BM's Centennial Blonde, off flavors

[Brewnoob1]

So, last week I brewed BM's centennial blonde extract recipe.

5lbs Light DME
1lb Cara (steeped 160-165)
.25oz centennial x2 (45 min, 25 min)
.25oz cascade x2. (10min, flameout)

Everything went well, hop additions fine, about 1/3 DME at the start of the boil, the rest at flame out. Everything is good. OG 1.046.

I go and take a gravity reading today, it's 1.018 and still sweet so it has a ways to go. However, the flavor, I can't explain. Something seems way off. Color is fine, the hop aroma and flavor seems present, but the rest is very odd....and not in a pleasant way. I can't even describe the flavor. The best I can say is that it tastes almost chemically like crappy water with all sorts of stuff in it. Though I use the same tap water in all my brews. Is this brew known to have some off flavors during fermentation? Will it recover with time? Right now, I wouldn't drink it the way it is. This is my first blonde so im in different territory right now.
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[Brewnoob1]

Any Ideas?

 

[elproducto]

What temp are you fermenting at? What yeast did you use?

A week is awful early to be worrying about a beer. I do Cent. Blonde all the time, and don't like it until it's at least 5-6 weeks old, and that's with kegging.

RDWHAHB

 

[Brewnoob1]

Fermenting around 66-68. I've never had a beer with such an off flavor before. Im not thinking if drinking it right now, but was concerned about this blonde being horrible to the taste at a week in. was wondering if such an off flavor was normal and if it would improve with time. If not, I don't want to use up equipment and time for something that went wrong. Make sense?

 

[elproducto]

It doesn't make sense unless you are using a strange yeast, or your water is messed up.

It should be lower than 1.018 as well if you are using extract and the right yeast.

Consider pitching some US-05 to clean it up.. but honestly just leave it be, and check it in 2 weeks.

 

[Brewnoob1]

Im using notty. Yeah, ill let it go a bit longer and draw a gravity sample. If it still tastes like crap, ill dump and redo it

 

[Batinse]

It's hard to tell what it is unless you can be more specific about the off-flavour you taste (especially since it's so early yet). With the information at hand I'm thinking ferm temps and/or sanitizer left in the fermentor (unless you use no-rinse?).

 

[ElevenBrewCo]

Im using notty. Yeah, ill let it go a bit longer and draw a gravity sample. If it still tastes like crap, ill dump and redo it

Dont dump it!!! some off flavors mellow out over time. Just give it time!!

 

[Brewnoob1]

I know, but the flavor isn't even beginning to be drinkable. I would think that I would have some off flavors, but I can't explain the taste. I won't dump anytime super soon, but due to my limited equipment, I don't want to tie up real estate for something that has no drinkability hope.

 

[soupfist]

Brewnoob, it just so happens I bottled my first-ever Centennial Blonde yesterday, 12 days after brewing it.

I took samples all along. The ones I took 3-7 days after brewing (pretty much after primary ferm was wrapping up) were absolutely horrible. At 3 days it was a harsh alkaline taste, like sticking your tongue in baking soda. At 5 days it mellowed enough to be more closely identified as a combination of yeast, suspended CO2 and the harsh grapefruit twang of the hops. The sample I took just before bottling was sort of unpleasantly sour and astringent - actually reminded me a lot of dry, sour white wine, except without the pleasant finish. Any of that sound familiar?

That being said, I wouldn't dream of pitching this beer. I've never had an ale yet that tasted worth a damn before bottling & carbonating was finished, and to date I've never made an undrinkable beer. There's always a corner somewhere that the beer has to turn, and you have to let it get there.

 

[Brewnoob1]

That gives me some hope. Maybe I'll just let it ride for as long as I can stand it. However, I don't bottle...I keg. So, I'll let this go until the 3-4 week mark and test then. I was just under the impression that this type of beer was best drinking young and not aging very long. So, I was HIGHLY concerned haha. Thanks for the input guys.

 

[Brewnoob1]

Update: So, after 2 weeks, the flavor is still there. It's almost grassy like. Still not very tasty. I don't know if I can drink 5 gallons if it remains this way. It has calmed a bit, but still, that 1 flavor is very dominant. I haven't dry hopped or anything. Just boiled the extract recipe CM originally suggested. I'm going to wait 1 more week and check it next week before deciding to keg or dump. It doesn't look infected or anything, it's just an off flavor I can't describe. If another week doesn't cure it, it's going down the drain unfortunately.

 

[robdogj]

Update: So, after 2 weeks, the flavor is still there. It's almost grassy like. Still not very tasty. I don't know if I can drink 5 gallons if it remains this way. It has calmed a bit, but still, that 1 flavor is very dominant. I haven't dry hopped or anything. Just boiled the extract recipe CM originally suggested. I'm going to wait 1 more week and check it next week before deciding to keg or dump. It doesn't look infected or anything, it's just an off flavor I can't describe. If another week doesn't cure it, it's going down the drain unfortunately.

Apologies for being a megatroll, but I want to know about your final outcome. Did you dump the brew???