Conditioning Temps and off flavours

[illywhacker]

Hey all,

My last few brews have consistently had the same off taste that I'm struggling to nail down. Hard to describe, but I'd say it is a sharp alcohol flavour, maybe slightly nail polish remover-y, but only slight. Drinkable but distracting.

The first off-brew, I thought it must be some slight infection, but the off taste was repeated so suddenly consistently that I'm thinking that the onset of warmer weather might be responsible.

My fermentation regime is as follows;

- First 7 days in ferment fridge @ 17C ish
- Three weeks at ambient temps. Recently been pushing 25C
- One week cold crash @ 4C
- Keg. Kept at 4C until served.

I always thought that primary fermentation was more temp-sensitive and that if you got this right, a few subsequent weeks at higher temps would be okay. But maybe not.

But can anyone help - would the flavour I (poorly) describe be attributed to the warmer conditioning temps?

The sudden consistency of the off taste is getting darn frustrating so thank in advance for any insight..

 

[MichaelM]

Your maturation phase is important in getting rid of green beer flavours and to prevent off flavours. Keep you beer at a lower temperature than your fermentation temperature and try keep it stable. The yeast is absorbing unwanted byproducts and need to be kept comfortable while doing this. Also keep beer in dark place to avoid light struck effect and some nasty flavours. Try and minimise introduction of air. Ie. During transfer or moving. Oxidation can cause some funky flavours . These steps greatly helped me.

 

[MHB]

Nail Polish Remover is one of the classic faults in beer, mostly caused by yeast mismanagement - Under Pitching, Under Aeration, Old and Tired Yeast...
One of the other cause can be early signs of Yeast Autolysis
Another is Infection.

You would need to have a good hard look at your processes and see what needs work.
I find this is very useful for diagnosing problems and finding solutions "Complete Beer Fault Guide" author gives permission to republish for non profit. Amazingly detailed piece of work and a great resource for all brewers, big thanks to the author.
View attachment Complete_Beer_Fault_Guide.pdf
Mark

 

[fishingbrad]

Thanks for putting that up Mark. that's a great resource, one I have never seen before.

Cheers.

 

[indica86]

I keep my beer in the shed and have no issue with secondary fermentation bringing off flavours.

 

[jimmy_jangles]

awesome thanks mark!!!

 

[Reman]

What was the OG, yeast and pitching rate?