Homebrew Twang??

[pms67]

I think some of the yeasts supplies are absolutely fine?
Festival and Young’s kits, even Brewferm
All seemed decent to me even though I now brew AG
I’m convinced Coopers and CML have some sort of nutrient added as both are super quick starters and ferment our quick

 

[Benfleet Brewery]

Yes. I'll be doing a kit in a few weeks and at bottling I'm going to sulphite some of them to 10ppm to see if it makes a difference.

How do you do that then?

 

[kelper]

What is home brew twang? I get the impression that some here sensing something different. When I talk about the smell of home brew I'm solely referring to a doughy/yeast smell, not a stale or metallic flavour.

 

[dad_of_jon]

In my (very little) experience, I have a HBT theory. Not on what causes it, but on when it arrives?!


I’ve done four extract brews to date, all different, and three of those four have what I can only assume is the HBT! Exactly the same slightly bitter aftertaste never experienced in any shop bought or pub beers, ever.


All my brews followed the same process using ASDA spring water. Ie 2 weeks FV at 22 degrees, 2 weeks bottled 20 degrees, 2 weeks shed 8-12 degrees.


Brew 1 was a Festival Razorback IPA. Although a two can (bag) kit, this did come with 1kg brewing sugar which also had to be added

Brew 2 was a Simply Mild kit. This was made using 1kg brew enhancer

Brew 3 was a Mangrove Jacks Bourbon Barrel Ale. This was made using 600g Mangrove Jacks LME

Brew 4 was a Simply Pale Ale. This was made using 1kg brewing sugar and 500g Hopped DME.


Out of all of the above, the only brew which doesn’t have the HBT is the Bourbon Barrel. Now, its possible that it’s there but masked better by the Bourbon flavors but it is actually the only one which was made using no other sugars apart from Malt.


However, whilst I was compiling all this evidence and almost ready to blame added sugar for this odd after taste I’m getting, a strange thing occurred to me. I have taken a gravity reading of every brew just before bottling and as I’m not one to waste beer, I’ve given each of them a very good taste sampling at the same time (well, it is called a trial jar after all) and never have I experienced this twang at that point. The beer isn’t fantastic. For a start its flat and at about 20 degrees, but there’s no twang! It seems to only appear after bottling. Has anyone else found this twang only appears after it’s been bottled?

how do you transfer your beer? - do you suck syphon? - I use bottled water and dried malt extract and never get a twang. I have an auto syphon to transfer

 

[An Ankoù]

Kit Twang for me isn't an astringent bitterness or any kind of "off" flavour, but something like as if artificial caramel has been added. I've only tasted it once in commercial beer and that was ages ago when I bought a couple of different bottles of "Wooden Hand" (pirates and ships on the label). The only kits that don't appear to have this flavour are stout kits. So, I'm beginning to wonder if the "twang" comes from the degree of concentration of the malt extract causing caramels and melanoidins to form at a higher concentration than otherwise.

 

[Drunkula]

How do you do that then?

Campden tablets. 1g if sodium metabisulphite will add 10 ppm of sulphite to 66 litres, one Campden tablet does the same for 29 litres. So I'll weigh out the exact amount and transfer onto it.

http://brulosophy.com/2019/02/11/post-fermentation-oxidation-the-impact-adding-sodium-met

Loads of the kits I did had a sort of sickly sweetness to them that just wasn't there when I tasted it coming out of the fermenter. He notices a taste a little like that in the untouched beer. I'll do it with some all grains, too. If it makes a difference I'm always doing it.

something like as if artificial caramel has been added

Yes, that a good few times, but one streak of twang I had tasted metallic. After looking stuff up I kept calling it the 'pennies' taste, as in the coins.

 

[Benfleet Brewery]

how do you transfer your beer? - do you suck syphon? - I use bottled water and dried malt extract and never get a twang. I have an auto syphon to transfer

My bucket has a tap. First brew I used a bottling wand on it but there’s a problem with it whereby it doesn’t stop the flow completely and drips. The next three I just sanitised the tap and bottled straight from that.

I’ve always used bottled water too but usually combine DME with brewing sugar. Only brew I’ve done with no sugar was the Mangrove Jacks Bourbon ale. I used LME with that and there’s no twang at all.

 

[Billy No Mates]

I mainly brew a partial mash or sometimes modify a kit, and have unsuccessfully been trying to avoid the homebrew twang. Now after many years I have found that the homebrew twang comes from the bottom of the bottle. I expect like most people I left just enough in the bottom of the bottle to avoid pouring in the crud but recently I have started to leave around an inch and a half. It's painful to leave so much but the twang is no longer in the glass and the beer tastes as good as I expect in a pub.

