Too hot alcohol taste

[sondriven]

Hello all,

I've done some searching on this for my homebrew and found that it could be from getting the beer off the yeast too soon and/or too warm ferm temps. So, I have an imperial stout that I all-grain brewed this past July. OG 1.090 FG 1.022. Ferm temp 67 degrees. WLP007. Primary 3 weeks and I then moved it to secondary for a month before bottling. Taste after a month bottle was pretty good. Very roasty, dry with a hint of warming alcohol flavor. Pretty much what I figured it'd be like with the high abv. After 3 months it tasted really good, so I figured the longer I age it the better, so I saved the last bottle for Christmas last night and it was horrible. Really hot alcohol taste and I couldn't finish the beer. Pretty bummed out because I figured it would mellow over time instead of getting hotter. I store my bottles in an old coal bin room in my basement where it's dark and cool.

Any thoughts on this? I'm wanting to brew another stout but don't want this to happen again.

Thanks,

 

[Scottanooga]

Is the 67 degrees the ambient air temp? If so, then your beer is getting even warmer, probably up into the 70's as it generates heat while fermenting.

Are you using a temperature controller or fermenting in a 67 degree space?

 

[sondriven]

Is the 67 degrees the ambient air temp? If so, then your beer is getting even warmer, probably up into the 70's as it generates heat while fermenting.

Are you using a temperature controller or fermenting in a 67 degree space?

Yeah, this was brewed before I had a temp controller and the temperature was ambient at 67 degrees. If this caused the issue, would the beer get more pronounced alcohol flavor with time? I would figure it would taste hot from the start and just not get better. Thanks for your help with this,

 

[specharka]

Yeah, this was brewed before I had a temp controller and the temperature was ambient at 67 degrees. If this caused the issue, would the beer get more pronounced alcohol flavor with time? I would figure it would taste hot from the start and just not get better. Thanks for your help with this,

Typically beer ferments around 5F higher than ambient, so there's a good chance the fusel alcohols were already there. Some of these harsher components can get groomed by the yeast over time, but there are limitations, especially for big beers.

 

[sondriven]

Typically beer ferments around 5F higher than ambient, so there's a good chance the fusel alcohols were already there. Some of these harsher components can get groomed by the yeast over time, but there are limitations, especially for big beers.

Thanks for your help. That all makes a lot of sense. I'm planning a new brew soon and my basement is a cozy 58 degrees right now. So with my temperature controlled warmer, I'll be good to keep it around 65 degrees.

 

[cyanmonkey]

Was it highly carbonated? I'm confused as to why all of a sudden it was fusely.

 

[sondriven]

Was it highly carbonated? I'm confused as to why all of a sudden it was fusely.

It was about three months before I tasted the last one so I don't know if it was super sudden? I think it's strange too. Carbonation wasn't very high. About 2.1v of C02.