flavour troubleshooting on SNPA clone

[kwazulu]

morning all,

cracked open a bottle of my first AG last night; its only been in the bottle for a week but I was anxious to have a taste following some odd flavours and aromas when I bottled. I bought the grain kit from The Malt Miller, fermented with US-05. After a lot of reading, decided I would leave it in the primary for 3 weeks rather than rack to secondary. Apart from the brief rise in temp in the early stages of fermentation, temps were constant around 19C. Used a plastic fermenter from Wilko's.

[edit] The taste and aroma are difficult to describe, at first I thought it was buttery, but after reading the troubleshooting on HowToBrew, I am thinking maybe soapy or musty. It tastes like it smells and its the smell which makes me doubt or question these flavour descriptions.

Its quite cloudy so could it just be the yeast hasn't finished doing its thang yet?

any and all advise welcome. thanks!

 

[RobWalker]

how long ago was this? it'll be a lot better if you leave it for 2 months after the ferment.

buttery says DMS to me, are you covering your boil over?

 

[kwazulu]

how long ago was this? it'll be a lot better if you leave it for 2 months after the ferment.

buttery says DMS to me, are you covering your boil over?

Brewed on 18 January; bottled straight from primary on 7 Feb after putting fermenter in colder room for a couple of days.

really, 2 months?

hmm, now that you mention it, i think I had the lid over half the pot towards the end of the boil.

 

[RobWalker]

I take it you're UK? apparently it's not a major problem with UK malt and you can actually brew with the lid more or less on, whereas it's a bigger problem in the US. I wonder what pale malt Rob uses in his kits and if he can shed light on this.

2 months is totally usual for home brewers - I tend to drink stuff when it tastes good, which is often less time. Really hoppy beers and wheat beers can both be drunk super young, for example. it's what you can get away with really.

I would just put this down to young age for now and see if it improves. if the taste does wear off, it's not DMS.

 

[kwazulu]

yeah, I'm UK. The label just said "Lager malt". I'll leave it for a while longer then; as a new brewer, looks like the waiting is going to be my biggest challenge.

Thanks for the advice. I'll try and remember to update the thread when the beer is a bit older.

 

[Lukesteroo]

I'm pretty sure Lager Malt (as opposed to Pale Malt) needs a lid-off boil to guard against DMS, regardless of UK/Europe or USA, so this could be your problem.

 

[graysalchemy]

DMS does not make for buttery tastes but Cabbage :evil: :evil:

Diacetyl is the likely cause of buttery tastes. Did you leave it at fermentation temps for a few days after fermentation? If you didn't then that would allow the yeast to clean up after themselves and digest the diacetyl's.

Diacetyl compounds are used in the food industry in those 'I can't believe it doesn't taste like butter when I was told it would' spreads. :whistle:

 

[kwazulu]

Did you leave it at fermentation temps for a few days after fermentation? If you didn't then that would allow the yeast to clean up after themselves and digest the diacetyl's.

Yes, it was at fermentation temps for a little under 3 weeks.

 

[Dr Mike]

DMS gives the vegetal 'Cooked corn' flavour.

Buttery or butterscotch would be Diacetyl.

Soapy can be a result of high hopping rates with alkaline water but there might be other causes. Did you test and treat water alkalinity ?

Cross posted with previous replies so sorry for repetition.

 

[kwazulu]

Soapy can be a result of high hopping rates with alkaline water but there might be other causes. Did you test and treat water alkalinity ?

Interesting! Earlier this week I was reading through some of the posts on the forum about water treatments and was looking at getting one of the Salifert kits. In total 140g hops went into this. No, I didn't test/treat water for alkalinity for this batch. If it's any indication, my star-san solution goes cloudy straight off the bat....

 

[Dr Mike]

Star San going cloudy is a sign of hardness which may or may not be alkalinity.

Whereabouts in the country are you ?

 

[kwazulu]

Whereabouts in the country are you ?

nr Abingdon, in Oxfordshire.

 

[Dr Mike]

Can't be sure but AIUI, most tap water in the South tends to be quite alkaline.

Definately worth getting a Salifert kit and testing.

 

[kwazulu]

Thanks Dr. and to everyone who has responded. I am going to let it age a bit longer and in the meantime, invest in a Salifert kit. Much appreciated folks, really! :thumb:

 

[brewtim]

Thanks Dr. and to everyone who has responded. I am going to let it age a bit longer and in the meantime, invest in a Salifert kit. Much appreciated folks, really! :thumb:

And test every brew day, my alkilinity has gone from 398ppm in Summer to 220ppm in Winter, meaning it's quite easy to get the water treatment wrong if you don't check the alkalinity every brew.