What's that taste?

[Anna]

Now guys, you must forgive a newbie beer drinker here. I can't get an answer on this, because as I've said before, hubby just drinks anything with alcohol in it, so I don't think he has any taste buds! What is that taste that kinda hits the roof of your mouth and sort of up into your nose - the malt or the hops? It seems to be quite strong in commercial VB but my Coopers Lager with S-23 doesn't have any discernible taste like that. I quite like it and would like to replicate it but I don't know whether to add more grain or hops - or is it the yeast? Anna

PS: I'm in the process of brewing a K&K Coopers Dark Ale with 250 gm steeped Crystal added. I thought adding the Crystal would increase that taste I've described, but so far it tastes like very bitter mud! (10 days in primary, still going). Is that what it's supposed to taste like?? (Hope it improves)

[warra48]

You are tasting beer that is possibly still very green. It will likely smooth out, given some more time. For example, I brew an all grain APA, which takes 2 to 3 months post bottling to start to come good.

I doubt it is malt, as that will give you the mouthfeel and body, and leave you with different flavours, depending on the malts used. It can go from anything to malty sweet, toffee, caramel, bready, biscuity, chocolate bitter, to coffee roastiness etc etc.
Hops are probably what you are experiencing, and also the effect from carbonation. Hops have aroma and flavours which differ depending on the hops used, but I'd say you are probably experiencing hops bitterness.

Have a read through CraftBrewers website of the descriptions of their stock of hops and malts as to what character they lend to the beer. It might help you to track it down.

[Sweeney Tod]

Hi Anna,

I’ve only been brewing again since February (after a 8 year absence) and started out just brewing Coopers and usually BE2 which all tasted fine at the time and then started to get more adventurous I did a Coopers Heritage lager using a 1.5kg tin of liquid malt extract and that was even better so then I thought I’d try adding some hops.
Grain & Grape talk about doing a 20-20 hop addition in kits, 20g of hops in a boil for 30mins for the bitterness and 20g of hops soaked for 5mins post boil aroma. http://www.grainandgrape.com.au/gg_kit_recipes.htm

So I did a Coopers Pilsner with 1kg of LDM and 40g of Saaz hops. I boiled about 3lt of water added 300g of LDM then put 20g of the Saaz hops in a hop bag and boiled for 30mins, once the 30min was up I added the rest of the LDM to the pot and the entire kit and boiled for 5mins then turned off the heat and added the remaining 20g of Saaz hops the hop bag and put the lid on for 5mins. Put this in the fermenter and added water up to 23lt.

The end result is what I think is a great beer for not a lot of effort. I reckon that extra hops are a must on any kit I brew now and it sounds like the taste you are describing.

Hope that helps

Steven

[Eddie]

As warra48 mentions, The strong flavour overtones you're noticing in a VB would possibly be the PoR hops?

[Anna]

Thanks guys! I'll check out the Craftbrewer and Grainsand Grapes websites. It probably is the hops I'm tasting. Hard to describe a taste - it's more of a "feel" really.

Re the Dark Ale I'm currently brewing - Warra, now that you mention it, there is a burnt chocolately flavour mixed in with the mud! I'm dying to see how this one turns out in a month or two. Anna

[Anna]

I just found a terrific website which describes in detail "A Way to Taste Beer":
http://www.alabev.com/taste.htm

Anna

[billybushcook]

Anna,
I had a mate here on the weekend & we were having a few of my All Grain beers which he was wrapped with (first try)

I handed him a bag of Hop flowers for a sniff, usual responce "wow they are strong" (Galaxy flowers 15%AA)

After a few more mouthfulls of beer he said,

"Now I can notice the Hops in the beer, I never new what that was until now"

My guess is that it is the flavour or aroma Hops you can pick up in the Commercial beers, std can kits primarily deliver bittering only, by way of thier production.

I suggest you try adding some hops as mentioned by the others above.
boil about 15g for 15 Mins & add another 15g at flame out, use this mixture as you would your normal kettle full of hot water when you mix the sugar & concentrate in the bottom of the fermentor. (the hops should be in a mesh bag, they go in the fermentor too!)

For my kit beers, I do this in the normal household kettle (but not the one my wife uses for her Coffee)

Cheers, Mick.

[Anna]

mmm, that sounds easy Mick - I'll give it a go! What hops would you suggest for Coopers Draught?
Anna

[billybushcook]

I like Pride of Ringwood,
A lot of Aussie beers use PoR including Coopers.

I have not found any major difference between the few I have used, apart from strength:-

• PoR flowers
  Por pellets
  Cascade pellets
  Cluster pellets
  & now using Galaxy flowers

The pellets I have used come in the form of "finishing Hops" (can't remember the brand)
they come in a "tea bag" from most HB shops or can be made (bagged) to order.
Try steeping them in hot water & then add the lot to the fermenter for the first one.

If you are adding grain to your kits you might want to boil some as well to get "bittering" out of them to balance up the extra sweetness of the added fermentables (or unfermented sugars from the grain)

As a general rule (others may correct me here)
Boil for more than 30 min gives Bittering
Boil for 15 Mins gives flavour
Adding them at the end (no boil, just hot wort or water) gives Aroma.

Cheers, Mick.

[Anna]

Thanks Billy. I think I will try the POR ( it took a little while before the brain clicked and I realised what the initials meant!) and I'll do as you suggested - steep a teabag and add it at the end, because I think it's the "aroma" I'm after. Anyway, I'll try that first and see if it's the taste I'm looking for. Thanks for your help everyone! Anna