Flavour "detection" threads or articles?

[403Brewer]

I'm relatively new into the HB scene (9 mos) but starting to get more serious about dialling in my flavours and making great beer instead of "good, but not great" stuff, and I'm wondering if there is a good resource out there on how to detect all the common flavours that are mentioned in the HB world, stuff like "malt/hop character" or bittering vs aroma hops, or how to really taste IBU differences...and then other things like DMS, Diacytyl, Esters, Oxidized and stuff like that. Realize this is a pretty broad topic but something I figure is crucial if you want to ever enter competition beers or really create true to style stuff. Suggestions much appreciated!!

 

[biereblanche]

Brew Chem 101, about as basic a book as you might find, but one that covers off flavors pretty well. Also has a kiddie pool introduction to other brewing science, malts, hop components.

Designing Great Beers and New Brewing Lagers are excellent semi-rigorous books to improve homebrew technique, process, and recipe formulation.

BJCP has some basic off-flavor sheets buried somewhere on their site. There's a presentation here: http://www.bjcp.org/cep/SensoryTraining.pdf

Tasting IBUs: grab a mix of bottles that have IBUs stated on the bottle; many more can be found online. Taste, pay attention to bitterness.

 

[BBL_Brewer]

There are also kits that you can buy that emphasize specific off flavors. A local homebrew club I was going to for a while was just about to do a tasting exercise with these right before I stopped attending.

 

[Homercidal]

Randy Mosher's Tasting Beer is an interesting read besides the obvious topic in the title.