Twang! What am I missing?

[Martin Townsend]

Hello all, I am 4 brews into this hobby and I'm just on my last couple of pints of Coopers Family Secret, I thought, aswell as others that has sampled it, that it was spot on.
Reading the kit review's on Family Secret, nearly everyone says there is a distinct twang so what am I missing? What does twang actually taste like?
Because as I said me and few others have enjoyed it, and just about to brew another.
Cheers Martin.

 

[Drunkula]

Some people seem to taste it a lot more than others. Hopefully you don't learn to taste it because one of the downsides of this game is you start to get better at tasting things unless you just do the old glug-glug like I did basically forever until a few years ago.

Be good if you could get them to describe the twang, too. Is it caramelly, sherry, cardboard, wet dog, plasters, like pennies... there are loads of weird tastes that point at multiple causes. Some people find certain hops horrible. Believe me, if you're loving that beer and others don't you're still on to a good thing.

 

[terrym]

@Martin Townsend
I have done a number of Coopers kits over the last four years, the vast majority with a mod of some sort. The lighter kits are fine, as are the stouts. However I seem to remember the darker kits (English Bitter, the old IPA ) were a bit twang suspect so I stopped doing them. But I think that's typical for all darker kits. I even find Wherry a bit twangy, although some folks on here may disagree.
I have only made up one 'Family Secret' but didn't really get on with it. However I suggest you try the Bootmakers, AuPA, and the Innkeepers if you havent done so already which are similar although less bitter and lighter but all lend themselves to a mod. I wasn't impressed with Brew A IPA so can't personally recommend that.

 

[GerritT]

Hello all, I am 4 brews into this hobby and I'm just on my last couple of pints of Coopers Family Secret, I thought, aswell as others that has sampled it, that it was spot on.
Reading the kit review's on Family Secret, nearly everyone says there is a distinct twang so what am I missing? What does twang actually taste like?
Because as I said me and few others have enjoyed it, and just about to brew another.
Cheers Martin.

Did I say 'welcome' already?

Welcome!

Best hobby there is!

 

[Martin Townsend]

Yes GerritT you have already welcomed me thanks.

 

[-Bezza-]

Don't actively look for fault!!

 

[Clint]

If you like it what's not to like?

 

[Alex.mc]

After listening to many of the Brulosophy Podcasts, where tasting is always done as a blind test, I wonder how definable "twang" is?
When we buy a can or bottle of a commercial beer, it's already in our heads that a professional has brewed it and it will be of a good standard. All that remains is to decide whether we like it. If we don't, we decide "Nah, not my thing".
I do a lot of cooking, probably the majority in my family. I find I am always quite critical of my own cooking, and whilst those around me may be saying it was delicious, I'm often thinking it wasn't quite right.
I wonder if the same occurs with home brewing? Quite often I brew, bottle and condition, but when it comes to the first taste I'm quite often... "Hmmm, it's... okay I guess?" Or... "Not too bad" yet a week or two later I can have another bottle and think "Oh that's nice!"

Unconscious bias I guess?

 

[The Baron]

Is Twang a Urban Myth that people are looking for in non commercial beers as Alex.mc says just being over critical of their homemade beers that is subconsciously implanted in our heads by all this talk and if so why has nobody yet found the EXACT cause as there are so many conspiracy theories. I think it is just beer with a funny taste due to brewing imperfections which we all have striving to brew the perfect beer and as we all know there are many faults that can be produced in the brewing process from ingredients,brewing temp,oxidation, yeast flavours etc. Who knows?

 

[terrym]

Is Twang a Urban Myth that people are looking for

No its not.
If you made beer from kits especially 30 - 40 years ago, and/or you make beer from some kits or use old or dark LME you would recognize it. I doubt if anyone who has only made beer using AG is likely to detect it in their beer.
But I for one don't go looking for problems in my beers. However if there is a problem I try to think through what caused it, as will most serious homebrewers. I stopped brewing sometime back when I could only do kits due to time pressure due to the twang problem that came from kits of the day, and since I restarted brewing the biggest single problem for me over the last few years whilst doing modded LME kits and extract brewing has been twang, and I put this down to LME itself. So I have now stopped using it except for the odd Coopers lighter beer kit (which don't give me problems) and if I use malt extract it will be light DME. And that seems to have solved the twang problem for me.

