that stupid homebrew taste

[airymary]

Water treatment, how far are we going? Are we just talk alkalinity or adjusting minerals too?:?

I've found the water treatment calculator on the Calculators page to be pretty good. Tells you carbonate reduction needed, as well as mineral adjustments. I add a Campden tablet too.

Cheers,
Chris

 

[MyQul]

Hi, try skimming the krausen regularly (I've only heard this mentioned once in connection with kits) I usually do this and it seems to make a difference (missed doing it on one brew and the tang was there) If you are feeling brave give the skimmed krausen a taste, (take a good mouthful) then you can see why skimming is such a good idea :)

Some German breweries skim the krausen and the brown gunk that goes with it - the Germans call it braun hefe . The braun hefe/krausen tastes really bitter (as it full of hop oils as well as proteins).

As I cultured up a yeast from a bottle of brakspear triple I've been reading about this particular beer. Its It brewed using a system called the double drop- where the beer gets two fermentations. It is fermented then 'dropped' into a second fermentation vessel. This leaves behind the krausen (as well as the other trub) leading to a cleaner tasting beer

 

[wezil]

Yep, It's mouth puckeringly bitter! Although I have heard that some Belgian brewers actually serve it as a sort of 'health tonic' to local bars!

 

[MyQul]

Seeing as the braun hefe/krausen also full of yeast, it would actually be good for you as brewers yeast is full of B vitamins amongst other things. Sometimes, after I've poured a beer I put a bit of water in the bottom of the bottle, swill it around and drink it.

 

[clibit]

I don't think the stupid homebrew taste is related to krausen skimming, I leave my beer alone during fermentation and I don't get any homebrew taste. I think the wisest policy is to keep the FV airtight throughout fermentation and keep air away from it, you are only introducing airborne bacteria.

I think stupid homebrew tastes come mainly from extract, particularly extract that is not fresh. But other factors are untreated water that contain chlorine, and poor fermentation.

The answers are, I believe, to:

- use fresh extract, dry extract is less susceptible to going stale due to the very low water content, and/or to use grain in place of some of the extract with a mini-mash.

- use water that has had chlorine removed with a campden tablet, or bottled water, or boiled water, and

- to ferment within the correct temperature range, with good sanitation, keeping air contact to a minimum.

Another possibility is to use additional hops. I suspect American IPAs may well have come about as a result of American homebrewers upping hopping levels in order to mask off/homebrew/extract flavours. Lots of hop flavour masks a lot of evils. The more neutral a beer is, the harder it is to cover up any flaws.

 

[Brewski]

I've sampled quite a few homebrews over the years - other people's, before I had any clue how to do it - and I think I know the "twang".

Fortunately, my brew doesn't seem to have it. More down to luck than judgement I can assure you! :)

I didn't skim the krausen off but here are a few factors that could possibly be relevant:

I used bottled water (Tesco everyday value, 17p for 2L).
I used dextrose sugar and Young's beer enhancer.
The FV temperature was constantly (24/7) at 19C-20C.
The beer was in the FV for nearly 3.5 weeks.
The FV was airtight and fitted with an airlock.
The FV was left completely untouched until fermentation was almost complete, when I took a sample to measure the specific gravity.

 

[Frogbrew]

Sometimes, after I've poured a beer I put a bit of water in the bottom of the bottle, swill it around and drink it.

That is gross !
:cry:

 

[MyQul]

That is gross !
:cry:

As I rack to a bottling bucket and then let any transferred sediment settle in the bottling bucket before bottling there is no (none that I can detect anyway) sediment in my bottles just a very thin layer of yeast at the bottom

It doesn't have a very strong taste at all. As you might expect, just very slightly yeasty tasting.

 

[CreweBrewer]

Some Belgian beers offer the yeast in a separate glass to either add to the main beer, or drink on its own. It's pretty good stuff.

 

[dad_of_jon]

Some Belgian beers offer the yeast in a separate glass to either add to the main beer, or drink on its own. It's pretty good stuff.

yes the erdinger or aventinus yeast at the bottom of the bottle is especially awesome, but I make sure its mixed in with the beer.

 

[BeestonHop_John]

Yes, the yeasty/bready taste is common for a lot of home brews. I would suggest using a different yeast - ideally a liquid yeast. I tried one for the first time with my most recent beer, and the difference is unbelievable.

