[Bevel]

Trying to figure out what I’m doing that is causing (I think) acetal in my beer. I’m not good at identifying which off flavor is which but I *think* it might be green apples. I also don’t like green apples so I don’t taste them often lol. Anyway, wondering if if my beer is tainted with acetal, is it actually any danger or just an off flavor. If it’s not dangerous I’ll drink it anyway. Obviously aced talk in certain doses can be cancerous but could it be harmful at all in amounts found a beer or is it too small an amount?  Thanks!

[stpug]

acetaldehyde is more of a freshly carved pumpkin OR green bell pepper OR under-ripe apple character - less overtly "apple".

Red/Green apple and/or "cidery" is more often an oxidative or recipe issue.

[fredthecat]

Trying to figure out what I’m doing that is causing (I think) acetal in my beer. I’m not good at identifying which off flavor is which but I *think* it might be green apples. I also don’t like green apples so I don’t taste them often lol. Anyway, wondering if if my beer is tainted with acetal, is it actually any danger or just an off flavor. If it’s not dangerous I’ll drink it anyway. Obviously aced talk in certain doses can be cancerous but could it be harmful at all in amounts found a beer or is it too small an amount?  Thanks!

what is your rough process? how long do you let it ferment? are you adding enough yeast?

acetaldehyde indicates a problem with the fermentation, and generally shouldnt be in a beer at levels where you notice it constantly.

it isnt more "dangerous" than ethanol, but it is a factor in hangovers.

in short, you should change what youre doing to get rid of it.

[majorvices]

Keep in mind that alcohol is probably the most dangerous chemical in your beer...

Here's a good link on Acetaldehyde -- https://beerandbrewing.com/off-flavor-of-the-week-acetaldehyde/

[Bevel]

Trying to figure out what I’m doing that is causing (I think) acetal in my beer. I’m not good at identifying which off flavor is which but I *think* it might be green apples. I also don’t like green apples so I don’t taste them often lol. Anyway, wondering if if my beer is tainted with acetal, is it actually any danger or just an off flavor. If it’s not dangerous I’ll drink it anyway. Obviously aced talk in certain doses can be cancerous but could it be harmful at all in amounts found a beer or is it too small an amount?  Thanks!

what is your rough process? how long do you let it ferment? are you adding enough yeast?

acetaldehyde indicates a problem with the fermentation, and generally shouldnt be in a beer at levels where you notice it constantly.

it isnt more "dangerous" than ethanol, but it is a factor in hangovers.

in short, you should change what youre doing to get rid of it.

I’ve been doing 1 gallon batches and they have been OG of around 1.050 and 1.060. I pitch about 6g dry yeast and it bubbles like crazy, Krause reaching the bubbler for the first 24 hours then it slows to a pretty mellow bubble for another 24 hours max. Then there’s no action for the rest of the two weeks that I keep it in the primary. I use a swamp cooler to keep it around mid 60s F for a week then pull it out to room temp that is just under 70 F. I use priming sugar to bottle and the bottles sit at room temp for about two weeks until I fridge them and tap into them.

[Bevel]

Keep in mind that alcohol is probably the most dangerous chemical in your beer...

Here's a good link on Acetaldehyde -- https://beerandbrewing.com/off-flavor-of-the-week-acetaldehyde/

Thanks I’ll give it a read!

[RC]

Acetaldehyde has long been known to be a carcinogen and teratogen. The reason ethanol is so widely viewed as being toxic is not because it itself is so dangerous (although it's certainly not benign), but because of the acetaldehyde it gets converted to as the first step in its breakdown.

But it's a cumulative thing and drinking beer with acetaldehyde in it is not going to suddenly make you drop dead. But if it were me, even if I didn't mind that off flavor, I wouldn't drink a 5 gallon keg of beer loaded with it.

