Very odd taste

[Rich_B]

Evenin' all.

I brewed the Summer Lightning recipe out of BYOBRA, followed the recipe to the letter, just scaled it down slightly to 15 litres. It was in the FV for about 10 days then bottled as normal. It's now been in the bottle for about 5 weeks (maybe even slightly longer) and I've just popped a bottle open.

It tastes very odd, almost like tonic water. Have you ever had lemonade from a pub when the flavours gone and it's just basically carbonated water that you're drinking? it tastes quite reminiscent of that. It doesn't taste 'off' as such but it's definitely not good. I did try a bottle a couple of weeks after bottling and it tasted basically the same, I'd hoped that conditioning would sort it out but apparently not.

It looks fantastic - it's by far the clearest beer that I've done and the carbonation level is perfect.

I'm a bit perplexed - obviously I've done something wrong or something's happened at some point but I'm not sure what?

Any help or ideas would be most gratefully appreciated!

Cheers

Rich

[EoinMag]

What were your starting and finishing gravities?

What temperature did you mash at?

What yeast did you use?

Do you know anything about your water profile, did you treat your water?

[Rich_B]

Cheers for the response EoinMag

OG 1.050
FG 1.011
Yeast S05
Water treated with a 1/2 campden tablet.

I don't know about the actual profile of the water here (S Wales) but none of my other brews have been a problem like this.

It was an all DME brew so no mash or steeping of grains was needed.

[Trunky]

[Rich_B]

No, absolutely no hops in the aroma. The aroma is very 'tonic-watery'. That's what it makes me think of when I take a sniff!

[soupdragon]

Hi Rich

Just a thought but how much hot break did you get after your boil? And how much of it did you allow through to your fermenter?
I used to suffer from an " odd " flavour in all of my beers that was overpowering all other flavours. I finally tracked it down to the excessive amount of break that I was letting through to the F/V. The general concensus on here is that a bit of break isn't an issue but most of mine ended up in the fermenter and was giving me a problem. Sorted it out by using a sheet of voile ( fine net curtain material ) as a filter over the top of my fermenter......
Hope you find the cause of your problem soon.

Cheers Tom

[Rich_B]

Hi Tom,

Actually, I saw a previous thread where you (I think it was you any way!) had mentioned this which was something I hadn't thought of before so with this brew I was extra careful and left as much material as possible in the pot (although I didn't have any voile so just used a seive and left about half a litre of liquid in the pot). I don't think it's this issue but I'm definitely going to get a sheet of voile before my next brew - seems like good advice definitely.

The only thing I can think of is a yeast infection described in 'How to Brew' by John Palmer. He says that some infections could leave your beer tasting like horrible, fizzy water which sounds like my beer! I'll chalk it up to experience I suppose and get on with the next brew!

Thanks for your reply, all advice is much appreciated!

Rich

[soupdragon]

HI Rich

Another thought........ Once you get your voile it's so so easy to move to all grain using Brew In A Bag. Dead easy especially as you've already got the pot for boiling
Best of luck

Cheers Tom

[Rich_B]

Haha, get thee behind me soupdragon!

That's the way I definitely would like to go. The main problem is that I've got an electric hob which struggles to boil 10 litres let alone 15+.
Now, if my sister buys the house nearby that she's looking at with a lovely garage and I buy a dedicated boiler........

[soupdragon]

He he, sounds like a plan

Cheers Tom

[jimp2003]

HI Rich

Another thought........ Once you get your voile it's so so easy to move to all grain using Brew In A Bag. Dead easy especially as you've already got the pot for boiling
Best of luck

Cheers Tom

Yes, Yes - "One of us, One of us...."

[staplefordbill]

If the carbonation is all you can taste, what does it taste like if you pour it into a glass and try it oncce it's gone flat? Any off tastes?

[Rich_B]

Nice idea - I've opened one up now and I'll leave it to go flat tonight. I'll try it later and post back!

[Rich_B]

I left it to go flat, it still tastes bad. I think unfortuantely it's time to dump it. It's been about 8 weeks now so i think it's a goner. Sad days. Although I'll look on the bright side - it frees up more bottles for the next brew!

[JTK]

I was just reading about "Gusher infections" and made me think about this thread. Seems a Gusher infection happens when wild yeast or bacteria attacks the wart while fermenting digesting all carbohydrates leaving the beer with no flavor.

Might explain the symptoms you are having. Seems the recommendation is to toss the batch, or otherwise drink alcoholic water.

Anyway sorry for your loss