keys2heaven
Active Member
So I brewed the extract kit from NB back in August. I let set in the primary for 2 months. Temp was pretty stable at 68-72F. (I have a closet in my house that stays a pretty consistent temp).
Took hydrometer reading and tasted sample when racking to the secondary a few weeks ago. Wow, really good.
I am very anal about cleaning and sanitizing, so I was a little taken aback when I tasted my hydrometer sample after bottling. The beer is smooth and hits your tongue with a pleasant sweetness. However, this is the first beer I've brewed where I definitely picked up a slightly sour aftertaste, like a green apple. The sour notes weren't anywhere near wanting one to pucker, and it hit right about the middle to a little further back on the tongue.
My first concern was contamination. I've read some posts about beers being to "green" and could lead to a green apple sour aftertaste. Typically a few weeks of bottle conditioning takes care of that. However, with the amount of time in the primary and secondary, I would think that "greenness" wouldn't be an issue. Some other posts indicate that scotch ale's take awhile to condition and that the sour taste isn't uncommon.
My OG was 1.060 (recipe stated) and my FG was 1.018 and I'm a little disappointed in that. I did not make a starter with this and I'm kicking myself for not doing so as I think this really would have helped. I made my first starter with NB's Caribou Slobber I just brewed last weekend. 2 hour lag time and I'm pretty happy with that!
Anyway, I'm going to let these bottles condition a few weeks and see how they turn out. Just wanted your input on if this is normal for a scotch ale or anything that I need to look at in my brewing process. Anything on the cold side is thoroughly cleaned and sanitized and I use StarSan for sanitizing my buckets, hoses, cane, strainers, etc.
Just looked at the yeast strain (Wyeast 1098 British Ale) that I used and it does say it will ferment dry, crisp, slightly tart and fruity. So, maybe I'm worrying over nothing.
Took hydrometer reading and tasted sample when racking to the secondary a few weeks ago. Wow, really good.
I am very anal about cleaning and sanitizing, so I was a little taken aback when I tasted my hydrometer sample after bottling. The beer is smooth and hits your tongue with a pleasant sweetness. However, this is the first beer I've brewed where I definitely picked up a slightly sour aftertaste, like a green apple. The sour notes weren't anywhere near wanting one to pucker, and it hit right about the middle to a little further back on the tongue.
My first concern was contamination. I've read some posts about beers being to "green" and could lead to a green apple sour aftertaste. Typically a few weeks of bottle conditioning takes care of that. However, with the amount of time in the primary and secondary, I would think that "greenness" wouldn't be an issue. Some other posts indicate that scotch ale's take awhile to condition and that the sour taste isn't uncommon.
My OG was 1.060 (recipe stated) and my FG was 1.018 and I'm a little disappointed in that. I did not make a starter with this and I'm kicking myself for not doing so as I think this really would have helped. I made my first starter with NB's Caribou Slobber I just brewed last weekend. 2 hour lag time and I'm pretty happy with that!
Anyway, I'm going to let these bottles condition a few weeks and see how they turn out. Just wanted your input on if this is normal for a scotch ale or anything that I need to look at in my brewing process. Anything on the cold side is thoroughly cleaned and sanitized and I use StarSan for sanitizing my buckets, hoses, cane, strainers, etc.
Just looked at the yeast strain (Wyeast 1098 British Ale) that I used and it does say it will ferment dry, crisp, slightly tart and fruity. So, maybe I'm worrying over nothing.
throw another batch in the works...........Pipeline!!!!!
