I have moderate “grapefruit” type flavors in every beer I have brewed. I have made seven kits so far. Two were LME, the other five were all grain. The flavor is not offensive, but it is there. I was reading about off flavors in home brewed beers. Everything is clean except for the citrus taste. None of the kits I brewed used the same type of hops. So I can’t blame it on those. The only thing I can think of is that my fermenting temperatures are too high. In the summer my shop is 80 degrees, so I do a swamp cooler but add no ice. I just let the carboy sit in water with a wet towel wrapped around it. In the winter, the shop temperature is 68 degrees and I let the carboy ferment on the floor. Are the room temperatures the probable cause? I understand high temperatures bring out more esters, which I thought were clove or banana type flavors not citrus.
Forgive me, wasn’t sure which topic to post under.
It doesn’t matter what kind of hops they were… Different kinds of hops have very different citrus flavors. Some yeast and hops combined can produce a citrus like flavor. Post a little more info on both recipes and that may help others help you!
Thanks. I will get yeast info and hop info as soon as I can. I’ll be home around 6 AM. When I get up, I check my notes and give more info. 8)
Here is a list I saved on hopville:
Patersbier all grain: Czech Saaz, German Hallertau hops, Wyeast 3787
Witbier: Willamette, Mt. Hood hops, WLP400 yeast
Dunkelweizen: Willamette, Hersbruker hops, Munich German Wheat dry yeast.
Hope that helps for a start. The other kits I have notes on the computer at home.
I can’t speak to the Witbier, because I have never brewed one. But the Patersbier I brewed had a very citrus flavor (from the interaction between the yeast and the hops). I thought it was a great summer beer. The Dunkel uses Weihenstephan yeast, which can produce fruity or banana esters at higher temps. Could this be what you are tasting? I would also take a look at this chart and see if this helps identity your problem:
http://www.howtobrew.com/section4/chapter21-2.html
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The only times I have ever had off flavors were when my fermentation temperature was to high. I learned very quickly to monitor the temps very closely (I usually try to ferment on the lower end of the temperature range for the yeast). Hope this helps!
Mark
[quote=“Rifester”]I can’t speak to the Witbier, because I have never brewed one. But the Patersbier I brewed had a very citrus flavor (from the interaction between the yeast and the hops). I thought it was a great summer beer. The Dunkel uses Weihenstephan yeast, which can produce fruity or banana esters at higher temps. Could this be what you are tasting? I would also take a look at this chart and see if this helps identity your problem:
http://www.howtobrew.com/section4/chapter21-2.html
.
The only times I have ever had off flavors were when my fermentation temperature was to high. I learned very quickly to monitor the temps very closely (I usually try to ferment on the lower end of the temperature range for the yeast). Hope this helps!
Mark[/quote]
The howtobrew site is a good one to hold on to. Thanks! Here are the other beers I made. All had that citrus flavor.
Dead guy clone: perle,saaz hops,Wyeast pacman1764
Cream ale: cluster hops, Wyeast 1056 American ale
Belgian triple: perle,Hallertau hops, Wyeast 3787 Trappist
The belgian is still in the primary.
I don’t have anyway to control fermentation temperatures. I can see down the road I will have to do something about that. When I have brewed, I even changed the brands of water I bought for the all grains. The LME I made was with tap water. I stepped mashed, did single infusions, fly sparged and batched sparged. Being new to brewing, I am still feeling my way through the processes.
Brad
A simple tub of water with frozen soda bottles helps to keep the temps in check.
See my signature line for more ideas.
[quote=“Nighthawk”]A simple tub of water with frozen soda bottles helps to keep the temps in check.
See my signature line for more ideas.[/quote]
Great advice! Would four or five water bottles work? Maybe put five in the swamp cooler while I freeze five more and keep rotating them? I might look for a small chest freezer and get a Johnson control for it next year. But just maybe before I do that I’ll try the frozen water bottle thing and see what happens.
Bier Brauer,
I usually freeze 1/2 filled gallon jugs and just rotate them, while keeping an eye on the temps. If they start to go to the low side, I just leave the carboy in the water with no frozen jugs… After fermentation starts to slow, I remove the carboy from the swamp cooler and let the temperature go up to cellar temps. All you need is a few milk jugs and a rubber maid type tub.
Freezer space is a problem. We just have the one on top the fridge. My son and I tried the cream ale tonight. Tastes like Sierra Nevada pale ale with the citrus thing going on. I know while the ale was fermenting, my work shop was 82 degrees. I figured I might lose at least five degrees in the tub of water and the wet towel.
Is that a knight Templar avatar I see?
16-20oz soda bottles should work just fine. Like you mention, have a 2nd set in the freezer. Change them out in the morning and in the evening. You may want to start out with 2-3 bottles. Then add more when fermentation kicks into gear.
Be cautious with water bottles. Some are real thin and don’t go through to many freeze/thaw cycles before cracking.
If you have a large ice cooler, use that to hold the carboy/pail and water. That will help keep the water cooler from the warm air. If you can fashion a lid from some foam insulation even better.
Instead of a Johnson controller, see my other links for a controller.
I keep 4 16oz bottles and rotate two in/out every morning and evening. And just having the fermentor in an extra 3-5gal of water, soaks up some of the excess heat and keeps the temp in check. If you don’t want to mess with ice, you can put a t-shirt over the fermentor and blow a fan on that, the evap will cool things.
That sounds like a great idea. I’m going to look for a cooler that can handle a 6.5 carboy. Between ice and water that may be the ticket I sure hope that the reason for this citrus taste is from too high fermentation temperatures.
Best of luck to all who are effected by Sandy. Stay safe!
