'Smokey' flavour in Coopers RotM Golden Ale

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Mick0s

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Hi All, I don't speak out much on these forums, but do a fair bit of perusing. However, this time, my perusing has come up empty handed. So its time to cal on the big guns, that being you guys.

A month or so ago, Coopers Recipe of the month was a golden ale (recipe: http://www.coopers.com.au/#/diy-beer/beer-recipes/ale/detail/golden-ale-recipe-pack-23-litres/), i grabbed this one, and made it up (as far as I'm aware) to the letter.
Now, I've caveat this by pointing out that I did have a slight mishap, in that I added the can and the Light Dry Malt to the fermenter together before I added the hot steeped grain / hopped liquid, resulting in a fair amount of chunks of the stuff. I did manage to get most of these out and disintegrate them by adding them to a small amount of hot water, before returning them to the FV.
Pitched yeast (just the packed they provided, which they initially instructed, but followed up saying to pitch that pack AND the pack under the lid, but I got this email too late) and fermented for a week or two (don't have the dates on me) in a temp controlled fridge at ~ 17.5 degrees for 13 days or so followed by a cold crash for 6 days at 1.5-2 degrees and then bottled into stubbies with the good ol' coopers carb drops.

Now, fast forward 3 weeks, with the bottles in my garage (in Canberra, so not at all hot) and I cracked open a bottle and it has a very unpleasant, what can only be described as, 'smokey' taste to it. In hindsight, I did taste this throughout the fermentation when I took AG readings, and thought it would mellow as it matured, but it doesn't appear to have done so.

At this stage, I've left the bottles alone, and was going to give them a few more weeks to mature, before I start tipping them down the drain (or what the hell, I'll probably drink the anyway).

However I've been unable to find anything pointing out what would cause this smokey taste, and what I might have done wrong.

If anyone can shed some light, I'd be happy to know, as this was my first crack at a RotM pack, and I'd be keen to have a go at some more, but if I'm screwing them up somehow, it'd be nice to know what I'm doing wrong, as I don't particularly like tipping fifty bucks worth of ingredients down the drain too often.
 
I did the same ROTM pack, but didn't get the "smokey" flavour.

I had troubles with the BRY97 yeast in the Ol' Brown Dog but it was fine in the Golden Ale

Mick0s said:
I added the can and the Light Dry Malt to the fermenter together before I added the hot steeped grain / hopped liquid,
Did you cool (and remove the grain?) this as per the steps before pouring it over the light dry malt and pale ale can?
 
I put this one down over the weekend, but used own ingredients - substituted BRy with SAF05 and DME with LME. Let you know how it goes. It dont smell smoky.
 
crowmanz said:
I did the same ROTM pack, but didn't get the "smokey" flavour.

I had troubles with the BRY97 yeast in the Ol' Brown Dog but it was fine in the Golden Ale

Did you cool (and remove the grain?) this as per the steps before pouring it over the light dry malt and pale ale can?
Yep, I did cool it... in the kitchen sink full of water, changed once.

Im bemused. If any Canberrans want a taste of this smokey-ness, just say the word. :)
 
Smoke suggests high levels of phenols to me. Some yeast strains are prone to producing higher levels. Some wild yeasts can also produce high levels so there may be an infection at work.
While the flavour is more commonly associated with dettol, band aids and burnt rubber, reaction with chlorine can also result in unpleasantly phenolic beer so if you use any bleach based cleaning or sanitising product, you need to be sure to rinse well.
 
hi - according to the instructions on the recipe there is a dry hop after 4 days when the krausen subsides. I am at 6 days and the krausen has not subsided. Should i throw the hops in? (was not going to use a bag) - do I need to stir?

as an aside, I have noticed all my brews with lingering krausens all seem to be where I have used SAF05 - is this normal? I brew between 18 to 21. I know this is supposed to be great yeast, but frankly I seem to have much better resuilts with kit yeast.
 
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