[BrewBama]

I’ve been doing 1 gallon batches and they have been OG of around 1.050 and 1.060. I pitch about 6g dry yeast and it bubbles like crazy, Krause reaching the bubbler for the first 24 hours then it slows to a pretty mellow bubble for another 24 hours max. Then there’s no action for the rest of the two weeks that I keep it in the primary. I use a swamp cooler to keep it around mid 60s F for a week then pull it out to room temp that is just under 70 F. I use priming sugar to bottle and the bottles sit at room temp for about two weeks until I fridge them and tap into them.

FWIW, this information and a small equity line of credit will buy you a cup of coffee. Take it with a grain of salt. These are the cpl steps that differ from my own in ^this^ process:

1) “no action for the rest of the two weeks that I keep it in the primary.”  Check FG and when it’s done it done. Waiting extra time for some arbitrary reason isn’t doing anything good. If you can’t get to it because you’re on the road or something it’s completely understandable. …but the beer is done when FG flatlines. Package it. Acetaldehyde is produced by the oxidation of ethanol (alcohol). Waiting to package the finished beer can be exposing the beer to O2.

2) “6g dry yeast in 1 gal 1.050 @~65*F.” That’s 3x the mfr suggested pitch rate for Ale yeast and 2x the mfr suggested pitch rate for Lager yeast (as well as outside the temp tolerance for some dry Lager yeast).  IMO you don’t want to make it too easy for the yeast by overpopulating the environment. You want all the yeast to go thru the phases of their life cycle and IMO over pitching is second only to under pitching.

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[fredthecat]

I’ve been doing 1 gallon batches and they have been OG of around 1.050 and 1.060. I pitch about 6g dry yeast and it bubbles like crazy, Krause reaching the bubbler for the first 24 hours then it slows to a pretty mellow bubble for another 24 hours max. Then there’s no action for the rest of the two weeks that I keep it in the primary. I use a swamp cooler to keep it around mid 60s F for a week then pull it out to room temp that is just under 70 F. I use priming sugar to bottle and the bottles sit at room temp for about two weeks until I fridge them and tap into them.

it might be type of yeast. for some strains high 60s would be way too hot, but for others there shouldnt be many off-flavours. for 60-70F, a pretty recommended one overall is BRY97.

Overall, i get the feeling there is a pressure on time to get beer into circulation. IMHO 1 gallon is quite small, though I understand many reasons why people have different sizes they brew with. If you're a frequent beer drinker I would go with at least 3 gallons.

If you get a 5 gallon, then one satchet (11g) of most yeasts is the recommended dosage. Then when you've got 5 gallons bottled, theres far less pressure to get the next beer ready to bottle, and you can give it the 3 or 4 weeks+ I usually do. Some people here have very different schedules that do work for them. However this usually involves strong temperature control, cold-crashing the beer to really knock out the yeast from suspension.

[majorvices]

In addition to what the others have said, be sure to minimize oxidation during bottling. I know that someone will chime in and say "yeast scavenges the oxygen" but damage can still happen. Don't use a bottling bucket if you can avoid it and bottle straight from the fermenter (and skip the secondary if you use one).

For my one gallon batches i use a mini-fermenter from Northern Brewer that has a siphon less valve on the bottom (I think it is called a mini big mouth bubbler).

[BrewBama]

…

If you get a 5 gallon, then one satchet (11g) of most yeasts is the recommended dosage. …

I agree that on this site the general consensus pitch rate is ‘a pack a batch’ …often backed up by the Bro Science claim something like “I do it and my beer turns out great”.  Nothing wrong with that as long as it is understood that it is not the recommendation.

Pitching a ‘pack a batch’ is rarely the case if using the manufacturers’ recommendations. For example, using the OP’s 1.050 SG, 11 g of Ale yeast in 5 gal @ 65*F would be ~ 88% of the recommendation.

While using a ~12% under pitch is probably not in batch ruining territory and it would probably work just fine …to be clear… it is an under pitch by the recommendation.

Again, just my thoughts …which ain’t worth much.



