Soapy taste on a cream ale

[danielbeckera]

Hey guys,
I made a cream ale some days ago for my father, as he prefers light beers.
The thing is, this is the second time I made this style and on both times i got a soapy/detergent taste on it on both times, what can it be?
I saw that it can be a long primary fermentation period, but that isnt the case, as I was checking the gravity very regualarly and as soon as it stopped (1006 fg) I went to cold crashing.
I'm from Brazil, I used as sanitizer iodine on my keg and washed up before with water.
You guys got any ideas?

Recipe:
4,7kg pale ale malt
400gr carapils
200gr flaked corn

Hop:
9gr columbus

Yeast:
Safale US-05

OG: 1046
FG: 1006

 

[VikeMan]

Did you do anything to minimize the trub getting into the fermenter? Fatty acids can be turned into soap during fermentation. It's less likely to happen in a short fermentation, but maybe conditions were "favorable" for it somehow.

 

[danielbeckera]

Did you do anything to minimize the trub getting into the fermenter? Fatty acids can be turned into soap during fermentation. It's less likely to happen in a short fermentation, but maybe conditions were "favorable" for it somehow.

yes i used a sieve to filter it so almost no trub went to the fermenter
any chance its the yeast flavor?

 

[VikeMan]

yes i used a sieve to filter it so almost no trub went to the fermenter
any chance its the yeast flavor?

Do you mean like one of these?

any chance its the yeast flavor?

I don't know. I've used US-05. I've never known it, or any other yeast strain, to make a soapy flavor.

 

[Sammy86]

Could be the water...not sure exactly what you're working with but if it doesn't have enough sulfates you could get some soapy flavors.

 

[GoodTruble]

I've had a "soapy" flavor on two occasions. I don't know what caused it, but in both cases, the flavor faded away after 6-8 weeks of aging.

 

[khannon]

I've had soapy flavors from hops.. were they fresh/well stored?

 

[Nuke83]

I've actually brewed several cream ales this year as I've been tweaking toward an acceptable (to me) Spotted Cow clone. I'd recommend that you try your next brew buying gallons of purified water. The one thing that strong flavored beers do is mask off flavors and water variances where cream ales will allow anything that is off to come through in the flavor (initial water chemistry included). In all the gallons of cream ales I have done this year, none have had any soapy flavor (actually, all of them have been quite good, but I haven't hit what I'll rest on as my clone recipe yet).

Also, what temp range are you maintaining your fermentation? If you're getting too warm, it could produce some off flavors that may be coming across as soapy. I've been cycling my fermentation chamber between 58F and 63F which has my actual beer maintaining at 67F for the duration of the two weeks fermenting (using TILT, so 67F is actual temp of the beer).

I've used S-05, WLP080, and WLP001 yeasts, and Willamette, Crystal & Cluster hops (or combinations thereof) used in the various brews and none of them have produced any soapy flavors..