What does oxidation taste like?

[woozy]

I've heard cardboard. Haven't ever had a beer that taste like cardboard (although I've had pizzas and pork chops that do).

The two batches I've tried so for both have a very slight chemical after-taste (very slight) like some sort of ... I'd say alcohol except, duh, it's beer! I'm having a hard time describing it nor can I really place what might have caused it. A little like rubbing alcohol (only not so awful).

Also both beers have a bit of a cotton-mouth feel to them. They're still good though, just not perfect.

 

[brewde]

The chemical taste is probably temperature related. I know that has caused me a lot of trouble. A fermenter doesn't have to spend to much time in the mid 70s before you start to get solvent flavors. The cotton-mouth thing might be part of that, but I would lean more to oxidation. To really get a taste of what your looking for when diagnosing oxidation, just leave about an ounce of beer with a moderate amount of malt (like IIPA, red ale, etc.) out for several hours. It will taste pretty awful, a little from the warmth, but mostly because it oxidized.

 

[meltroha]

It is most likely fermentation temperature. If you all-grain brew, it could be chlorine in the water, but many people argue with that. I brewed a hoppy pale ale for my first all-grain, and there was a metallic flavor, the same flavor is in my water. I use campden tablets now, and haven't experienced the issue again.

 

[Jay1]

Sometimes if I pull mine off the yeast too fast it will have an alcoholic bite that mellows out wih time.

I had some chemical taste in my beer that had to do with a bad hose I was using to fill my kettles.

 

[woozy]

Temperature, huh?

Well, I didn't regulate or check but then the room was consistently 68-71 or so my thermostat said. Then again I pitched the yeast while the wort was warm. Frankly I'm still at the staged that this alchemy of tossing things together comes up with something even remotely drinkable surprises me.

Weren't all-grain. Taste isn't metallic so much as ... anti-septic??? rubbing alcohol. It's very mild and not really unpleasant. And otherwise the beers are yummy. But it feels as though the taste isn't consistent throughout. It doesn't taste "clean" (which is actually fine as rich and complex are not "clean"). The taste starts "full" (albeit a bit "dirty") but finishes thinner and with a *very* slight "rubbing alcohol" end.

God, I'm making it sound terrible when they are both rather good; just ... well, slightly irregular.

Any good quick source to read up on how temperature affects flavor.

 

[woozy]

Sometimes if I pull mine off the yeast too fast it will have an alcoholic bite that mellows out wih time.

How fast is too fast. These (an amber and a blonde) were in the fermenter for 2 weeks. (Both to the day I think.)

 

[doby]

Pitch the yeast below 70 try and get the "room temp" stored at or below 65 and see if that helps.