 

[Cwrw666]

Is Twang a Urban Myth

Again no.
I made kits - virtually all 1 can kits from the age of about 16 up to 4 years ago when I turned 60. So I've got a bit of experience here.
Twang is hard to describe but it's very noticeable if it's present. (Some people describe it as a `cidery' taste but that's a bit of an insult to cider!) Though I've never not drunk a brew just because it was a bit twangy. Some kits were much worse than others - particularly bad were bitters. Best were stouts.
I did find that you could avoid it by making the kit up to a lower volume - to 4 or 4.5 gallons instead of 5, and reducing the amount of table sugar to about half a kilo instead of a full bag. Even with bitters this got rid of any trace of twang. No idea why - it implies it's through using sugar but I frequently use sugar in AG brews and you never get twang because of it.
So I suspect it's caused by multiple factors - LME, sugar, maybe sloppy temperature control as well, all acting together.

 

[Gulpitdarn]

I think it is just beer with a funny taste due to brewing imperfections

I would change that to 'certain brewing conditions' rather than imperfections.

I wonder also if the Twang is noticed more by temperature of beer when it is drunk? Doe's it affect younger drinkers more than older? What are our ages? I do remember as a younger brewer (19) years ago, noticing the twang more so than now that I'm 59. :tinhat:

 

[ExpatBrewer]

Twang was what most homebrew tasted like decades ago. Up until my most recent kit and extract brew it's not actually something I've experienced since those early days of homebrewing. This latest batch however was the exception - it was a quick kit brew (Coopers Cerveza) and 1.5kg can of LME and some hop additions. It was initially very twangy and instantly took me back to the the horrible 80's brews I used to make! The only thing I did differently this time, something I don't usually do when brewing a kit with liquid extract, was to boil the LME with hops. I use an induction cooker and did wonder if I may have scorched/caramelised the LME, though I was very careful to stir it thoroughly. Dunno... but it was both interesting and highly annoying to experience this twang once again after all these years. Fortunately a few weeks later it's now less noticeable, but still not as clean and fresh as a kit and extract beer can be.

 

[MyQul]

But I think that's typical for all darker kits. I even find Wherry a bit twangy, although some folks on here may disagree.

I made a wherry once 'as is (well I used MJ M36 instead of the kit yeast) and it was definately twangy. I got a wherry from a relative at christmas. I made it into a partial mash porter using craig tube English Porter partial mash vid, and it definately doest have a twang

 

[Slid]

I made a wherry once 'as is (well I used MJ M36 instead of the kit yeast) and it was definately twangy. I got a wherry from a relative at christmas. I made it into a partial mash porter using craig tube English Porter partial mash vid, and it definately doest have a twang

I got a lot of twangy kit brews from the 60 kits I did. None from the "half and half" partial mashes I did on the route to the "paradise" of a six hour AG brew day!
I think that points in the direction of proximate nutrients for the yeast in the wort.

 

[-Bezza-]

I'm pleased to say I don't know what twang tastes like.

 

[RichK]

If you're making a drink you like, then what's to worry about? I've given some away & the recipients have described it as like grandmas homemande jam. Different from shop bought. Not better. Not worse. Just different. Just brew & enjoy. :)

 

[Richard_H]

In my experience from brewing with kits as long as everything has been done correctly then i only find the twang when the beer is still fairly young, after a few months bottle conditioning the beer is much better but i tend to go for stronger and darker brews

Have a bottle of home brew after a commercial ale (ideally similar style) is the easiest way to detect it, if you still dont taste a twang then well done as there is nothing more satisfying than a home brew from a kit being that good :thumba:

 

[Martin Townsend]

Thanks for all the advice guys, I'll keep it all in mind.
Cheers Martin.