Heyo, I was hoping someone on this helpful forum could help me diagnose the problem with the flavors i'm finding in my early batches, since I can't find anyone among my friends that can help identify it.
I'll describe the flavors, and then i'll do my best to give an exhaustive breakdown of ingredients, and my process throughout the batches.
Flavors:
It's sour (not quite lambic/sour flavor), and harsh, almost like an alcohol burn, could be chemical-esque but i'm not sure. This flavor also dominates the aroma of the beers. One thing I noticed is that the intensity / harshness is not consistent across my bottles, some bottles are undrinkable, and some are bordering on acceptable. Also, this flavor was the same in both batches of the porter, the coffee only helped to hide it slightly.
Batch 1 - Robust Porter
Ingredients
6.60 lb Light Liquid Malt Extract
Grains:
1.00 lb Munich Malt
1.00 lb Crystal 40L malt, crushed
0.75 lb Chocolate malt, crushed
0.50 lb pound Black patent malt, crushed
Hops:
1 oz Cascade hops60 minutes
1 oz Cascade hops15 minutes
6 gallons of tap water, split
Brew Day
Sanitized all brewing equipment with Star San (soaked for 1hr in sanitized buckets), added 6 gallons of tap water to brew kettle (newly purchased) and started warming with burner heat. During this time I took all my crushed grain, placed inside grain sack, and sat inside kettle with lid on. Removed grain sack and lid at 170 and let grains drain (did not squeeze bag). Then we slowly started to add LME, stirring while adding, and let water heat to boil. After boil hit, I kept lid off but could not maintain rolling boil. Started 60 minute boil timer, and did my hops per schedule. I created a sanitized ice bath for my kettle, and let it sit in there for ~45 minutes, until wort was ~70 degrees.
Poured out sanitized water from fermenter, pour half of dried yeast (not re-hydrated) into bucket (I was using a bottling bucket, with spout attached for this, I realize this was wrong now), opened ball valve on kettle to slosh and pour into bucket, after 2.5 gallons had transferred I poured remaining yeast in and continued to transfer. Placed bucket in basement.
Fermenting
Started seeing bubbles in air lock within 10 hours, krausen at 10 hours, air lock bubbled over on day 2, had to clean and replace. Fermentation I noticed slowing down around one week. The temperature was not consistent while fermenting. Most days it sat in the mid 60s, but we got a heat wave and it peaked in the mid 70s or higher for one day. During this time moved the fermenter to several places in house to keep it cool.
Bottling
Bottled after 4 weeks. At this point I split the batch 2.5 gallons and 2.5 gallons, one would have cold brew added, and one not. As always I sanitized all equipment, bottles, racking cane, bottle buckets, spigots, bottle wand, brushes, measuring cup.
I boiled my 2/3 cup, store bought cane sugar (looks like little yellow crystals) and let cool. During this time I took 10 oz of cold brewed coffee, and poured in the bottom of my sanitized bottling bucket. I then split my priming sugar between buckets, and carefully racked beer (keeping racking cane close to top of beer level). We capped each bottle and let them sit 2 weeks. It has been ~4 months since this was bottled and flavor is still very strong in beer. All other aspects appear normal, beer has great carbonation, thick head that holds, and dark color.
Batch 2 - Deschutes Obsidian Stout Clone
Ingredients
6.60 lb of Liquid Malt Extract
Grains:
1.25 lb Baird black
1.00 lb Great Western crystal
10.0 oz Briess Carapils
10.0 oz Great Western Munich
10.0 oz Great Western wheat
2.00 oz Baird roasted barley
Hops:
1.00 oz Galena pellet - 90 min
1.00 oz Willamette pellet - 30 min
1.00 oz Northern Brewer pellet - 5 min
2 vials of liquid White Labs WLP002 (no starter created)
Brew Day
Same as batch one, filled my plastic buckets with water and star san, soaked all gear for 1+ hour, and cleaned my brew kettle. I added all grains to a single grain bag (should probably have used two) and it was very tight. I then used store bought spring water, filled 5 gallons in brew kettle and heated up to 170 degrees, cut heat to low, and dropped in grain bag to steep for 40 minutes. Lifted out grain bag, ran remaining 1.5 gallons of water (room temp) through center of grain bag and discarded grains. Water now topped to 6.2 gallons, turned up heat, and started to slowly add liquid malt extract, stirring smoothly.
