Grass Metallic Taste, need help

Variety is the spice of life. I love exploring yeast strains. Yeast is the true workhorse and we are mere hosts/ consumers.
It is possible that the OP likes Coopers yeast, which is what he has been using I believe, but your Califonia and his new 04 are all very neutral IMO but it would complete the experiment for him to return to Coopers yeast.
I started with Coopers, then 04, then Nottingham, then I went crazy with everything I could try. I have returned to Nottingham but never to Coopers or 04, maybe I should having run the gamut.

Definitely give S-04 another try, it has a great heritage! And it works really nice for a brett c secondary, as it isnā€™t quite as attenuative and still has a bit of an ester profile.

Yeast, temps for fermenting, sanitizing, water source, O2ā€¦ Those are all game changersā€¦ Some good and some badā€¦ Without being there, youā€™ll never know what happenedā€¦ Someone can describe the taste, and it may be obviousā€¦ Others are harder to find and explain whyā€¦ I donā€™t care how long youā€™ve brewedā€¦ If youā€™ve personally crossed some of these ā€œoff flavors/smellsā€, then youā€™ll know whyā€¦ Why? because you found them yourself and learned how to eliminateā€¦ And there are some awesome peeps here that have been thereā€¦ Sneezles61

In the interest of experimentation,
I may begin making much smaller batches when my beer frig is full which is the case at the moment:

5 gallons Rye IPA (left tap)
5 gallons BlackIPA (right tap)
2 three gallon porters (center tap)
Plus
2 five gallon kegs in reserve of Vienna IPA
(One for an upcoming party)

I need to research smaller inexpensive fermentation vessels. E.g. 5 gallons divided up

I could return to bottling and dry yeast for that.
Each experiment focusing on only 1 parameter

I do have a 2 gallon carboy that I picked up at a garage sale to startā€¦

lol

I think youā€™re spot on correct! Stressed yeast can definitely throw the ā€˜funkā€™.

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I just do not think now is the time to throw another baby into the mix. There are many things I would like to try, however I must make sure I have a tried and true brewing process. The IPA which is in the refrigerator is great and has no off flavors. But I have additional bottles still conditioning, so I have to wait out the time, to ensure the off flavor does not take over. I was confident enough to purchase the nut brown ale, so I can brew it using all the changes I have made. The first time I brewed the nut brown ale it was a complete fail with the off flavor. So if I succeed with the nut brown ale I will be convinced my brewing equipment, process and technique is good to go.

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Interesting chat channel, keep us posted.
I just purchased Three 1 gallon carboys and a mini auto-siphon to have some fun with.

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mini auto-siphon is key because a normal auto-siphon doesnā€™t work with a 1 gallon jug

I remember using that cute little thing long ago.

Fermentation Head Space Testingā€¦

Interesting article, Tom. The Little Brown Kegs, I am using for fermentation, are designed to brew two gallons and have been found to be large enough to hold two and a half gallons, with sufficient headspace. I do control my temps with a fermentation chamber and have seen krausen get within an inch of the top, but no overflow. Everything I have tasted after fermenting in the LBKs has tasted good the off flavors always occurred after bottling.

I do like several features of the LBK.

The size makes it easy to move.
The size and shape requires little storage room.
The wide mouth allows for easy additions and easy cleaning.
There is a trough in the bottom which collects the trub.
Very light weight.
No airlock to mess with.
Built in spigot.
The cost, these things are only ten bucks.

and being horizontal they fit into any fridge for cold crashing.

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Yes and two LBKs fit in a mini refrigerator, so you can make a inexpensive fermentation chamber, which you can cold crash in without moving anything. I use a small Whirlpool wine cooler, which is a mini refrigerator with a glass door.

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Theļ»æ twļ»æo week tasting results are in. There are no indications of off flavors forming. The taste and feel remain the same as week one.

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grats

A blind teļ»æst taste, two bottles of Kama Citra IPA, carbonated and conditioned in the bottle for one week. One primed with table sugar and one primed with corn sugar and these were refrigerated for one week.

Earlier in this thread I mentioned I could taste a difļ»æference with the corn sugar being more bitter. In the blind tasting the two samples were poured the same way in the glass and well there is a visual difference, captured in the picture below.

I had my wife hand me the samples randomly, while my were closed, no peeking, and these are the results.

Three out of three times, it was very easy to taste the difference between the two samples. The sample which tasted more bitter and had less aroma came from bottle primed with corn sugar. The sample which was less bitter, smoother mouth feel and stroļ»ænger aroma was from the bottle primed with table sugar.

Now in four weeks there may be no difference between the two samples, however with one week of conditioning, there most definitely is. Although the bottle primed with corn sugar holds a better head, the taste, aroma and mouth feel of the bottle primed with table sugar wins out.

The below picture, the table sugar sample is on the left and the corn sugar sample is on the right.

Your beverage has a great color but Iā€™m more worried about that Vader Totem than what sugar you used.

Next timeā€¦ try a pound of wheat per 5 gallon batchā€¦ Good head retentionā€¦ I donā€™t get any added flavorā€¦ although its a bit cloudierā€¦ Sneezles61