 

[motney]

I only do extract and kit brewing and I live in a 18th cottage. So not being a modern insulated house I found the main problem was maintaining a constant temperature throughout not just the fermenting but the 2/3 weeks of storing in a warm place thereafter aswell. It seems beer can be very forgiving ie you can brew and store at a temperature that’s either a little too cold or hot and it will survive but when it fluctuates say between day & night it causes problems. So with great advice from this forum I made a standard charity shop fridge/STC/heater set up. This really improved the beer it was much better than heat belts/heater jackets etc however I still had the problem of maintaining a constant temp afterwards. I did not want to loose my fridge for a few weeks whilst I used it for the 2nd stage so I made another identical set up only then was I finally free of the dreaded homebrew “tang” and sweetness that can so often occur. In fact I would go so far as to say the 2nd fridge/STC set up after fermenting it is even more important than the first. I only brew ales etc so I set the 2nd fridge for 20 degrees and it has worked perfectly with all the extract and kits I have tried. At last I believe I can taste the beer as the makers wanted it to taste. A friend has gone one step further and made a third fridge/STC set up for the cooling period however he states it did not make much difference to that which was in the dark and say in an outbuilding. Probably with lagers it would.

 

[motney]

I only do extract and kit brewing and I live in a 18th cottage. So not being a modern insulated house I found the main problem was maintaining a constant temperature throughout not just the fermenting but the 2/3 weeks of storing in a warm place thereafter aswell. It seems beer can be very forgiving ie you can brew and store at a temperature that’s either a little too cold or hot and it will survive but when it fluctuates say between day & night it causes problems. So with great advice from this forum I made a standard charity shop fridge/STC/heater set up. This really improved the beer it was much better than heat belts/heater jackets etc however I still had the problem of maintaining a constant temp afterwards. I did not want to loose my fridge for a few weeks whilst I used it for the 2nd stage so I made another identical set up only then was I finally free of the dreaded homebrew “tang” and sweetness that can so often occur. In fact I would go so far as to say the 2nd fridge/STC set up after fermenting it is even more important than the first. I only brew ales etc so I set the 2nd fridge for 20 degrees and it has worked perfectly with all the extract and kits I have tried. At last I believe I can taste the beer as the makers wanted it to taste. A friend has gone one step further and made a third fridge/STC set up for the cooling period however he states it did not make much difference to that which was in the dark and say in an outbuilding. Probably with lagers it would.

 

[Sandimas]

I want a pint that would fool people if it were served in the pub. Timothy Taylor landlord is my favorite.

Then make Extract Landlord:
http://www.brewuk.co.uk/timothy-taylor.html

If you've done a few kits, you can do Extract - you just need a big boil pan, cheap from Wilkos or eBay. It's a real step up from kits in terms of quality, and needs less kit / doesn't take as long all All Grain, so a good halfway house yet the beer is pub quality. I regularly do the BrewUK recipe packs and they are brilliant.

Another thing regarding losing the twang: I've started moving my brews to a secondary FV at the end of fermentation, gets it off the trub and seems to help reduce the homebrew taste. Last week I even had a couple of pints straight out of the secondary as it had cleared nicely :shock:

 

[Brewtus]

Chuck the kits and the extract and if you don't want to splash out for the full all grain kit go BIAB. I am quite adamant that homebrew twang comes from malt extract.

 

[CreweBrewer]

I'm tempted to give extract a bash. Will have to look at the size of the stockpot in the cupboard. If you do a partial boil, do you top-up the wort to (for example) 23ltr with water, as per a kit?

Dave

 

[Bounce]

If you do a partial boil, do you top-up the wort to (for example) 23ltr with water, as per a kit?

Exactly that. You will be boiling somewhere between 6-10 litres of wort with the extract method as used by the Brew UK extract kits. This then gets cooled, strained to remove the hops and any break material and then topped up to the required volume with water as you would do with a normal kit.

 

[CreweBrewer]

Cheers Bounce! Might have to give one a go next time. There's a nice Mosaic IPA on the BrewUK site I quite fancy.

Dave

 

[cheshirehomebrew]

I BIAB and I get good flavours out of them, havent used kits so cannot comment, but I never treat (burtonise) my water.