Tasting off-flavours

[NewkyBrown]

I am finding some weird tastes in my beers and I'm not sure how to work out what causes them. I have read a few books which state the most common off flavors but I can't pinpoint if mine have any specific tastes.
Does it take time to become experienced with tasting homebrew and figuring out flavors?
I enjoy drinking my beers but they are not great yet.

 

[masterfool101]

I am finding some weird tastes in my beers and I'm not sure how to work out what causes them. I have read a few books which state the most common off flavors but I can't pinpoint if mine have any specific tastes.
Does it take time to become experienced with tasting homebrew and figuring out flavors?
I enjoy drinking my beers but they are not great yet.

You'll have to tell us why you used, your temperatures, and details and we can help you figure it out.

Now, to answer your question, yes, it takes time to develop your palette to pick out certain flavors ... But you should be able to give broad descriptions of what your tasting ... ie fruity, bitter, metallic, etc.

Sometimes your beer will taste exactly like its supposed to ... But it may just not be something you like

 

[NewkyBrown]

You'll have to tell us why you used, your temperatures, and details and we can help you figure it out.

Now, to answer your question, yes, it takes time to develop your palette to pick out certain flavors ... But you should be able to give broad descriptions of what your tasting ... ie fruity, bitter, metallic, etc.

Sometimes your beer will taste exactly like its supposed to ... But it may just not be something you like

No one flavor sticks out yet , maybe I'm worrying too much. I'll try and control fermentation temps a little better as I think this is the part I struggle with most!

 

[Clonefan94]

What water are you using? Tap water that has chlorine in it, leaves a very odd taste, but, not necessarily bad and not always as specific or prominent as medicine or band aid as described.

Could be extract twang from older extracts, could be high fermentation temps, basically, without more specific information, water, extract, fermentation temps, it's really hard for anyone to say. Give us as many specifics about your process as you can and it could be easier to pinpoint.

 

[NewkyBrown]

What water are you using? Tap water that has chlorine in it, leaves a very odd taste, but, not necessarily bad and not always as specific or prominent as medicine or band aid as described.

Could be extract twang from older extracts, could be high fermentation temps, basically, without more specific information, water, extract, fermentation temps, it's really hard for anyone to say. Give us as many specifics about your process as you can and it could be easier to pinpoint.

My tap water her has a chlorine taste to it so that could be it. I didn't cool thelast batch quickly enough (about 45 mins) and my ferment temps were a touch high at 68-70F. I was using wyeast 2112 for an anchor steam extract clone.

 

[Hackwood]

Ferm temps are one of, if not the biggest obstacles to get beyond. A LOT of the other stuff is "dummy proof" in a sense, but Ferm temps are key. You have a lot going on at this time.

 

[Clonefan94]

My tap water her has a chlorine taste to it so that could be it. I didn't cool thelast batch quickly enough (about 45 mins) and my ferment temps were a touch high at 68-70F. I was using wyeast 2112 for an anchor steam extract clone.

If your municipality uses chlorine, my guess would be that it's about a 99% chance that's it. I built a filter system for my water, using a 2.5 x 10 inch filter housing and getting a solid block carbon filter to go inside of it. This was for ease as I'm already buying 5 gallons a week of R/O water for the house to drink and didn't want to deal with another 5-10 gallons a week, but this could be an option for you.

Basically, everything is available at Home Depot or any other hardware store for the filter system. It made a huge difference in the quality of my beer and sounds similar to the situation you are in. There was just this odd flavor to the first couple of beers I made, it wasn't bad, it wasn't sour, there was just this lasting after taste that wasn't quite right.

My suggestion would be, on your next brew, to buy "Purified" water from the store and use that. It would be a good starting point to at least see if the tap water was the issue. If the taste isn't there on that brew, then you know Chlorine was probably the problem. If not, then we would have to dig deeper.

Your temps seem fine, if that was actual fermentation temp and not room temp. Don't forget, fermentation is an exothermic process. So just because the room is 70, doesn't meant the beer is fermenting at that, it's probably closer to 75 or so. I tend to shoot for mid 60s with ales.

But as I said, I think first step is getting water without chlorine and go from there. There are other issues with extracts though as well. Make sure heat is off when adding them to the boil. Make sure they are completely dissolved before turning the heat back on. If it's liquid extract, try adding half at the start of the boil, then the rest with about 15 minutes left.

Sorry, yes, I did ramble a ton, but those are the first steps to try and I think you'll notice a huge difference on the next batch.

 

[NewkyBrown]

If your municipality uses chlorine, my guess would be that it's about a 99% chance that's it. I built a filter system for my water, using a 2.5 x 10 inch filter housing and getting a solid block carbon filter to go inside of it. This was for ease as I'm already buying 5 gallons a week of R/O water for the house to drink and didn't want to deal with another 5-10 gallons a week, but this could be an option for you.

Basically, everything is available at Home Depot or any other hardware store for the filter system. It made a huge difference in the quality of my beer and sounds similar to the situation you are in. There was just this odd flavor to the first couple of beers I made, it wasn't bad, it wasn't sour, there was just this lasting after taste that wasn't quite right.

My suggestion would be, on your next brew, to buy "Purified" water from the store and use that. It would be a good starting point to at least see if the tap water was the issue. If the taste isn't there on that brew, then you know Chlorine was probably the problem. If not, then we would have to dig deeper.

Your temps seem fine, if that was actual fermentation temp and not room temp. Don't forget, fermentation is an exothermic process. So just because the room is 70, doesn't meant the beer is fermenting at that, it's probably closer to 75 or so. I tend to shoot for mid 60s with ales.

But as I said, I think first step is getting water without chlorine and go from there. There are other issues with extracts though as well. Make sure heat is off when adding them to the boil. Make sure they are completely dissolved before turning the heat back on. If it's liquid extract, try adding half at the start of the boil, then the rest with about 15 minutes left.

Sorry, yes, I did ramble a ton, but those are the first steps to try and I think you'll notice a huge difference on the next batch.

No, thanks for rambling. I really appreciate the feedback. Like I said, I enjoy drinking my beer but feel anyone else who drinks it is just been polite by saying its good!
I will try some bottled water next time and see how it goes.
I now have made a wort chiller but haven't used it yer so that should help too.
Thanks

 

[seriousbeef]

Are you doing full-boil extracts or topping up? If you were doing full-boil, chlorine shouldn't be an issue as the boiling process removes relatively the majority of the chlorine

 

[NewkyBrown]

Are you doing full-boil extracts or topping up? If you were doing full-boil, chlorine shouldn't be an issue as the boiling process removes relatively the majority of the chlorine

I usually top up with 2 gallons with filtered water but use regular tap for boil.