Once boiling, started 90 minute timer, first hop addition. This time, to maintain intense boil (and hopefully kill more bacteria) I left on the lid of my kettle with it slightly cracked to vent air. This resulted in a consistent and intense boil. Final volume 5.2 gallons. Created sanitized ice bath for kettle, however I did not have enough ice, so it cooled for ~2 hours to roughly 75 degrees. Figuring this enough I took my room temperature liquid yeast vials, poured both into the bottom of the fermenter (now glass carboy), and opened ball valve on kettle to let it pour through funnel.
Fermenting
Carboy is now placed in my room with A/C running constantly throughout the 3 week fermentation. For this brew I set up blow off valve using sanitized hose, spent water jug with sanitized water filled in, and carboy cap. Days 1-4 had violent fermentation, high krausen, and filled water jug. Average temp was 67-72 degrees external temp to carboy. On day 20 I bottled.
Bottling
Same process and equipment as before but this time used auto siphon. Sanitized as usual. I used northern brewers carbonation calculator, and used the same process with 115 grams of weighed out priming sugar (same crystalline cane sugar), boiled, cooled, and placed in bottle bucket. I again used coffee (trying to mimic Obsidian), 22 oz of cold brew, and racked over top of both. At this point I used my sanitized paddle to give it a gentle mix. Then used filler wand to fill and cap bottles.
At this point they have been in bottle for 2-3 weeks, and I am cracking a bottle each week. They have decent carbonation, but again the flavors are sour and strikingly similar to batch one, with only slight improvements in taste. Again beer looks normal, with the only difference being some sediment in the bottom of the bottles (I attribute this to putting racking cane too far into fermenter).
If you read all of this I commend you! I just am desperate for some kind of way to identify this flavor so I can go on to make some homebrew that anyone will want to drink.
Thanks,
Bloot
I'll describe the flavors, and then i'll do my best to give an exhaustive breakdown of ingredients, and my process throughout the batches.
Flavors:
It's sour (not quite lambic/sour flavor), and harsh, almost like an alcohol burn, could be chemical-esque but i'm not sure. This flavor also dominates the aroma of the beers. One thing I noticed is that the intensity / harshness is not consistent across my bottles, some bottles are undrinkable, and some are bordering on acceptable. Also, this flavor was the same in both batches of the porter, the coffee only helped to hide it slightly.
Batch 1 - Robust Porter
Ingredients
6.60 lb Light Liquid Malt Extract
Grains:
1.00 lb Munich Malt
1.00 lb Crystal 40L malt, crushed
0.75 lb Chocolate malt, crushed
0.50 lb pound Black patent malt, crushed
Hops:
1 oz Cascade hops60 minutes
1 oz Cascade hops15 minutes
6 gallons of tap water, split
Brew Day
Sanitized all brewing equipment with Star San (soaked for 1hr in sanitized buckets), added 6 gallons of tap water to brew kettle (newly purchased) and started warming with burner heat. During this time I took all my crushed grain, placed inside grain sack, and sat inside kettle with lid on. Removed grain sack and lid at 170 and let grains drain (did not squeeze bag). Then we slowly started to add LME, stirring while adding, and let water heat to boil. After boil hit, I kept lid off but could not maintain rolling boil. Started 60 minute boil timer, and did my hops per schedule. I created a sanitized ice bath for my kettle, and let it sit in there for ~45 minutes, until wort was ~70 degrees.
Poured out sanitized water from fermenter, pour half of dried yeast (not re-hydrated) into bucket (I was using a bottling bucket, with spout attached for this, I realize this was wrong now), opened ball valve on kettle to slosh and pour into bucket, after 2.5 gallons had transferred I poured remaining yeast in and continued to transfer. Placed bucket in basement.