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[Bevel]

Thanks for all the replies so far, everyone. Lots of interesting and helpful stuff! So last night I pitched 2g US-05 instead of my previous 6g and what I see so far is that the bubbling isn’t ramping up as quickly, which may be a good thing. Typically overnight imand it’s starting to get a little crazy lol.

I would like to do bigger batches but I am in an apt so trying to keep it compact for now, plus as I work out my errors I didn’t want to get stuck with 3-5 gallons of bad beer. However I am going to let them bottle condition for longer than I have been.

I think oxidation is very likely an issue too. I don’t trust my siphoning to be good enough to go from primary straight into bottles, so I go into my kettle, then into bottles. But I’m actually moving to a bucket with a spigot that I’ll attach my bottling wand to because I’ve been having issues keeping a good flow siphoning into bottles so I get a little splashing and also it takes forever for the last few to fill.

[majorvices]

I think oxidation is very likely an issue too. I don’t trust my siphoning to be good enough to go from primary straight into bottles, so I go into my kettle, then into bottles. But I’m actually moving to a bucket with a spigot that I’ll attach my bottling wand to because I’ve been having issues keeping a good flow siphoning into bottles so I get a little splashing and also it takes forever for the last few to fill.

I think this is your problem. When I bottle my 1 gallon batches (they are actually 5L batches) I prime each bottle individually. About 2.3-3 grams table sugar or 2.5-3.2 grams corn sugar per 12 ounce bottle of beer. You can make it easy on yourself and just measure out about a 1/2 tsp of sugar (table or corn) per bottle and your Co2 level will be roughly the same from bottle to bottle. (Don't worry about sanitizing the sugar, it is sanitary straight out of the package as long as it remains dry).

Its best to take out as many racking steps as possible. Every time you rack a beer you pick up oxidation. The only safe way to rack is to rack into a co2 purged vessel, with a co2 purged racking line. Get rid of the bottling bucket (or whatever you are using) and you will probably see the off flavor go away.

This thing is really awesome -- https://www.northernbrewer.com/products/siphonless-little-big-mouth-bubbler-glass-fermenter

I just go straight into bottles. For larger batches I normally just keg. But priming 10 bottles by hand is not very difficult.

[Bevel]

I think oxidation is very likely an issue too. I don’t trust my siphoning to be good enough to go from primary straight into bottles, so I go into my kettle, then into bottles. But I’m actually moving to a bucket with a spigot that I’ll attach my bottling wand to because I’ve been having issues keeping a good flow siphoning into bottles so I get a little splashing and also it takes forever for the last few to fill.

I think this is your problem. When I bottle my 1 gallon batches (they are actually 5L batches) I prime each bottle individually. About 2.3-3 grams table sugar or 2.5-3.2 grams corn sugar per 12 ounce bottle of beer. You can make it easy on yourself and just measure out about a 1/2 tsp of sugar (table or corn) per bottle and your Co2 level will be roughly the same from bottle to bottle. (Don't worry about sanitizing the sugar, it is sanitary straight out of the package as long as it remains dry).

Its best to take out as many racking steps as possible. Every time you rack a beer you pick up oxidation. The only safe way to rack is to rack into a co2 purged vessel, with a co2 purged racking line. Get rid of the bottling bucket (or whatever you are using) and you will probably see the off flavor go away.

This thing is really awesome -- https://www.northernbrewer.com/products/siphonless-little-big-mouth-bubbler-glass-fermenter

I just go straight into bottles. For larger batches I normally just keg. But priming 10 bottles by hand is not very difficult.

Oh I like that! I’ll grab one and try it out. My big hesitation with going straight from primary to bottle is picking up crap on the bottom trying to handle the siphon and bottles but this solves it. Between the likely oxidation and over pitching yeast I’m hoping my issue can be resolved!

[majorvices]

Took me some courage to go straight to bottles too. But it works out well. I can get perfectly clear beer. Just need to condition in the fermenter. I'll fine with gelatin in the primary on occasion as well.