Good evening,
There is this one off flavour that shows up in all of my last brews. It is a hint of marzipan/maybe almond-ish. Hard to describe, it overshadows the malt character. Sometimes it is stronger, sometimes it is less pronounced, but it seems to be always present in my last brews. I had this ocassionally back in britain as well, so I tried multiple things:
1st thought: Almond? Oxidation of amino acids! Get rid of the thin walled pot on your gas stove, and get a thick walled one, you are scorching the wort when boiling in that thin walled thing..... Did that, was not the reason.
2nd thought: Ok, so it must be the fact that I always have this cloudy wort in the kettle, because I brew in a bag. These cloudy substances must be rich in amino acids and whatnots, so these are clearly being oxidised while boiling. I have to change to a lautering system, get clear wort, job done! ... did that and ... nope.... I even managed to brew my strongest marzipan flavoured beer with that new system, my Marzipan AK,..... different storry.
3rd thought: OK, it really needs to be the malt then. I brew always with british pale malts, maybe that is a trait of these british malts? ..... what shall I say... nope! Brewed something with German pilsener, munich and a bit of wheat, tadaaaa, hint of marzipan.
4th thought: Infection!.... nope. Nothing wrong with the beers i have brewed (except for the marzipan), I had infected batches in between, back in the days... funny enough, these did not taste like marzipan
5th thought: Something strange during mashout maybe? Maybe temperature is too high? I have to try a single infusion 63C° mash. ...did that, did not help. Seems to make good beer though, I might ditch the multi step stuff in the future... again, different storry.
6th thought I even tried to remove the oxygen from the water I am using by adding yeast and a bit of sugar the day before brewing... nope.
7th thought of the day: OK, oxidation somewhere.... but where? When Vorlauf is running, I have this bubble within the tubing, that all the liquid passes by, so the tubing is actually aerating all my wort. I do not know if this one bubble in the tubing is enough? Shouldn't that oxygen within this bubble be used up fairly quickly? I mean, all my wort passes through this tubing when lautering.... uh... I got an Idea. Maybe I can remove the air by first brining the silicon hose up above water level, and then down again. A bit like siphoning it. I will try to do this... although the tube is a bit short... but anyway, that could work.
But would'nt everybody who is lautering throw a silicon hose by gravity actually have this marzipan problem then?
Any other ideas?
This off-flavour was not always there, back in the UK it showed up irregularly, I was doing BIAB back then. Now it is almost every brew in varying strengths. From just a tiny hint to liquid marzipan without sugar, all there.
On the other hand, it might be that my tastebuds learned how to detect it and just did not detect it as an off flavour back then.... I could stick to stouts from now on, it does not show up there, or it is covered by the roast.
Haha.
Solution? Anybody?
haaaaaalp!
Edit: 8th thought: could it be actual cooked corn flavour that I'm interpreting as almond-ish? Maybe I'm not bottling long enough? All my last brews were actually boiled for maximum 30 minutes, some of them even less. Also not what I would call a strong rolling boil, more like a gently bubbling boil. Could that be it?
There is this one off flavour that shows up in all of my last brews. It is a hint of marzipan/maybe almond-ish. Hard to describe, it overshadows the malt character. Sometimes it is stronger, sometimes it is less pronounced, but it seems to be always present in my last brews. I had this ocassionally back in britain as well, so I tried multiple things:
1st thought: Almond? Oxidation of amino acids! Get rid of the thin walled pot on your gas stove, and get a thick walled one, you are scorching the wort when boiling in that thin walled thing..... Did that, was not the reason.
2nd thought: Ok, so it must be the fact that I always have this cloudy wort in the kettle, because I brew in a bag. These cloudy substances must be rich in amino acids and whatnots, so these are clearly being oxidised while boiling. I have to change to a lautering system, get clear wort, job done! ... did that and ... nope.... I even managed to brew my strongest marzipan flavoured beer with that new system, my Marzipan AK,..... different storry.
3rd thought: OK, it really needs to be the malt then. I brew always with british pale malts, maybe that is a trait of these british malts? ..... what shall I say... nope! Brewed something with German pilsener, munich and a bit of wheat, tadaaaa, hint of marzipan.
4th thought: Infection!.... nope. Nothing wrong with the beers i have brewed (except for the marzipan), I had infected batches in between, back in the days... funny enough, these did not taste like marzipan
5th thought: Something strange during mashout maybe? Maybe temperature is too high? I have to try a single infusion 63C° mash. ...did that, did not help. Seems to make good beer though, I might ditch the multi step stuff in the future... again, different storry.
6th thought I even tried to remove the oxygen from the water I am using by adding yeast and a bit of sugar the day before brewing... nope.
7th thought of the day: OK, oxidation somewhere.... but where? When Vorlauf is running, I have this bubble within the tubing, that all the liquid passes by, so the tubing is actually aerating all my wort. I do not know if this one bubble in the tubing is enough? Shouldn't that oxygen within this bubble be used up fairly quickly? I mean, all my wort passes through this tubing when lautering.... uh... I got an Idea. Maybe I can remove the air by first brining the silicon hose up above water level, and then down again. A bit like siphoning it. I will try to do this... although the tube is a bit short... but anyway, that could work.
But would'nt everybody who is lautering throw a silicon hose by gravity actually have this marzipan problem then?
Any other ideas?
This off-flavour was not always there, back in the UK it showed up irregularly, I was doing BIAB back then. Now it is almost every brew in varying strengths. From just a tiny hint to liquid marzipan without sugar, all there.
On the other hand, it might be that my tastebuds learned how to detect it and just did not detect it as an off flavour back then.... I could stick to stouts from now on, it does not show up there, or it is covered by the roast.
Haha.
Solution? Anybody?
haaaaaalp!
Edit: 8th thought: could it be actual cooked corn flavour that I'm interpreting as almond-ish? Maybe I'm not bottling long enough? All my last brews were actually boiled for maximum 30 minutes, some of them even less. Also not what I would call a strong rolling boil, more like a gently bubbling boil. Could that be it?
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