Think i might be drinking sediment ??

[loady]

I am plagued with fruity tasting beer..even with AG..not sure if its happening at the fermenting stage or whether now i am drinking sediment....i had brewed an AG TTLL, when i had put it in cornie it tasted ok, if a little green, but did not have this fruity tang flavour that i have always had with homebrew..im not sure whether this has developed in the conditioning process or whether i am drinking sediment from the bottom of the cornie...i had transferred to a secondary before kegging and allowed it to settle..but not sure if another layer has created during the conditioning phase and settled on bottom...being that the cornie tube goes down to the bottom, could this be the problem ?...i am really being put off by this constant bad taste..i say bad, its drinkable but certainly not desirable. I think i was fermenting at to higher temps but the fact that this did not taste off when i first sampled it from the keg..im not so sure.

 

[Dunfie]

Is there a sourness accompanying the fruity tang? It could be that you have a lactic acid infection. :hmm:

 

[loady]

no...its present in most of the beers i have ever brewed..certainly wouldnt say its sour..

 

[Dunfie]

Certainly the fruity flavours suggest you are getting esters from higher fermentation temperatures. You could try bottling half a dozen from your next batch to see if they taste the same as the legged version. This will tell you whether the problem is I the fermenter or the keg.

 

[loady]

yes...my intention, i am hoping it is high temps..will look to ferment at nearer to 19 instead of 22+

 

[Dunfie]

yes...my intention, i am hoping it is high temps..will look to ferment at nearer to 19 instead of 22+

Most ale yeasts will work well even lower than that. I tend to ferment all my ales at 18c as I want them really clean.

 

[cwiseman77]

yes...my intention, i am hoping it is high temps..will look to ferment at nearer to 19 instead of 22+

I'm certainly no expert but from what I've read on here and in books 22 degrees and above, especially during early fermentation, can certainly cause off flavours. I had a similar problem with a few brews, now I make sure fermentation temp is between 17-18c and I've had no problems since. Good luck, don't give up :thumb:

 

[mattrickl06]

How long do you leave it in the fv for??

 

[pittsy]

yes i would say 22c is your problem , i brew at 22c but i'm after esters , so if i was you 18c would be my next brew , hope you get it sorted.

 

[Hawks]

Yes, I also suspect its temps. 22+ is almost guaranteed to give you fruity esters which it sounds like you don't want. Also, if this is the surrounding air temp the wort itself will be a degree or two higher as fermentation is exothermic.

 

[graysalchemy]

It is also dependent on the yeast my essex yeast gives fruit even at 19c, but thats what I want in my bitter.

 

[loady]

How long do you leave it in the fv for??

generally about three weeks or less if it finishes .

All roads pointing to the temp, so i got a 50l brew planned this weekend, that will be getting fermented at 18 if i can find somewhere to maintain that temp.

 

[loady]

It is also dependent on the yeast my essex yeast gives fruit even at 19c, but thats what I want in my bitter.

Im using Safale s04.....why would you want esters in your beer..but then, its drinkable but NOT what i want.

 

[Hawks]

Im using Safale s04.....why would you want esters in your beer..but then, its drinkable but NOT what i want.

Esters make up a large part of the beers taste - and different yeasts will give different esters anyway, and how much is dependant on temps ( amongst other things such as pitching rates ).

You could try a different yeast - S-05 is much cleaner, most people use for hop driven ales, but give it a go - if you don't want esters it could be what you are after.

I would try cooler temps first though to get the best from S-04, or even split into 2 FVs and do a comparison with 2 yeasts. :thumb:

 

[graysalchemy]

....why would you want esters in your beer..

A lot of english bitters are very fruity it is part of the style. I like a bear which is complex, so usually you get the hop aroma on the nose, then the fruit closely followed by the malt and finally the hop bitterness.

However ester production and fusel production are closely linked a degree higher in the initial stages of fermentation can cause a beer to go from fruity to solventy.

 

[calumscott]

see if they taste the same as the legged version.

:shock: Blimey!!! :shock:

What are you brewing with that grows legs???

 

[Hainsey]

I like a bear which is complex,

I like a bear as much as the next man but easy maintenance ones are so much easier to take out!

 

[alanywiseman.]

I am plagued with fruity tasting beer..even with AG..not sure if its happening at the fermenting stage or whether now i am drinking sediment....i had brewed an AG TTLL, when i had put it in cornie it tasted ok, if a little green, but did not have this fruity tang flavour that i have always had with homebrew..im not sure whether this has developed in the conditioning process or whether i am drinking sediment from the bottom of the cornie...i had transferred to a secondary before kegging and allowed it to settle..but not sure if another layer has created during the conditioning phase and settled on bottom...being that the cornie tube goes down to the bottom, could this be the problem ?...i am really being put off by this constant bad taste..i say bad, its drinkable but certainly not desirable. I think i was fermenting at to higher temps but the fact that this did not taste off when i first sampled it from the keg..im not so sure.

I to suffer from very estery beers. I have been putting this down to fermentation temperatures as then taste improves during the winter months. I am unwilling to keep opening the lid of my FV to monitor the temperature due to teh infection risk but would lok to know how many degrees high the fermenting beer is compared to air temp and waterbath temp.

I did try to sort the problem by using S-04 (completely wrong chice of yeast, meant to get US-05 :lol: ) but even though there was a greater eastery flavour it was a much nicer one compared to the kit yeast. I now have some US-05 that I plan on using for my next beer and will see if that helps but really want this to go.

Not to try and hijack but I did try pitch some yeast at 16C in the hop the lower temp would prevent the ester production but it was infact worse. Is this because I stressed the yeast with the low temp?

 

[graysalchemy]

Not to try and hijack but I did try pitch some yeast at 16C in the hop the lower temp would prevent the ester production but it was infact worse. Is this because I stressed the yeast with the low temp?

Probably I think stress can cause ester and fusel production.

 

[Brewbob]

I like a bear which is complex,

I like a bear as much as the next man but easy maintenance ones are so much easier to take out!

Would that be a bi-polar bear?