Canadian Blonde Flavour

[Motorhomebrew]

right its just a quick one. Unfortunately im abit of a homebrew lager lover and my experience with kits that use ale yeast is that they tend to leave a strong unwanted taste?!?!?! is it just me??? I hope not. Having said that I haven't done alot of brews using ale yeast but the ones I have done just end up tasting the same. im currently drinking a Canadian Blonde witch is nice but not a seshionable beer due to the after taste. anyone feel the same?

 

[brydo]

Hi mate, yeah I did a Canadian blonde kit a while back and it has been bottled now for two months. There is a strange after taste to it I've been hoping that given time it would disappear but after two months it's still there. I sanitised everything like a always so don't think it's an infection, I wondered if the kit was maybe old when I bought it( it was on sale from tesco direct) I'd be interested if any one else has found this too

 

[HebridesRob]

Do Tesco do any Scandinavian Blondes? I might be interested.

Edit: Oops, sorry. Wrong forum. :twisted:

 

[Covrich]

I did the canadian blonde probably nearly a year ago, I thought it was okay but really needed something to lift it as I thought it was bland..

However there was a very subtle funny aftertaste like you guys say.. I just thought it was home brew twang

 

[Motorhomebrew]

thank god its not just me. and brydo its definitely not an infection I can vouch for that as I also sanitize like a nutter to massively minimise the chance of infection. the reason I say that iv had a couple of brews taste the same is because I once brewed the coopers standard lager that comes with an ale yeast and it taste exactly the same as the Canadian blonde now im personally putting that down to the ale yeast used in both kits. now im less inclined to want to buy another ale kit incase I end up with that same after taste witch quite frankly after 4 pints I cannot stand. sad face. as I say im more of a lager homebrewer and iv never had that taste from the yeasts used to create a lager. Covich if that twang is a homebrew twang, shoot me now ha ha. i see you've done a few ales. how do they compare?

 

[Motorhomebrew]

having said all that pouring a pint out of my keg with a party star makes it taste all that bit better. true draft

 

[Covrich]

thank god its not just me. and brydo its definitely not an infection I can vouch for that as I also sanitize like a nutter to massively minimise the chance of infection. the reason I say that iv had a couple of brews taste the same is because I once brewed the coopers standard lager that comes with an ale yeast and it taste exactly the same as the Canadian blonde now im personally putting that down to the ale yeast used in both kits. now im less inclined to want to buy another ale kit incase I end up with that same after taste witch quite frankly after 4 pints I cannot stand. sad face. as I say im more of a lager homebrewer and iv never had that taste from the yeasts used to create a lager. Covich if that twang is a homebrew twang, shoot me now ha ha. i see you've done a few ales. how do they compare?

I only did a few kits but that was the only one I noticed that after taste which I thought was home brew twang.. It wasn't to me extremely unpleasant but it was just a twang I would rather not have there.. Other than that I thought it was light and refreshing if a little bland.. If I done it again I would have certainly dry hopped it or added hops to a 15 min boil with the DME which I think would have surpressed the twang a bit and given it a fresher flavour.

That said my after taste and your aftertaste might actually be different.

It could be the coopers yeast you have used which has given off a particular flavour which you do not like.. Kits tend to not supply the greatest yeast.

What also can make a difference is the fermentables.. what did you add to the kit?

As for other kits I think the festival and Youngs ones are pretty good I did a youngs one and it was pretty good, I assume you like ales? You said you prefer lager, do you normally brew with true lager yeast?

 

[Motorhomebrew]

yes I do normally brew with true lager yeasts. and yes I also like ales. I would be interested if adding more hops like you say would take that "Twang" away. I used 500g dextrose and 500g light spray malt. the actual flavour is nice its just that twangy kik you get at the end that doesn't quite sit well. we should send each other a bottle to try. id be interested in the different flavour if any

 

[brydo]

i did mine with the coopers brew enhancer one. id done a coopers heritage and youngs pilsner kit before the blonde and they were good, less of a twang but still something there. i suppose the best thing about it was it pushed me quicker to all grain and the difference in quality is ten fold.

 

[Motorhomebrew]

yeh im not at the all grain stage myself yet. think ill work on dry hopping to enhance flavour

 

[Covrich]

yeh im not at the all grain stage myself yet. think ill work on dry hopping to enhance flavour

For this kit yeah I would say a hop addition is really needed.

I haven't found all kits have that aftertaste twangs and some are pretty good, but like Byrdo says AG is just another level so if it is something you are thinking of in the future then yeah gradually work your way towards that.

If further down the line what you could do is start looking at pimping the kit up by swapping out the yeast (I think that makes a huge difference) and steeping specialty grains or even a partial mash.

Or go have a go at making an extract to begin with.. you will find extract will eliminate a lot of the twangs you get with kits. You can do extract with a 10 liter pot, it will introduce you to the boil process without having to worry about the mash or larger equipment.

Or of course if you're feeling brave enough try clibits 5 liter AG.. as a way to try it out

 

[clibit]

Or of course if you're feeling brave enough try clibits 5 liter AG.. as a way to try it out

You stole the words.... :lol:

http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=51779

Or add a mini mash to a kit...

http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=52938

 

[wheazy_joe]

I did the Canadian Blonde recently with 1kg of BE2, 300g of honey and a saaz tea, then dry hopped with more saaz after initial fermentation had died down. It is still maturing in the bottle but is a pretty good brew, no twang present. These kits are decent bases to pimp up. Like the OP i'm a lager drinker but the ale yeasts are a decent fall back for summer brewing given I aint got a brew fridge yet.