you're doing extract, try distilled - or reverse osmosis (RO) water for your next batch. Also, we can offer more help if we have more details re your sanitation procedures, what type of yeast, whether or not you make a starter, pitching temperature, fermentation temperature...ad many details as you csn think of.

 

[BxBrewer]

Did you put all the extract in the beginning of the boil ? Did you turn off the heat when mixing the extract ?

 

[laerck]

Ive used various water sources, the first time (which was the worst off tasting brew, I used distilled water), and the second and third time I used water from two different cities. I follow the instructions to the T, i.e. steeping the grain for the right amount of time at the right temperature then remove them, get things to a boil, then remove pot (and wait for bubbling to stop) and add extract stirring well etc. until its fully dissolved, then return to stove and once its boiling I add the first of the hops, then after X amount of time I add irish moss, and after more time I add the last of the hops (around flameout), before removing the hop bag. I quickly cool the wort to around 78F (15-20 min. approximately), add yeast and stir for about 5 minutes (I dont make a starter), strain the beer through a splatter guard as I pour into the fermtation bucket, add the remaining water to make 5 gallons (check OG as well, which on this last batch I did not fall within but was extremely close). Add airlock and keep in my fermentation chamber in the 60-70F range for 2.5 weeks (a couple times it got a little lower and a couple times it got higher but never for more than a few hours). After that time I check the FG (again I was a little outside of the range on this last batch but not by much), I siphon it to the keg, and get it to serving temperature and after a day or two I connect to the Co2. As far as sanitation goes, I make a 5 gallon bucket of Star San solution and make sure that everything that can get scrubbed is thoroughly scrubbed (and I use something that wont nick the plastic bucket so germs have nowhere to hide), and those things that cant really be scrubbed well gets dipped in it. If wort or beer is going to touch it, or even have the slightest chance of touching it I try to sanitize it. Ive only used white labs yeast, I check the date on it, and make sure its refrigerated until brew day. My recipes have included Midwest's Boundary Waters Extract Kit, then I followed this recipe for Paulaner style beer, and this last recipe was for the Quaffable Irish Red. Like I said I follow everything to a T on the instructions, and yet things never turn out 100% (only one that did well and barely had a noticeable off taste was the Paulaner style beer), its only been with this last batch that I had a fermentation chamber so the previous two brews sat at room temperature (72-75F) while fermenting. I check the seal on bucket too (I press down a little on the middle of the bucket lid to see if air comes out into the airlock), and I never see any infections and get some really good fermentations so Im no sure whats happening. Ive also run star san through my beer lines with my first and third batches while Im sanitizing the keg.

 

[JimRausch]

Good job on supplying details!
My 1st read-through three things popped out:
1. Pitched the yeast at 78*. A little too high and could lead to some stressed out yeast. Pitching at 68ish would be better.
2. Fermenting in the 70s could also lead to off-flavors. Now that you are getting that under control it should be better. Unless you're doing Belgians, try to ferment in the low to mid 60s.
3. Pitching 1 whitelabs tube in a batch is most likely underpitching. I haven't used WL yeast, but following other threads I believe those tubes are pretty much designed to make starters with. So, either step up to the wonderful (and fairly easy) world of yeast starters, or pitch multiple tubes, or switch to dry yeast.
Good luck in figuring this out. I'm sure others will chime in shortly.

 

[Carrollyn]

The last time that I used a vial of white labs without making a starter, it took three days for fermentation to begin. The consensus of my LHBC was that the beer was possibly contaminated, definitely oxidized, likely from that big pillow of air on top of the beer waiting to get displace by co2.

 

[Wolfbayne]

Metallic taste in beer could be from aluminum pots or other un-plated steel surfaces. Or high iron concentrations in the brewing water can account for some of these flavors as well.

1. What pot do you brew in?
2. What cities water were you using?

 

[bubbageez]

3. Pitching 1 whitelabs tube in a batch is most likely underpitching. I haven't used WL yeast, but following other threads I believe those tubes are pretty much designed to make starters with. So, either step up to the wonderful (and fairly easy) world of yeast starters, or pitch multiple tubes, or switch to dry yeast.

according to whitelabs website, they say that 1 tube of yeast is enough without a starter for a five gallon batch with an OG < 1.060. I still use a starter on every beer anyway just in case, but when i first started brewing i never made starters with whitelabs yeast and never had an issue

 

[BlindFaith]

according to whitelabs website, they say that 1 tube of yeast is enough without a starter for a five gallon batch with an OG < 1.060. I still use a starter on every beer anyway just in case, but when i first started brewing i never made starters with whitelabs yeast and never had an issue

Same here for me as far as having no problem when I first started brewing. My first 5 beers were fermented with White Labs with no starter. I to use one now regardless if I am using liquid, but as long as the OP isn't making bigger beers, there shouldn't be a yeast count problem. Of course, he would benefit from more yeast, but that isn't the cause of the off-flavor IMO.

I think it is the temp for sure if you are fermenting in the 70s and pitching at 78. Those are too high.

 

[BxBrewer]

The one thing I would do is a late addition with your extract. It will make a big difference .

If using liquid yeast, anything over 1.040 I would use a starter. Check out mrmalty.com

Get your wort down to 70 or lower.

Try to get setup to do full boils "6gal" or so. Getting wort and top off water to mix well takes more than just shaking. Partial boils are doable as I just moved to full boils after 3 years.

 

[laerck]

Ok but this last beer fermented in the 60s (and occasionally dipping into the upper 50s) because I had a fermentation chamber, it was only with the first two brews that I fermented in the 70s. Im using a stainless steel pot, and with my first brew (which was the worst) I used all distilled water so its not either of those. Im really thinking its a combination of pitching temp and using just one vial of white labs. When I ordered my first extract kit from Midwest it only included 1 white lab vial, and both of the recipes on here (to my knowledge) never said anything about need two vials or it being necessary to make starters so I assumed it wasnt needed. Reason why I think its probably not enough yeast is because although I always see some signs fermentation within 12 hours, but with my second beer (which had very little off taste if any) I got a full almost explosive fermentation and had to use tubing instead of airlock. Im finally moving somewhere, where I have the room to do all grain batches, but I want to master extracts before I move on. So with my next brew (unless someone can come up with any other possible reasons why Im having troubles) I will make sure to start doing starters and Ill grab a wort chiller. Thanks for any more suggestions.