 

[strange-steve]

I mainly brew a partial mash or sometimes modify a kit, and have unsuccessfully been trying to avoid the homebrew twang. Now after many years I have found that the homebrew twang comes from the bottom of the bottle. I expect like most people I left just enough in the bottom of the bottle to avoid pouring in the crud but recently I have started to leave around an inch and a half. It's painful to leave so much but the twang is no longer in the glass and the beer tastes as good as I expect in a pub.

Interesting theory, have you tried a blind taste test to confirm? Pour the first half of the bottle into one glass and the second half plus a little sediment in another glass.

 

[Billy No Mates]

Interesting theory, have you tried a blind taste test to confirm? Pour the first half of the bottle into one glass and the second half plus a little sediment in another glass.

Done that, several times. It makes a big difference. And then with open eyes there's a distinct visual difference as well. But I'll be doing a lot more research later of course.

 

[Drunkula]

That leaving loads in the bottle might be true for a particular type of twang but not the kind I mean, and it would mean that when we do tastings one person would have a twangless one from the first pour and that doesn't happen. I'm still on the side of old liquid extract and oxidisation.

 

[samale]

Was at a friend's for a few tonight. He brews kit beer. I had one it's my first kit beer in a while. It's got that taste. The beer looked well. Nice head and we'll carbonated but just had that after taste. I think it was a st peters IPA. It looked very dark for an IPA.

 

[strange-steve]

Done that, several times. It makes a big difference. And then with open eyes there's a distinct visual difference as well. But I'll be doing a lot more research later of course.

The bottle sediment can change the flavour, but as drunkula says I don't think that's what's meant when people talk about homebrew twang. I tend to agree that LME is at least partly responsible.

 

[mitsu monkey]

How about if you keg a kit beer? Does the 'twang' disappear then?
I've just got a keg and planning on putting the festival razor back IPA in it.

 

[Drunkula]

After doing an experiment where I showed brewing with table with all grain didn't give a homebrew twang or cidery taste I'm going to do the opposite and brew a kit then at bottling split it 5 ways and do:
1. Force carb
2. Sucrose priming
3. Dextrose priming
4. Sucrose priming + 10ppm sulphite
5. Dextrose priming + 10ppm sulphite

Doing it because I've had kits taste fine as they were bottled, then seemed twangy later.

I suppose I should sulphite half of the force carbed lot. It's a BYO Drinks IPA kit, the ones that come in plastic bags. I wonder if it makes a difference to tins. We'll see.

 

[An Ankoù]

I've just been browsing the Aussie Homebrew forum and came across this:
https://aussiehomebrewer.com/threads/why-do-all-of-my-can-kits-taste-bad.91185/page-9#post-1534293
It seems to be a universal problem. The interesting thing is that some kit brewers don't experience it.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

I flicked through the thread and think this is a good theory if kits always had the twang no one would buy them.

I'm beginning to think some people are sensitive to the twang and others not but it's always there. Just like some people are more sensitive to dms than others. Unfortunately I seem to be pretty sensitive, as I'd love to be able to get away with kit brews rather than use up brownie points on a whole brew day my wife has the kids for. Just can't enjoy the stuff though.

 

[samale]

In my opinion some people accept it as a taste. When I brewed kits I viewed them as better than drinking say cans of harp. I was more than happy with the results. It wasn't until I tasted all grain that I realised what could be achieved in home-brewing. Kit beer is great for introducing people to the hobby all grain was a natural progression for me but I understand why some people don't ( time,space,cost). For me the two can not be compared for when it comes to taste and quality but each to their own

 

[An Ankoù]

In my opinion some people accept it as a taste. When I brewed kits I viewed them as better than drinking say cans of harp. I was more than happy with the results. It wasn't until I tasted all grain that I realised what could be achieved in home-brewing. Kit beer is great for introducing people to the hobby all grain was a natural progression for me but I understand why some people don't ( time,space,cost). For me the two can not be compared for when it comes to taste and quality but each to their own

Spot on, Samale. In my early days of brewing, I'd go out to the pub and look forward to getting home for a pint of (kit) homebrew.
I'm going to go out and buy a kit because it's been so long I can't remember what they taste like. I've got a six-year-old Wherry from Wilco on the shelf somewhere, but I'm sure it won't knock up a vintage ale.

 

[Benfleet Brewery]

After doing an experiment where I showed brewing with table with all grain didn't give a homebrew twang or cidery taste I'm going to do the opposite and brew a kit then at bottling split it 5 ways and do:
1. Force carb
2. Sucrose priming
3. Dextrose priming
4. Sucrose priming + 10ppm sulphite
5. Dextrose priming + 10ppm sulphite

Doing it because I've had kits taste fine as they were bottled, then seemed twangy later.

I suppose I should sulphite half of the force carbed lot. It's a BYO Drinks IPA kit, the ones that come in plastic bags. I wonder if it makes a difference to tins. We'll see.

I’d be really interested the hear how this goes.