Messing up beer on purpose for education.

[MedicMang]

Hello to everyone that sucks at brewing. Joke. I am el Presidente of the Athens Homebrew Club in Ohio. I am wanting to expand peoples minds into exactly what certain off flavors taste like. I am looking to do some one gallon batches of a simple pale ale to describe common and uncommon off flavors in homebrew. I guess I just need suggestions on how to do them so that the off flavor is very prominent. Any advice is welcome.

I figured I can do oxidation easily from just splashing the crap out of the beer after it is done fermenting before bottling. I can skunk some beer in the sun with a clear bottle to show the breaking down isohumulones with sulfer to form that flavor. I can do fusels from super high temps during fermentation. Do you think that I can show DMS through keeping my pot covered in the boil? I don't know. Just looking for input. List some off flavors and ideas of how to accentuate them in a beer, for education reasons. Thanks in advance everyone. This will be an awesomely gross lesson with your help.

 

[Chrisl77]

Not the cheapest but it would be the easiest. Get one of these sensory training kits you just add some to a neutral lite beer like miller lite. One kit is enough for a bunch of people so the cost is not to bad if you pool your money together.

 

[MedicMang]

Nice. Thanks for the info. Thought it might just be fun to DIY this. Good starting point though.

 

[mtnagel]

I've been to an off flavor training before hosted by some local brewers (Blank Slate and Rivertown). I think most they did were done by adding something to a base beer so you had an over the top example so that everybody could taste it. You don't want a subtle off note. I think it might be harder than you think to get some of the off flavors by actually brewing. Some might be easier than others (I could be wrong).

Just looking through the BJCP off flavor flash cards, here's some ideas I have (I have experience in flavors, so that's where most of these will come from).
- Acetaldehyde - add vinegar
- Alcoholic - add vodka
- Astringent - suck on a tea bag or banana peel to get the feeling
- Bitterness - (that's of off flavor?) Not sure if you need to do that one, but you could get a Mikkellar 1000 Lt. That's the most bitter beer I've ever had. It was terrible.
- Buttery - add some butter flavor. Maybe Molly McButter or something like that.
- Cardboard - your idea might work. Or could actually soak cardboard in the beer.
- Cooked Corn - dump some of the juice from canned corn in there.
- Phenolic - soak a (clean) band aid in the beer.
- Lightstruck - buy a Heineken.
- Sourness - get a sour beer or add some citric acid.
- Sweet - add sugar.

I think you get the idea. You'll have to play around to get the right level. Some of the samples we tried were terrible, but I think it was a good exercise. Hope that helps.

 

[MedicMang]

I like those ideas. You may be right that it will be a huge challenge to brew each one with a major off flavor. We'll see.


Sent from Cheese Doodle Land.

 

[mtnagel]

Obviously it will be more work to purposely brew bad batches too. After you get it figured out, want to bring your show on the road my our home brew club in Cincinnati?