HomebrewandBeer.com forum

Ok, I've read the FAQ's and though there is some debate I can surmise that in homebrewed beer the most likely causes of that gawdamn awful and undesiarable cidery aftertaste are

1) sucrose used as a brewing adjunct
2) brewing at too high a temperature
3) poor sterility


its still unclear to me whether dextrose and glucose can cause that taste.... but anyway, my first brew was meticulously prepared basis sterility including carbon filtering and boiling and I used absolutely no sucrose but it did use 1kg dextrose...

result, only a week maturation , great head, body and initial taste but a gawdamn awful cidery aftertaste. May as well have thrown some apples in there.

therefore, I can only assume its brewing termperature (was around 27 deg c most of time, but it may have crept to 28 or 29 for a while).

So then, is it possible to brew at this temperature AND eliminate the cidery aftertaste as well ? Or is my only solution to cool the primary fermentation ?

in my experience dextrose will always give a slight cidery taste.. i could be wrong. but i've never had a good tasting brew using dex. (nor using maltodextrin or any of those brew inhancers etc.)
go all malt, or malt + honey.. much much nicer.

thats just my opinion anyways

I am with db

Dogger

I'd give it more time in the bottle. You might find that those tastes dissipate. One week isn't really long enough to give a good indication of how a beer will be when it's matured properly.

Cheers,

Oliver

I'm with Oliver,

Give your beer at least 1 month before judging it. I tried my first two brews after 2 weeks and was a little disappointed with just about aspect of them (they were good, but not great). However, after 1-2 months both beers are sensational (especially my darker beer). Unfortunately I have gone and drunk almost all of them in the first few weeks after bottling when they weren't so good to try and get rid of them.
Now that I've learnt my lesson I'm going gangbusters to build up a healthy supply of homebrew so I can let most of em mature properly while still having beer to drink in the short term.

Jay.

See,

There is my problem,

After a month all there is a memory

Dogger

& that fresh malty & hoppy taste has dissapated too.. but thats just my opinion. i prefer my beers nice & fresh..

That's pretty interesting db, would it depend on the style of beer?

My first beer lost its harsh bitter taste after 6 weeks but I reckon that the maltiness increased. Maybe coz the bitterness was overriding the maltiness? I'm only a novice but it would be interesting to know the opinions of some experienced brewers like yourself.

To mature or not to mature? What beers are best left and what beers are best early on?

Jay.

Jay,

With regards to maturing, check out this earlier post:

http://www.homebrewandbeer.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=359

Cheers,

Oliver

Cheers Oliver,

Suppose you just have to make a judgement call. If it's great after two weeks then drink it, if not leave and see in a few weeks/months time.

Jay.

If it's great after two weeks then drink it, if not leave and see in a few weeks/months time.

thats pretty much it.. i always taste a stubby a week & drink when ready.. sometimes its abit dissapointing waiting for off flavours (eg. cidery etc) to dissipate because sometimes you'll find other nicer flavours also dissapearing - ie. hops aroma, honey flavours etc

I had some pretty strong cidery aftertaste when I used a can of Brewiser liquid brewing sugar with a Coopers Stout tin...so I'm in the same situation...it's still young though, so I'm hoping that it will improve in the bottle!

Next time I think I will use some dark malt instead of sugar.

beermeister.. 7mths ago i tried a can of that crap too... & emptied the last bottle of the brew i made with it down the sink about 2 weeks ago.

go the dark malt next time

So, am I hearing that ageing/maturing might attenuate or remove the cidery aftertaste ?

Anybody have a positive experience ?

thanks

Not I with the cider taste,

By the way, you can actually formulate recipies such that they don't take 6 months to get the bitterness to fade.

Just try using hops with a lower Alpha Acid, or, less hops.

I am partial to the consumption of the beer rather than the admiration of the bottle in my basement.

Just me though

Dogger

db,

Yes, you may recall you (I think it was you) gave me some advice about liquid brewing sugar earlier. What a waste, and to think it says "improve body and mouth feel" on the can!

I haven't been doing this long but I have already discovered the advantages of malt over sugar.

BM

Well, sugar is f*cking history (excuse french) as far as I am concerned from now on.

Makes me wonder why "brewing sugars" are even sold by the homebrew chains... their claim is so long as its not sucrose (ie kitchen sugar) it should be ok. Well u learn something every batch....

AntiCider,

Welcome, we have jackets also

Dogger

Gold Dogger. I'm going to be using that one too. Who knows, in a few months you might have given me a whole personality. Can't bloody wait

I can't take credit for that one. Kids use it all the time and they got it from Mr. Mike Myers off Shrek 2. At least there is a Canadian connection there.

Dogger