I have been reading through this forum for the past year or two and I finally got to the point where I have some questions that I can't find the answers to through a search. A little background:
I started brewing with a Picobrew Z and recently graduated to a Grainfather. I started with absolutely zero knowledge of homebrewing so I slowly worked my way through 10 brews with the Z and I think all of them were drinkable but I wouldn't consider any of them good or great beers. I finished my first brew on the Grainfather with similar results - drinkable but nothing great and not matching the flavors or style I was going for. My most recent batch had some promising results by the numbers (at least I think they are promising). I did a rising step mash with Ondea Pro and Ceremix Flex and got OG of 1.070 and FG of 1.012. This was much better conversion with less grain than I have seen so far so that seems like a win to me. This recipe was 8lb Pale Rice Malt, 3.2lb Biscuit Rice Malt, and 1.6lb Crystal Rice Malt.
Now for the part that's making me feel like I've hit a wall.
Every brew so far, including my two with the Grainfather, seem to have a metallic/sweet smell with a sweet/caramel type taste. I'm really going for a crisp, dry pale ale or IPA and what I'm getting tastes more like an Amber-ish beer . The caramel type taste seems like it could be a good thing but maybe I just don't know how to explain it properly. Like I said previously, everything has definitely been drinkable but nothing I would call a good or great beer and definitely not what I'm going for.
I'm still a novice with my terms and knowledge so maybe there's a better way most of you could explain the smell/taste with my brews but I'm hoping that someone will have some advice based on my explanation. I'm really hoping to take the next steps to produce something great but I just can't past these off-smells/flavors.
If anyone is willing to offer advice - thank you! And please ask away for more info, I will try my best to explain what I'm doing.
I started brewing with a Picobrew Z and recently graduated to a Grainfather. I started with absolutely zero knowledge of homebrewing so I slowly worked my way through 10 brews with the Z and I think all of them were drinkable but I wouldn't consider any of them good or great beers. I finished my first brew on the Grainfather with similar results - drinkable but nothing great and not matching the flavors or style I was going for. My most recent batch had some promising results by the numbers (at least I think they are promising). I did a rising step mash with Ondea Pro and Ceremix Flex and got OG of 1.070 and FG of 1.012. This was much better conversion with less grain than I have seen so far so that seems like a win to me. This recipe was 8lb Pale Rice Malt, 3.2lb Biscuit Rice Malt, and 1.6lb Crystal Rice Malt.
Now for the part that's making me feel like I've hit a wall.
Every brew so far, including my two with the Grainfather, seem to have a metallic/sweet smell with a sweet/caramel type taste. I'm really going for a crisp, dry pale ale or IPA and what I'm getting tastes more like an Amber-ish beer . The caramel type taste seems like it could be a good thing but maybe I just don't know how to explain it properly. Like I said previously, everything has definitely been drinkable but nothing I would call a good or great beer and definitely not what I'm going for.
I'm still a novice with my terms and knowledge so maybe there's a better way most of you could explain the smell/taste with my brews but I'm hoping that someone will have some advice based on my explanation. I'm really hoping to take the next steps to produce something great but I just can't past these off-smells/flavors.
If anyone is willing to offer advice - thank you! And please ask away for more info, I will try my best to explain what I'm doing.