Alcahol Flavour

[jimmyjack]

I just carbed up and poured my third attempt at an ag APA. My second batch was astringent and undrinkable. My 3rd ag APA is pretty good but I can taste a residual alcahol flavour. Usually the amarillo come through tropical and citrusy but the alcahol flavour is hiding some of the hops. My question is this because i didnt hit my final volume of 23 lr and only got 19 does it mean I have a very alcaholic apa like sierra nevada's bigfoot or do i have off flavour. No beginning gravity reading and final gravity was 14. I fermented in a wine fridge around 20 degrees for 10 days.


cheers

JJ

 

[Kai]

An alcohol flavour can be a sign of higher order alcohols present in the beer, usually from a high ferment temp. What temperature was your fermentation?

 

[jimmyjack]

The majority of it was fermented at 20 degrees because I just bought a wine cooler to ferment in. It really kept the temp even. The only thing I think i did wrong was when I was siphoning from the boiler the fermenter I sucked all the goodies into the fermenter. I dunno this ag stuff can be tricky.

cheers jj

 

[Kai]

So ferment temp was right in front of me in the first post and I clearly did not pay attention.

Having all the trub in the fermenter from the boil should not cause an alcohol flavour as far as I know.

 

[jimmyjack]

Could it be that my hop additons have cause this trappist flavour in an APA? I did

30g northdown 60 min
5 g amarillo 60 min
15 amarillo 30
5 amarillo 5
5 amarillo flameout!!


It is a nice beer but seems to be a very strong beer, Im pretty buzzed after 4 probably normal for the course though.

 

[Aaron]

Could it be that my hop additons have cause this trappist flavour in an APA? I did

30g northdown 60 min
5 g amarillo 60 min
15 amarillo 30
5 amarillo 5
5 amarillo flameout!!


It is a nice beer but seems to be a very strong beer, Im pretty buzzed after 4 probably normal for the course though.

[post="94901"][/post]​

I don't know about causing the problems you are talking about but I would have used a significant amount more amarillo in my late additions. You could comfortably multiply your last two additions by four.

 

[Gough]

Just a guess JJ, but if you did your sums based on 23 litres and only ended up with 19 then you may well have had a higher gravity wort than you expected. This may in turn explain the higher than expected alcohol obviously. What OG were you aiming at? If, for example it was a mid 50s OG, you may have boiled a bit harder than expected and ended up with a 1060 or so gravity into the fermenter which MAY explain the higher alcohol flavour and effect. Your highish FG also makes me think this may be the case. For what it is worth after using Amarillo in about 5 brews now I agree with Aaron and think you should aim for a good gram a litre for your aroma addition.

I'm guessing of course re: your gravity/alcohol issues, but just trying to help.

Good luck with it,

Shawn.

 

[jimmyjack]

Gough I think you hit in two, I just couldnt articulate it because im so buzzed from this apa/delerium tremens contraption I concocted. I did try and boil harder to get rid of some previous haze issues. Stupid me forgot to check OG and only checked FG. you live and you learn. It is a very good beer but just very alcaholic!!! Thanx for all your replies fellas

Cheers

JJ

 

[Ross]

Jimmyjack,

what was your grain bill? We should be able to get a reasonbable idea from that what your SG was... What's your typical efficiency, or don't you know?

cheers Ross...

Edit: Are you bringing any on Saturday?...

 

[jimmyjack]

Hi ross, i had 5 kg JW trad ale
250g carapils
250g light crystal

effeciency i planned on was around 70%

I was gonna bring some but now too embarassed to share with others :unsure:

Cheers,

JJ

 

[T.D.]

I threw the recipe into Beersmith. Here it is:

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 19.00 L
Boil Size: 21.89 L
Estimated OG: 1.058 SG
Estimated Color: 14.4 EBC
Estimated IBU: 49.5 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.0 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
5.00 kg Joe White Traditional Ale Malt (5.0 EBC) Grain 90.9 %
0.25 kg Cara-Pils/Dextrine (3.9 EBC) Grain 4.5 %
0.25 kg Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (78.8 EBC) Grain 4.5 %
30.00 gm Northdown [8.50%] (60 min) Hops 30.7 IBU
15.00 gm Amarillo Gold [8.90%] (30 min) Hops 12.4 IBU
5.00 gm Amarillo Gold [8.90%] (60 min) Hops 5.4 IBU
5.00 gm Amarillo Gold [8.90%] (5 min) Hops 1.1 IBU
5.00 gm Amarillo Gold [8.90%] (0 min) Hops -


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Medium Body, No Mash Out
Total Grain Weight: 5.50 kg
----------------------------
Name Description Step Temp Step Time
Mash In Add 14.34 L of water at 74.4 C 67.8 C 60 min


Pretty high bitterness and highish alcohol for an APA ~6%. I made an IPA a while back that has a very alcoholic taste that ended up at around 7.7%. I have no idea why it tastes the way it does - the temp may have been too high (I can't recall to be honest). So maybe whatever happened to my IPA also happened to your APA. Sorry, I haven't got much more to add other than that! :blink:

Hopefully this recipe outline, if I have done it correctly, might give some others some pointers as to what your problem might be...