Fermenting
Started seeing bubbles in air lock within 10 hours, krausen at 10 hours, air lock bubbled over on day 2, had to clean and replace. Fermentation I noticed slowing down around one week. The temperature was not consistent while fermenting. Most days it sat in the mid 60s, but we got a heat wave and it peaked in the mid 70s or higher for one day. During this time moved the fermenter to several places in house to keep it cool.
Bottling
Bottled after 4 weeks. At this point I split the batch 2.5 gallons and 2.5 gallons, one would have cold brew added, and one not. As always I sanitized all equipment, bottles, racking cane, bottle buckets, spigots, bottle wand, brushes, measuring cup.
I boiled my 2/3 cup, store bought cane sugar (looks like little yellow crystals) and let cool. During this time I took 10 oz of cold brewed coffee, and poured in the bottom of my sanitized bottling bucket. I then split my priming sugar between buckets, and carefully racked beer (keeping racking cane close to top of beer level). We capped each bottle and let them sit 2 weeks. It has been ~4 months since this was bottled and flavor is still very strong in beer. All other aspects appear normal, beer has great carbonation, thick head that holds, and dark color.
Batch 2 - Deschutes Obsidian Stout Clone
Ingredients
6.60 lb of Liquid Malt Extract
Grains:
1.25 lb Baird black
1.00 lb Great Western crystal
10.0 oz Briess Carapils
10.0 oz Great Western Munich
10.0 oz Great Western wheat
2.00 oz Baird roasted barley
Hops:
1.00 oz Galena pellet - 90 min
1.00 oz Willamette pellet - 30 min
1.00 oz Northern Brewer pellet - 5 min
2 vials of liquid White Labs WLP002 (no starter created)
Brew Day
Same as batch one, filled my plastic buckets with water and star san, soaked all gear for 1+ hour, and cleaned my brew kettle. I added all grains to a single grain bag (should probably have used two) and it was very tight. I then used store bought spring water, filled 5 gallons in brew kettle and heated up to 170 degrees, cut heat to low, and dropped in grain bag to steep for 40 minutes. Lifted out grain bag, ran remaining 1.5 gallons of water (room temp) through center of grain bag and discarded grains. Water now topped to 6.2 gallons, turned up heat, and started to slowly add liquid malt extract, stirring smoothly.
Once boiling, started 90 minute timer, first hop addition. This time, to maintain intense boil (and hopefully kill more bacteria) I left on the lid of my kettle with it slightly cracked to vent air. This resulted in a consistent and intense boil. Final volume 5.2 gallons. Created sanitized ice bath for kettle, however I did not have enough ice, so it cooled for ~2 hours to roughly 75 degrees. Figuring this enough I took my room temperature liquid yeast vials, poured both into the bottom of the fermenter (now glass carboy), and opened ball valve on kettle to let it pour through funnel.
Fermenting
Carboy is now placed in my room with A/C running constantly throughout the 3 week fermentation. For this brew I set up blow off valve using sanitized hose, spent water jug with sanitized water filled in, and carboy cap. Days 1-4 had violent fermentation, high krausen, and filled water jug. Average temp was 67-72 degrees external temp to carboy. On day 20 I bottled.
Bottling
Same process and equipment as before but this time used auto siphon. Sanitized as usual. I used northern brewers carbonation calculator, and used the same process with 115 grams of weighed out priming sugar (same crystalline cane sugar), boiled, cooled, and placed in bottle bucket. I again used coffee (trying to mimic Obsidian), 22 oz of cold brew, and racked over top of both. At this point I used my sanitized paddle to give it a gentle mix. Then used filler wand to fill and cap bottles.
At this point they have been in bottle for 2-3 weeks, and I am cracking a bottle each week. They have decent carbonation, but again the flavors are sour and strikingly similar to batch one, with only slight improvements in taste. Again beer looks normal, with the only difference being some sediment in the bottom of the bottles (I attribute this to putting racking cane too far into fermenter).
If you read all of this I commend you! I just am desperate for some kind of way to identify this flavor so I can go on to make some homebrew that anyone will want to drink.
Thanks,
Bloot
