So I have an off flavor in every one of my IPA’s that I can’t seem to identify. I’m not very good at describing flavors but none of the common off-flavors seem to fit. It seems to be a characteristic of the bitterness but that could just be my mind attempting to correlate it to something. The weird thing is, its in all of my IPA’s and ONLY my IPA’s. The only common ingredient among them are water.
One thing I notice is it does seem to diminish over time (aging) and tends to be less apparent when the beer is warmed up a bit.
Is there any way to identify and eliminate this flavor?
Impossible to help unless I were to actually taste your beer (yes I am BJCP Certified, #A0511). As a much cheaper alternative to shipping beer, go to your local homebrew club, hopefully find some local BJCP judges, and get them to tell you what’s up.
I believe it! I’ll have to send you boys some of mine sometime. Right now I have gruit, RIS, smoked apple ale, cider, um… well those are the good ones. Plus I have very high hopes for my altbier still in primary.
Well these other guy know a lot more than me but I have noticed something similar in some of my beers. When I first start pulling from a keg I kind of get a little funny bitterness. The thing is once the keg starts pouring crystal clear it’s gone. I always figured it was some stuff still in suspension. Also when I pour it in a glass and as it warms it settles and I don’t taste it. When my keg is freshly tapped I fill some liter flip tops and bring them around for sampling again it tastes fine I believe again from settling to the bottom of the bottle. Could it be from unfiltered hop material that needs to settle out?
That’s entirely possible. I usually only cool my beers for a few hours before drinking them. The wife doesn’t like a lot of space being taken in the fridge and I usually only drink on the weekends so I’ll usually throw a few in each day that I plan on having a few. It could be that it doesn’t have enough time to settle out.
That’s entirely possible. I usually only cool my beers for a few hours before drinking them. The wife doesn’t like a lot of space being taken in the fridge and I usually only drink on the weekends so I’ll usually throw a few in each day that I plan on having a few. It could be that it doesn’t have enough time to settle out.[/quote]
Is it astringency? I could imagine that unsettled, residual hop material may be perceived as astringency by your palate.
It also sounds like you bottle. If so, for how long do you chill the bottles after carbonation occurs? I’ve found that beer will settle over the course of WEEKS if left undisturbed (and faster, if cold, like in a keg), so if your beer is relatively freshly capped and carbed, and hasn’t had sufficient time to chill, I think Brew Cat is on the money with that diagnosis.
[quote=“Silentknyght”]Is it astringency? I could imagine that unsettled, residual hop material may be perceived as astringency by your palate.
It also sounds like you bottle. If so, for how long do you chill the bottles after carbonation occurs? I’ve found that beer will settle over the course of WEEKS if left undisturbed (and faster, if cold, like in a keg), so if your beer is relatively freshly capped and carbed, and hasn’t had sufficient time to chill, I think Brew Cat is on the money with that diagnosis.[/quote]
It’s kind of like a tangy, maybe slightly sour, maybe astringent flavor? I don’t even feel comfortable with that description (and describing from memory now).
I’m going to throw one in the fridge tonight and let it sit a week and see if that helps.
I have noticed this astringent tangy thing that I used to get in my very hoppy brews too. It was before I understood carbonation levels and how to work them for individual beers. I wonder if you are too high on Co2 and are getting an elevated kind of combined biting effect of bitterness and high carbonation.
That’s a good point. I’m just learning to get carbonation under control. I tend to over carbonate because a) don’t care for flat beer and b) I like a foamy head. It is even harder I believe when bottling.
I don’t believe that’s the case. I have the carbonation dialed in perfectly on this one. I’ve only overcarbed one of my IPA’s in the past and the flavor was there as well.
Given that i have used the same water profile for all my IPA’s I went back and looked at all the spreadsheets and one thing I noticed about all of them: I completely ignored the Chloride levels. So my finished profile was something like 300ppm Sulfate, 8.5 Chloride. I’m wondering if a ratio of 35:1 sulfate:chloride could be the cause of this.
I did a little research and according to a number of articles, high sulfate to chloride ratios in hoppy beers have been found to be very off-putting.
I guess I’ll be buying some epsom salts and brewing another IPA soon.
[quote=“mattnaik”]Given that i have used the same water profile for all my IPA’s I went back and looked at all the spreadsheets and one thing I noticed about all of them: I completely ignored the Chloride levels. So my finished profile was something like 300ppm Sulfate, 8.5 Chloride. I’m wondering if a ratio of 35:1 sulfate:chloride could be the cause of this.
I did a little research and according to a number of articles, high sulfate to chloride ratios in hoppy beers have been found to be very off-putting.
I guess I’ll be buying some epsom salts and brewing another IPA soon.[/quote]
I use calcium chloride along with gypsum to balance pH but I don’t pay much attention to the chloride:sulfate ratio since Martin said a while back he thinks it’s BS. My IPA water profile is sulfate pushing 300ppm and chloride at about 60ppm, which is the pale ale profile in brunwater.
How often do you get your water tested? I know you don’t measure pH and rely on Brunwater to get you in the ballpark. I suppose any issue there would show up in more than just your IPAs though…
I’ve only tested it the one time and that was over a year ago. It’s city water which is mostly sourced from Lake Erie so I don’t suspect it would change that much. It might be a good idea to get it retested maybe.
The stuff homebrewers talk about the importance of the ratio between sulfate and chloride is complete baloney. The two ions act independent of one another. Sulfate accentuates bitterness and bite, while chloride enhances maltiness. There is no relationship between the two. By the way… I am a chemical engineer by degree, if that matters to anyone.
Also, avoid Epsom salt. If you are using any Epsom, then this is likely the source of your problem. Epsom (specifically the magnesium in it) tastes horrible. Taste some raw and find out just how bad it tastes. If I add any to my beers, it is only in like a fairy-dust amount, like 1/10 of a teaspoon. You really don’t need to use it at all. Especially if you are experiencing any off-flavors, then don’t use any at all.
[quote=“dmtaylo2”]The stuff homebrewers talk about the importance of the ratio between sulfate and chloride is complete baloney. The two ions act independent of one another. Sulfate accentuates bitterness and bite, while chloride enhances maltiness. There is no relationship between the two. By the way… I am a chemical engineer by degree, if that matters to anyone.
Also, avoid Epsom salt. If you are using any Epsom, then this is likely the source of your problem. Epsom (specifically the magnesium in it) tastes horrible. Taste some raw and find out just how bad it tastes. If I add any to my beers, it is only in like a fairy-dust amount, like 1/10 of a teaspoon. You really don’t need to use it at all. Especially if you are experiencing any off-flavors, then don’t use any at all.[/quote]
I’ve never used Epsom salt but it looked like a good way to raise sulfate without raising calcium since ill be getting calcium from gypsum and calcium chloride (assuming I was going to add CaCl2 to boost my chloride). Normally I don’t add CaCl2 to my IPA’s cause I was under the impression that Cl was only for “malty” beers.
Has anyone made a hoppy beer with a ridiculously high ratio of Sulfate to Chloride and enjoyed the flavor?
I’ve never actually tasted sulphur but if it tastes anything like it smells (and I do detect it slightly in the aroma as well) it’s possible this could be contributing. Are you suggesting I lower my sulfate level and see if that might be the cause?
