Hi all. Just joined the forum and will just start by saying thanks to everyone who posts here offering advice. I've read a lot of threads on this site that has helped me get going with brewing over the last year and I've made some great extract brews.
A little over a week ago I decided I'd try a small BIAB batch (10L) - American pale ale. I was initally going to just use grains but on brew day got worried about only putting 10L into a 30L fermenter so I adjusted my recipe to use what LDME I had left in the cupboard which allowed me to brew a 14L batch.
All went good on brew day (except chilling the wort took over an hour even changing the water bath numerous times and using ice blocks) and tasting a sample from the fermenter tasted really nice.
Today I took a hydrometer reading to make sure fermentation was ok - all good, it has reached estimated FG. The smell was great but it had a earthy / yeasty taste and the aftertaste reminded me a bit of Carlton draught (which I really don't like). I haven't really had this issue with my extract brews (the one lager I tried tasted a bit off at bottling time but was fine after conditioning in the bottle).
A bit of reading would suggest this could be a few of things.
1. Old grains, too finely cracked grains, too hot temperature during mash casuing tanins to extract etc.
2. The flavour of the hops. I used only Glacier hops, they were quite old, but had always been kept in a freezer and still smelt good (and had a nice distinct bitterness / flavour as I was tasting throughout the boil).
3. There is just a lot of yeast still in suspension (I used Safale US-05).
Though when finding those possible causes, it was generally relating to when having a finished beer from a bottle or keg, and didn't talk about taste from the primary fermenter.
So, if it was issue 1 or 2, should have I noticed this on brew day? If it is issue 3, can I assume that this should clear up after bottling and conditioning? Am I worrying for nothing and should I be expecting this when using grains rather than all extract?
Cheers.
A little over a week ago I decided I'd try a small BIAB batch (10L) - American pale ale. I was initally going to just use grains but on brew day got worried about only putting 10L into a 30L fermenter so I adjusted my recipe to use what LDME I had left in the cupboard which allowed me to brew a 14L batch.
All went good on brew day (except chilling the wort took over an hour even changing the water bath numerous times and using ice blocks) and tasting a sample from the fermenter tasted really nice.
Today I took a hydrometer reading to make sure fermentation was ok - all good, it has reached estimated FG. The smell was great but it had a earthy / yeasty taste and the aftertaste reminded me a bit of Carlton draught (which I really don't like). I haven't really had this issue with my extract brews (the one lager I tried tasted a bit off at bottling time but was fine after conditioning in the bottle).
A bit of reading would suggest this could be a few of things.
1. Old grains, too finely cracked grains, too hot temperature during mash casuing tanins to extract etc.
2. The flavour of the hops. I used only Glacier hops, they were quite old, but had always been kept in a freezer and still smelt good (and had a nice distinct bitterness / flavour as I was tasting throughout the boil).
3. There is just a lot of yeast still in suspension (I used Safale US-05).
Though when finding those possible causes, it was generally relating to when having a finished beer from a bottle or keg, and didn't talk about taste from the primary fermenter.
So, if it was issue 1 or 2, should have I noticed this on brew day? If it is issue 3, can I assume that this should clear up after bottling and conditioning? Am I worrying for nothing and should I be expecting this when using grains rather than all extract?
Cheers.
