Priming Sugar Tang

[morethanworts]

I kegged a Wherry last week which I'd dry hopped in secondary and it had a great aroma and very promising taste going into the barrel, onto 80g of dissolved Tate&Lyle cane sugar. I happened to run a tiny bit out of the tap, past any (no-rinse) steriliser left in, and it had a 'tang' to it that wasn't there 30 mins earlier.

Then, last night, I bottled a Brewferm Abdij kit, which again tasted very promising indeed until it was batch primed in the bottling bucket. A taste from the bottling tap revealed the same instant tang as my Wherry. I'm very careful with sanitation.

So I'm concluding that, instead of just sweetening the beer temporarily, the white priming sugar carries an undesirable taste until it has all fermented out (hopefully). Assuming that's right, it's quite a basic thing for me to be learning after 20-30 brews [though all but the last 3 were over 8 years ago!] , but it's probably because of the info on this forum and improvements in the rest of my processes that I've been able to isolate it.

Anyone else detect a priming sugar tang?

 

[boozy_shoes]

I've tasted ale before the bottle has carbonated but been primed and the taste was just sweet like an underfermented beer or a mackesons type sweetness rather than something that could be described as a tang/twang.

Can you descibe the taste any further?

 

[mattrickl06]

I wouldnt worry about it - give it two weeks in secondary and then at least a month in the cool before writing it off.

I have found that my wherry changes massively after 3/4 weeks of good cool conditioning.

 

[morethanworts]

Thanks both.

The 'tang' is hard to describe and may not be the word others would use. It's not enough to totally spoil it, though.

I just did a funny thing: I tasted some dissolved sugar, just to check (!) Predictably, the taste I've got immediately after priming my last two brews isn't just that sweet taste, so it must be how I perceive it in the beer.

I went a step further: I rinsed a mug out with the same Star San sanitiser I used yesterday, drained it about as well as yesterday, added some dissolved sugar and tried that. Guess what - still just tastes like dissolved sugar :)

This 'tang' has appeared twice, straight after priming. Surely if I'd caused any oxidation it wouldn't have appeared in the taste that quickly...so what is it? Maybe just how I'm tasting the sugar :hmm:

OK, I wont worry.

 

[mattrickl06]

I have had the same tang I on all three of my Wherrys - its called the forweak syndrome and the cure is leaving it to condition for four weeks when the tang will magically dissipate into thin air leaving you with a lovely, malty, untangy treat of a drink!!

 

[morethanworts]

I have had the same tang I on all three of my Wherrys - its called the forweak syndrome and the cure is leaving it to condition for four weeks when the tang will magically dissipate into thin air leaving you with a lovely, malty, untangy treat of a drink!!

I hope you're right. But this is the same taste with two very different beers, and it only appeared after priming - instantly.

Hey - Glad someone else likes Pendle! I've got a bottle of Witches Brew in the fridge right now, which wont see tomorrow. I went to a wedding party at the Pendle Inn once and was pleased when it appeared all over the place.

 

[rpt]

My Wherry got a lot better after 4 weeks but didn't get really good until 8 weeks.