Weird smell after carbing

[Kyle87]

Hey guys my ipa is done and I have been carbing it in my corny keg for the last 4 days. I just poured a glass to try it and while still a little under carbed it has a smell that every one of my batches has had. It's hard to explain but the smell seems to come from the head of the beer and like I said, it doesn't seem to make a difference what style I make they all smell the same. Any thoughts?

 

[Yooper]

Hey guys my ipa is done and I have been carbing it in my corny keg for the last 4 days. I just poured a glass to try it and while still a little under carbed it has a smell that every one of my batches has had. It's hard to explain but the smell seems to come from the head of the beer and like I said, it doesn't seem to make a difference what style I make they all smell the same. Any thoughts?

If many batches taste/smell the same, I'm guessing that it's water related. What is your water profile? Or are you using distilled water?

 

[Kyle87]

I have never looked into our water but I do use the 5.2 ph stabilizer and I know a lot of people say it's bs so maybe I'll have to look into the water alittle more. Ps it tastes good out of the tap but that doesn't mean anything either

 

[Stillraining]

What does it smell like? can you close your eyes and find a match in your past sensory perception memory bank?

 

[Kyle87]

Yah they all seem to have a very similar smell. The first few batches I didn't have the ph stabilizer and the last few i used it with no difference. The different styles have the tastes I'm looking for but like I said it seems like the head is what smells the same on every beer I've brewed

 

[Kyle87]

And I can't really pinpoint what it smells like

 

[Subdivisions]

pH stabilizer isn't going to change your water from being bad for brewing to good, it's also a crock as you have learned. Try brewing a batch with some bottled water. If you're doing extract batches then you can get away with straight RO or distilled water. If all grain then try to use spring water as it has minerals that you need.

 

[jwalk4]

Do you get the smell in subsequent pours? Sometimes I'll get an off aroma (kinda metallic smelling) if I don't dump the beer in the lines.

Kind of annoying, I know, but try to pour a 1/4 or 1/2 glass, dump, rinse and pour a fresh pint and see if you still have your off flavor.

 

[urg8rb8]

Well, since you are consistently getting the smell from different batching, then you can easily conduct an experiment to figure out what is going on. First test would be to get RO, throw in the required salts. Still have the same smell?