I recently entered my very tasty American Red Ale in a competition.
When I got the judging results, they said it had vegetal overtones and some DMS. I was really surprised, because I thought this was one of my best beers ever, but upon tasting the 2 bottles that I had left, they DID have vegetal/DMS overtones and tasted rather flat (in terms of flavor, not carb)! What happened? This beer was brewed back in Nov, aged out and bottled in early January, and kept in my pantry at around 16-18C. It has good carbonation and awesome head retention, and there were never any signs of microbial contamination (I'm going to look at the sludge under the microscope next week to be sure). It still tasted great in mid-March when I sent it off to the comp, and the competition judging started April 24, at which point it must have been off. Is this just a case of holding on to a beer a bit too long? Autolysis? Contamination? It definitely had a full wort boil and was chilled quickly with an immersion chiller, so I don't think it's a case of brewhouse practice-related DMS. Any other thoughts are greatly appreciated!
Cheers.
When I got the judging results, they said it had vegetal overtones and some DMS. I was really surprised, because I thought this was one of my best beers ever, but upon tasting the 2 bottles that I had left, they DID have vegetal/DMS overtones and tasted rather flat (in terms of flavor, not carb)! What happened? This beer was brewed back in Nov, aged out and bottled in early January, and kept in my pantry at around 16-18C. It has good carbonation and awesome head retention, and there were never any signs of microbial contamination (I'm going to look at the sludge under the microscope next week to be sure). It still tasted great in mid-March when I sent it off to the comp, and the competition judging started April 24, at which point it must have been off. Is this just a case of holding on to a beer a bit too long? Autolysis? Contamination? It definitely had a full wort boil and was chilled quickly with an immersion chiller, so I don't think it's a case of brewhouse practice-related DMS. Any other thoughts are greatly appreciated!
Cheers.