Soap in my beer

[theonlysurfnbeer]

Hi all,

So my last few batches have come out in the early stages with a very soapy flavor that accompanies the hop flavor. It slowly fades with time until eventually it's not noticeable. Is this normal? I read the post about never dumb a batch and all it needs is time but I am under the impression that there are beers that can be enjoyed with great flavor 2 weeks after bottling. I won't dump any of this beer however I do want to improve future batches so if anyone has any tips, they'd be greatly appreciated!

Surf

 

[s4l]

Maybe residual soap somewhere from washing?

 

[theonlysurfnbeer]

I don't think so because I'm not using soap. I'm using pbw and starsan.

 

[Yooper]

"Soapy" usually comes from the breakdown of fatty acids.

From Howtobrew.com:
Soapy
Soapy flavors can caused by not washing your glass very well, but they can also be produced by the fermentation conditions. If you leave the beer in the primary fermentor for a relatively long period of time after primary fermentation is over ("long" depends on the style and other fermentation factors), soapy flavors can result from the breakdown of fatty acids in the trub. Soap is, by definition, the salt of a fatty acid; so you are literally tasting soap.



But if it gets better, it might be more related to the types of hops you're using, or some sort of flavor created by fermentation. What yeast strains have you been using, and what sort of fermentation temperatures have you been using?

 

[theonlysurfnbeer]

Great reply thanks. I know that at least one I left in primary for way to long. Nearly 3 months. Because of an unexpected trip out of country. The others I have let go a bit longer than two weeks just to be safe. I'll start trying to get them into secondary faster and see if that clears them up. Thanks for the reply!

 

[Gameface]

Hi all,

So my last few batches have come out in the early stages with a very soapy flavor that accompanies the hop flavor. It slowly fades with time until eventually it's not noticeable. Is this normal? I read the post about never dumb a batch and all it needs is time but I am under the impression that there are beers that can be enjoyed with great flavor 2 weeks after bottling. I won't dump any of this beer however I do want to improve future batches so if anyone has any tips, they'd be greatly appreciated!

Surf

It is possible to drink beer early and have it taste good. I'd say there are a few things that make it much more likely that you'll have good drinkable beer fast.

Pitching plenty of healthy yeast, typically by making a yeast starter.

Aerating your wort adequately which typically means you need to inject pure O2.

Keeping the wort at the ideal temp for the yeast, usually in the low 60s for ales. Usually requires a means of precisely controlling your wort temp.

Clearing the beer quickly. Depending on yeast strain this will probably require filtering or finings.

So yeah, you can get good beer fast. It takes a lot of equipment not required to get good beer in a month or two.

 

[WesleyS]

I had this happen once earlier this year. I brewed a pineapple honey wheat. After about a week and a half I tasted a sample from the carboy and it had a bitter soapy taste to it. A week later when it was ready to bottle the soapy flavor was no longer there. That's the only batch I've ever made that tasted soapy. I'm assuming it was just a mixture of the different flavors from the yeast, honey, pineapple and hops I used that at that early stage just tasted soapy. The soapy flavor never came back and it ended up being a pretty good beer.

 

[theonlysurfnbeer]

I had this happen once earlier this year. I brewed a pineapple honey wheat. After about a week and a half I tasted a sample from the carboy and it had a bitter soapy taste to it. A week later when it was ready to bottle the soapy flavor was no longer there. That's the only batch I've ever made that tasted soapy. I'm assuming it was just a mixture of the different flavors from the yeast, honey, pineapple and hops I used that at that early stage just tasted soapy. The soapy flavor never came back and it ended up being a pretty good beer.

Yeah, I didn't mention it in my original post, but I brewed a Double IPA a while back, it sat in primary only 3 weeks. 2 Weeks after bottling, the soap was overwhelming. Please to say that after 3 months in the bottle, it turned into quite an amazing beer. Maybe I'm just not bottle conditioning long enough.

 

[unionrdr]

Nope,not that at all. Something is breaking down the fatty acids in the trub layer (darker tan layer). Maybe Alpha Acids from a lot of hops? Maybe combined with underpitched yeast? I've never gotten that one,but just about every other one my first batch or 2.

 

[theonlysurfnbeer]

Hmmm. I'm a novice still. Under pitched yeast?

 

[Yooper]

Hmmm. I'm a novice still. Under pitched yeast?

In order for the yeast to be optimum, the correct amount of yeast should be pitched into the wort. That's usually more than one package of liquid yeast.

Consult mrmalty.com and look at the "yeast pitching calculator" to see what the optimum amount of yeast would be. It takes into consideration the OG of the wort, the amount of the wort, and the age of the yeast. It also has you input if it's a simple starter, a stir plate, etc, to guestimate the amount of yeast reproduction in a starter. It works great!

Stressed yeast is responsible for a variety of off-flavors in brewing, from esters and phenols to soapy flavors. Healthy yeast gives the best flavor in brewing.

 

[theonlysurfnbeer]

Oh ok I see. I'm using premium dry yeast as
I'm overseas and liquid yeast doesn't seem like a good idea.