Friuity Flavours At 15 Degrees

[coloneldom]

G'day gents,

Just recently made a Cooper's Bitter tin (1.7kg) with 1 kg of Cooper's Brew Enhancer 2, 500g of LDM and 12g of Williamette hops with a safale yeast. My problem is, that while its tastes quite bitter out of the fermenter, its still seems to have th fruity undertones (the bane of my homebrewing existence) that occur when I ferment out at higher temperatures, despite the fact its sitting in a garage in Bathurst and has probably never gotten er 15 degrees. It has finished fermenting, sitting at about 1.018 FG, I am at a loss as to what is going on!??

Cheers

 

[Kleiny]

do you always use the brew enhancer you could try just 1kg of light dry malt that would eliminate the suger and maybe some of the fruity undertones you find

 

[boingk]

Don't be so quick to judge it - tasting out of the fermenter is warm, green beer and a lot different to being served a cold, carbonated one.

Bottle it up and leave it for 2 or 3 weeks, then have another crack at it. If it tastes dodgy after that, then you have a problem.

Out of curiosity, what yeast did you use? Try US-05 if you havent already, it gives a very clean tasting beer and is my choice over lager yeasts if I can't get the temperatures I need.

Cheers - boingk

 

[nick_lavender]

Good question.

I've found that I also get those fruity undertones quite often, even with US-05.

I also thought it was a temperature problem, but your right, it can happen at lower temps too.

It does clear out a lot over time, especially after a month. I think kit beers give this fruity undertone more than an all grain beers as well.

 

[Adamt]

I think it's more what Kleiny brought up in the excessive use of adjuncts in K&K beers.

Sugars can lend a fruity/cidery taste to beer (which may reduce with time).

What fruits are you tasting?

 

[pmolou]

did u use us-56 aswell because fermented at lower than 19c it can impart a citrus flavour acording to wyeast, not sure if this works for the dried yeast aswell but could be that

 

[coloneldom]

Thanks for the advice fellas, to tell you the truth I am not exactly sure on the type of yeast I used other than that it was a Safale I bought from the HB store here, I am definitely still gonna bottle her and see how it goes. Maybe next a bit less brew enhancer and more LDM would be a better option?

 

[Mclovin]

I am a rookie brewer and have done about 8 brews all up from kits. The only bad brew i made was one using supermarket coopers stuff BE2 and coopers Draught kit it tasted real fruity, sour like the copers non alcoholic beer you can buy from coles. All my other brews like morgans, etc from HBS have been ok stuff.

 

[Pennywise]

One of the best thing I ever done as a HB'er is stop using brew enhancers, brew blends and kit converters. LDME and maybe a little dex and maltodextrin do the world of difference,and of course spec grains, and I steer clear of supermarkets when buying a kit, I doubt the people that work there really care how they handle and store the products, especially concerning the yeast

 

[coloneldom]

Well I will definitely start having a go without these brew enhancers involved, I might try another Cooper's Bitter and see how the two compare, should be interesting...

 

[nick_lavender]

If your using a kit and hops, its only a little step to be brewing partial's, ie adding some grain and losing the kit.

I found the small transition to make a massive improvement in the beer!

Its a lot easier than some people think, John Palmers how to brew book, or the free on-line version, give a good description of how to do it.

Cheers

 

[Pennywise]

+1 for How To Brew, excellent info B)

 

[pmolou]

yer id move on to extract brewing with grain i did one kit n kilo recipe then moved up and so much more fun and tasty if u dont mind spending an extra hour at the stove

 

[Pennywise]

yer id move on to extract brewing with grain i did one kit n kilo recipe then moved up and so much more fun and tasty if u dont mind spending an extra hour at the stove

You did better than me my friend, I spent 3 years making K&K before I even knew about any other way to make HB. Now, well, It's a whole lot better to prepare, make & drink. Mind you I do still brew kits but they are so much better now days. It's a wonder what grain and hops can do when used in the right amount and quantity :beerbang: