Tastes like . . . Yeast?

[rhinostylee]

My dry irish stout has been in the bottles for about 10 days now. It's carbonated just fine. But the taste is not that great. I realize it's early in the process . . . isn't a stout supposed to taste weird for a few months? It doesn't taste medicinal, it really tastes . . . well, I guess like yeast. I'm not too sure what the "yeast" taste is since I never have had it, except in bread. But this doesn't taste so great.

I know patience is a virtue in brewing beer, and I'll let these age for as long as they need.

I guess your input would be appreciated . . . have any of you had stouts that tasted weird and then miraculously over time tasted awesome?

Also, this is the beer that would not reach my FG and stalled out at 1.019 after adding a second yeast packet. I imagine over time the yeast will go dormant and fall to the bottom of the glass, and then it won't taste so yeasty.

 

[david_42]

Stouts can certainly take a while. And they can change radically. Porters are the same way. Give it another 4 to 6 weeks. The darker & heavier an ale is the longer it can take to mature.

 

[homebrewer_99]

...and do a slow one pour. Don't allow the yeast to mix with the beer as you pour it. Stop pouring when this happens.

Next time don't be so "greedy" when racking to the bottling bucket. Try to take only the clean beer from the bucket and leave the yeast alone.

This is one reason why I brew 5.5 gals...so I can bottle 5 gals and don't have to worry about any loss.

 

[Catfish]

I have the same problem with my Mexican Amber. The flavor is overwhelmed by yeast, sweetness and yeast. There is almost no sediment collecting on the bottom, but the beer itself is a bit cloudy. They were bottled almost 3 weeks ago, I used dry yeast (nottingham). The fementation temp was at the high end, probably pushing the limits of okay. Could the high temp cause it?

 

[david_42]

Yeast can overheat and if they die, they don't focculate well. That would explain both the sweetness and the yeasty flavor.

 

[homebrewer_99]

Not knowing the ingredients of your brew, I can say without a doubt that if your beer is sweet then you didn't use enough bittering hops.

If it's cidery tasting then you are using too much corn sugar.

Those are just some basic rules to put in your library.

 

[rhinostylee]

Yeast can overheat and if they die, they don't focculate well. That would explain both the sweetness and the yeasty flavor.

All extremely helpful advice . . . I think you nailed it here. I'm always in such a hurry to put a lid on my primary because I'm afraid of contamination that I probably pitch the yeast when it's still too hot. That also explains my high FG readings.

As far as the current "yeasty" batch, I'll let it age and find out how much of that yeast taste goes away.

It sure will be nice when I make beer that TASTES GOOD TO DRINK instead of having them be LESSONS IN WHAT I DID WRONG!!

 

[homebrewer_99]

Also, after bottling give each bottle a couple of spins when they're in the cases. This helps things fall out onto the bottom faster.

Repeat the process in a few days.

 

[The Happy Mug]

Exactly what strain of yeast did you use?

 

[Baron von BeeGee]

Also, after bottling give each bottle a couple of spins when they're in the cases. This helps things fall out onto the bottom faster.

So is it some sort of centrifugal effect? I usually spin mine at 1 week and no more...my thought process was that it roused the yeast one last time to really clean the beer.

 

[rhinostylee]

Also, after bottling give each bottle a couple of spins when they're in the cases. This helps things fall out onto the bottom faster.

Repeat the process in a few days.

Well, they've been in the bottle for 2 weeks. Is it too late to spin them, or does it really matter?

 

[homebrewer_99]

So is it some sort of centrifugal effect? I usually spin mine at 1 week and no more...my thought process was that it roused the yeast one last time to really clean the beer.

Yes, it is. I spin mine after bottling and a couple (about 4) days later.

You could do it just once. Even that is better than none.

 

[Catfish]

After a bit of a rest the yeastiness of my beer has settled, it's still a bit sweet for my taste but it is certainly drinkable. too sweet, not hoppy enough, but it is Beer and I made it!

maybe I should have another to make sure...

 

[homebrewer_99]

Congrats!

I'm repeating myself here, but...:

One thing you have to be mindful of when putting your recipes together is the OG-SG range of the brew and the alpha acid %.

If you brew on the high end of the malt scale you need to compensate by adding hops for the high end. If you don't your malt will be sweeter than your bittering hops and the beer will not be balanced. Drinkable, yes, but not balanced.

Same goes with brewing on the low end of the malt scale and using hops on the high end, your brew will be more bitter than you probably wanted.

Just something to think about.

 

[McCall St. Brewer]

Just be patient. You will be astounded at how much a few more weeks in the bottles will benefit your beer.