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Author Topic: Tanginess in IIPA (BRY-97)  (Read 2173 times)

Offline mpietropaoli

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Tanginess in IIPA (BRY-97)
« on: October 29, 2013, 07:02:42 pm »
This is a new one for me....posted this over on NB as well, but thought I'd try here. 

Brewed up our clone of Pliny, with a whole mess of hops. Have brewed this before on this system, and it came out basically exactly like Pliny. Amazing beer.

Of course, this time, the cheeba monkeys at our local HBS/weed-growing hydroponics store didn't have S-05 OR WLP001, so we went with BRY-97. I grew up a starter in an APA, and we pitched at a rate assuming 60% viability, since the starter was such a hoppy beer.

Have the clone kegged up and carbed, and it has a great hoppy aroma and flavor, right up until the middle of the taste when this weird tangy/not-quite-tart (maybe slightly astringent?  I'm not really the best at ID'ing that) flavor takes over. I have tasted lacto (both intentional and unintentional), and I really don't think this is lacto. This beer was fermented in a 14 gallon stainless steel conical that is scrubbed hard after each use and impeccably sanitized.

After fermenting/racking the starter APA (which was decanted off of hop matter before pitching the first pitch of this yeast), the harvested (2nd gen) yeast sat in a sanitized container in the fridge for about a week.

Also, the IIPA was dry-hopped, yeast dropped, cold-crashed, and gelatined before kegging. Pretty clear for a hoppy beer. One possibility is we pitched too much of the BRY-97 cake into the beer.

I know some british ale yeasts have a slight tanginess to them. Could this be a yeast issue?

More importantly, are there any additions I can make to tame this down a bit? I tried adding about a 1/4 tsp of gypsum to a pint, which did nothing. A 1/4 tsp of baking soda seemed to help a bit, but I feel like that might destroy any hop flavor/aroma.

Whether its my mistake or not, I probably won't be using this yeast again as it doesn't floc at all.  Oh, and also, raised by Mr. Brungard on NB, we don't usually treat our muni water at all aside from charcoal filter and campden. 
Bubblin': helles
Flowin': IIPA, Doppelbock, Flanders
Sittin': More Flanders, Braison,
Thinkin': wit, more helles

Offline klickitat jim

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Re: Tanginess in IIPA (BRY-97)
« Reply #1 on: October 29, 2013, 07:15:17 pm »
I've not used it, but Biofine is supposed to remove suspended yeast. If it does and that's the fault, bingo.

Offline mpietropaoli

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Re: Tanginess in IIPA (BRY-97)
« Reply #2 on: October 30, 2013, 05:54:28 pm »
I don't think it's a suspended yeast issue.  I used gelatin and it has been stored at 38 * or so for weeks now.  I'm wondering if the yeast imparted a tanginess into the beer. 
Bubblin': helles
Flowin': IIPA, Doppelbock, Flanders
Sittin': More Flanders, Braison,
Thinkin': wit, more helles

Offline denny

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Re: Tanginess in IIPA (BRY-97)
« Reply #3 on: October 31, 2013, 09:33:02 am »
I'm wondering if the yeast imparted a tanginess into the beer.

I have heard reports to that effect.  No personal experience.
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Offline tschmidlin

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Re: Tanginess in IIPA (BRY-97)
« Reply #4 on: November 01, 2013, 01:55:50 am »
I've used BRY-97 a lot and never noticed any tang to it.  I'll look for it next time though.
Tom Schmidlin

Offline mpietropaoli

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Re: Tanginess in IIPA (BRY-97)
« Reply #5 on: November 17, 2013, 06:00:18 pm »
This could just simply be from the hops.  Trying to find the recipe, and will post it.  I think we may have used Columbus for bittering as opposed to Magnum...another reason to use magnum for hoppy beers!
Bubblin': helles
Flowin': IIPA, Doppelbock, Flanders
Sittin': More Flanders, Braison,
Thinkin': wit, more helles