Stressed yeast? Alcohol taste

[Ski12568]

I have an IPA that seems to have developed a slight alcohol taste that was not there in my first pours after being carbonated. I fermented on the low end of the recommended range with the probe insulated and taped to the fermenter, the OG was 1.063 FG 1.013, pure O2 for 90 seconds, and a starter. I'm not sure how else I could have stressed the yeast. Thanks for the help.

WLP041

 

[JayDubWill]

It doesn't sound like you stressed the yeast to me, 78% apparent attenuation is pretty normal in my experience. At 6.56% abv I would expect some alcohol flavors to be present. Now if they are hot fusel alcohols (think paint thinner) you're tasting it may be you actually over pitched or fermented too warm (above 75-80f depending on the yeast type). I'm wondering if the hop aroma and flavor was masking the alcohol initially.

 

[Ski12568]

I wouldn't say they are hot, just a slight alcoholic taste to it. I have made higher ABV beers that did not do this so I am worried I went wrong somewhere

 

[JayDubWill]

As long as the beer is still tasty, I wouldn't worry about it too much. The alcohol will more than likely fade with time...but of course so will all those wonderful hop aromas and flavors, so I don't think I would wait to drink it. IT could have been something as simply as fermenting just a few degrees warmer than you did last time. Inside the carboy can be as much as 10 degrees warmer (maybe more?) than their environment without temperature control, so that's a consideration. Lately I've been starting off my beers on the cool side of the fermentation range of whatever yeast i'm using and after 3 days letting it free-rise to about the middle point. (For example for a beer I just made using Wyeast 1968 I set my fermentation chamber (chest freezer and temp controller) to 62F for the first few days and then raised it to 65. After a week I let it go to 70 to finish. I read an article that said the majority of fusel alcohols are produced in the first few days of fermentation, so I prefer to avoid the problem by starting low if I can.

 

[Ski12568]

I'm going to have to try that next brew. It is good but I am super critical of my beers so it gets to me. I was supposed to send this to the Reddit homebrew competition but I decided not to because of this. Gonna try to find a local judge and ask for their opinion.