First 2 batches poor - not sure why

Oee

OK so i've done 2 brews, Brupaks West Riding Wheat with candy sugar and Brewferm Wheat Beer with spray malt..... and both look fantastic when brewed but both ended up with the same bad aftertaste and became undrinkable.... though best effort was given to do so.

I am not sure where I went wrong and am looking to not make the same mistake with my next batch.

The funny thing is, for both brew's the exact same tang (for want of a better word) was the issue, almost like a harsh sickening Bulmers after tase. Now I am putting it down to using Bulmers pint bottles for the bottling but I cleaned the proverbial out of them 2nd time round (did a fair decent job first time also). For the second brew (Brewferm Wheat Beer) I sanitized, steam cleaned, cleaned again, dishwasher, steam cleaned again..etc etc and the beer looked fantastic in colour, body and carbonation, the first mouthful is delicious but followed by that slowly sickening after taste and after a few more gulps it sits in the stomach and starts to suffocate you from the inside with this weird aroma.

I am matching the obvious Bulmers type taste with the bottles but, for all the cleaning I done did, I am not positive. Can the acidic Bulmers seep into the bottle that much and kill the beer.

I did taste before bottling and priming but it's hard to tell as it was so flat.

This ring bells with anyone?

oblivious

Oee would you describe the off flavour a apple like, solvent?

John_C

Where abouts are you based? Your best bet is to bring it along to a homebrew meetup and ask the more experienced heads for some feedback.

Here's a list of common off flavours and their causes:
http://www.nationalhomebrewclub.com/wiki/doku.php?id=off_flavours

Oee

oblivious wrote: »

Oee would you describe the off flavour a apple like, solvent?

Not particularly, it actually tastes quite nice at the start but it's the rising consuming aftertaste.... best way I can describe it is if you drink a pint of orange berocca in one go.... it slowly suffocates your taste buds and upsets the stomach. It's actually quite hard to describe, i'll have another taste when I get home and see.

@John_C cheers, based out in Leixlip but i'll check one of those out when I get my next batch going.

blueshed

Oee wrote: »

@John_C cheers, based out in Leixlip but i'll check one of those out when I get my next batch going.

your not to far from the HQ of the Liffey Brewers, we meet up in the County bar Lucan.

http://www.nationalhomebrewclub.com/forum/index.php?board=18.0

a few members are from Leixlip.

meet up last Thursday of the month, drop down with a btl and see what they have to say.

Shiny

What temperature have you been fermenting at?

oblivious

Oee wrote: »

Not particularly, it actually tastes quite nice at the start but it's the rising consuming aftertaste.... best way I can describe it is if you drink a pint of orange berocca in one go.... it slowly suffocates your taste buds and upsets the stomach. It's actually quite hard to describe, i'll have another taste when I get home and see.

@John_C cheers, based out in Leixlip but i'll check one of those out when I get my next batch going.

let us know when you have tried it again

fobster

Don't use the dishwasher to clean the bottles. It can leave a residue on the bottles. How long do you have it in the bucket/bottles before drinking it?

Hingo

Shiny wrote: »

What temperature have you been fermenting at?

I think I know that taste you've described OP and I'd also look the temps, especially given the weather . From my experience, first few days in the FV, if it's high (eg 22-26'c) will cause decent taste up front but then an aftertaste that I can only describe with an analogy - An angry child smashing fine china - the fine china being the taste of nice beer you initially get and the angry child smashing that.

might be worth having a look at this page too in case we're going down the wrong route, but I'd also add to the recommendation getting involved with a local Home-Brew club. The Internet (especially the likes of Boards.ie etc) is a great resource but unfortunately we don't have the means to taste your beer over the internet (Yet.. :pac:)

Oee

Cheers for the replies, I had another taste and still can't really describe the taste.... similar to getting really close to and taking a deep sniff of a car air freshener.

Going to have another bash at brewing this weekend, anyone recommend a sanitizer and bottles?

@hingo that angry child also smashed my dreams of delicious home brew

oblivious

Oee wrote: »

Cheers for the replies, I had another taste and still can't really describe the taste.... similar to getting really close to and taking a deep sniff of a car air freshener.

Could be the fermentation as a bit warm?

Oee

I dont believe it was too warm, I kept a close eye on the temps.... though it's hard to keep constant without a designated heating system. Happened on both my batches too, brewed at different times of the year, first one last summer and second just before Christmas.....so it's improbable that the temps were too high in both summer and winter.

dukeellington

Cider-y flavours may well be coming from unfermented sugars from not letting the fermentation process run it's course completely. What was you OG and FG? And how long did you ferment, and leave in bottles before tasting?

Oee

dukeellington wrote: »

Cider-y flavours may well be coming from unfermented sugars from not letting the fermentation process run it's course completely. What was you OG and FG? And how long did you ferment, and leave in bottles before tasting?

Gravity readings were pretty much spot on with the suggested for the brew, fermentation was about 3 weeks... til my bucket pretty much stopped burping. I bottled for 2 weeks before tasting, and tasted after a month and 3 months and still the same taste..... except the sediment has gathered a little.

Thinking back, I reckon it has to be the bottles or the sanitizer. I used candy sugar in the first and not the second and I used extra malt in the second and not the first but the off taste was still the same in both.

Carawaystick

Did you taste the samples you took for gravity readings? Or at bottling?
This would split between a bottle issue and a fermentation issue