My advice would be to keep plugging away though - my first couple of APAs were absolute shockers in hindsight (I thought they were ok at the time ) but now they seem to be coming out much better these days.

 

[Ross]

Hi ross, i had 5 kg JW trad ale
250g carapils
250g light crystal

effeciency i planned on was around 70%

I was gonna bring some but now too embarassed to share with others :unsure:

Cheers,

JJ

[post="94968"][/post]​

There's no need for embarassment amongst brewers - some very experienced brewers coming & always good to get some constructive comments... plus one man's poison can be another man's nectar...

cheers Ross

 

[jimmyjack]

If its ok can i drop the keg of the hightly alcaholic apa buy mid morning today? if not I will just bring it along sat

Cheers,

JJ

 

[Ross]

If its ok can i drop the keg of the hightly alcaholic apa buy mid morning today? if not I will just bring it along sat

Cheers,

JJ

[post="95019"][/post]​

Whenever you like mate, I'll be here all morning - or just fill a few bottles if it's easier...

 

[KoNG]

Jimmy Jack,
i did a Duvel clone a month or 2 back, that had an OG of 1.085, now you would expect quite a high alcohol 'flavour' and it certainly had that... but it was a fusel type taste, which i obviously wasnt looking for.
After reading 'Brew like a Monk' a few things caught my attention that can relate to my experience with that brew.
there was mention of these fusel type characters occuring if you let the first couple of days ferment get out of hand (i.e. the yeast pigging out on the majority of the sugars in a day or 2) (this is all from memory after a once read late at night, but someone else might confirm) as such temperatures are kept very low @ pitching and allowed to slowly rise through the heat generated from fermentation.

So, my point?!?!? did you get a crazy fermentation early on.? do you know your SG from day 2 or 3...?
what yeast did you use..? how much did you pitch..?

 

[warrenlw63]

Jimmyjack.

Best thing to do is to just set the keg/bottles(?) aside for a couple of months and let it age.

My pick is the beer will wind up a lot better by then.

Warren -

 

[Gough]

Jimmy Jack,
i did a Duvel clone a month or 2 back, that had an OG of 1.085, now you would expect quite a high alcohol 'flavour' and it certainly had that... but it was a fusel type taste, which i obviously wasnt looking for.
After reading 'Brew like a Monk' a few things caught my attention that can relate to my experience with that brew.
there was mention of these fusel type characters occuring if you let the first couple of days ferment get out of hand (i.e. the yeast pigging out on the majority of the sugars in a day or 2) (this is all from memory after a once read late at night, but someone else might confirm) as such temperatures are kept very low @ pitching and allowed to slowly rise through the heat generated from fermentation.

So, my point?!?!? did you get a crazy fermentation early on.? do you know your SG from day 2 or 3...?
what yeast did you use..? how much did you pitch..?

[post="95042"][/post]​

Good question Kong. Early heat in the fermentation could well be the culprit

Shawn.

 

[jimmyjack]

Hi guys, thinking back now I think that I probably didnt cool my wort down to pitching temperature, pitched around 30 and pitched a slurry which took hold within 6 hours. Your temp conclusions are probably correct. Also after speaking to Ross regarding temps and temp readings who really knows what the temp was inside ther fermentor, The ambient reading outside was 20 deg. I am just pissed that I havent moved on from stupid mistakes. Thanx for all replies and advice, I will brew up another one and try and perfect my technique further.

Cheers

JJ

 

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Guys highjacking this thread I am getting this yeast, will it be suitable for a high alcohol beer?

I've got a mate comming down from Tassie who's keen for me to brew one but I dont want it to be ********* either? I was thinking of just brewing 18 litres, 1.7 kg of liquid malt + beer kit? Get it around 12-13% alcohol.

Cheers.

 

[KoNG]

Coming DOWN from tassie...?? where the hell do you live...?
no troubles brewing lagers i suspect.