first homebrew no good.... help!

Seems like you've really done your research which is great. What type of water did you use? Also (I'm sure it says in your recipe but I'm lazy), did you do a full boil? The boil size could help explain the hoppiness of the beer.

 

Did you use tap water? If so, does your tap water contain chlorine or chloramines? If so, did you treat the water to get rid of them? Or did you by any chance sanitize with a chlorine solution? Chlorine can combine with phenols (from grain and/or hops) to form chlorophenols. And chlorophenols can taste exactly like what you described.

 

I was also thinking this might have been the case if you used tap water. But everything seems to be on the up and up. I will still occasionally brew batches that just come out kinda crappy maybe just give it another shot and if the problem keeps up then look into it more.

Did you by chance leave a lot of hop particles in there? I feel like after so long they should all be out of suspension though.

 

Did you use tap water to top off from 4.5 gallon to 5 after your boil? I had the same issue with cloramines in my tap water. I now treat with campden tablets. My only other thought could be that you didnt rinse your sanitizer well enough.

Good luck finding the issue.

 

I may be wrong here, but I thought Easy Clean was just a cleaner, not a sanitizer. I personally clean with PBW and sanitize with Saniclean. Perhaps your bottles were surface clean, but not truly sanitized. That may be the source of the off-flavors.

 

Sounds like a chlorine issue to me. Either it's your tap water or something you used to sanitize your bottles. I'm leaning more towards bottle sanitation since the beer was good out of the fermentor. I had this issue once awhile back and it ended up being the tap water. Using campden tablets solved the issue. As for sanatizer I'd suggest using Iodophor or Starsan both are non-rinse and FDA approved and produce no off flavors if used properly.

 

Just looking over the recipe (http://www.midwestsupplies.com/home...cipe-kits/specialty-beers/rocky-pale-ale.html), and it has enough medium and dark caramelized malt to make the beer more amber than pale.

 

Get Starsan, that's all I got.

 

I think you nailed it.

 

Easy clean is a cleaner, like oxyclean, not a sanitizer. Seems likely that what you're tasting is an infection, unfortunately. Starsan and iodophor are good bets for future sanitation needs.

 

I'm not 100% certain that the off-flavors are caused by an infection, but it is definitely a possibility. Sounds like it picked up the infection either in the bottling bucket or one of the siphoning lines because the fermented beer didn't have an off taste but it sounds like the entire batch probably got the infection.Next time, use some Star San or Iodopher and use the 4 step process to clean and sanitize:
Rinse
Wash/Clean
Rinse
Sanitize

But don't fret it too much, this stuff happens!

 

I agree with the possibility of infection - Easy Clean is a cleanser, not a sanitizer.
http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/easy-clean.html

Out of curiosity, the NB website describes Easy Clean as a no-rinse oxygen-based cleaner that requires two minutes contact time. I have been using Oxyclean for about 5 years. I don't think anyone would call Oxyclean no-rinse, and two minutes of contact time might be OK if you don't really have any crud that needs cleaning. Is Easy Clean really superior to Oxyclean, or are the claims of no-rinse and 2-minute contact times misleading?

For mash tuns, bucket fermenters, and kettles, I usually soak in hot water-Oxy for 30 min or longer, and triple rinse. For bottles (which I reusue and rinse well between use) I soak in hot oxy for about 10 minutes and scrub with a bottle brush, then triple rinse. After the rinse, buckets and bottles and other stuff that touches cold side wort or beer gets a Star-san treatment.

 

Indeed it sounds like you are tasting a phenolic off-flavor. It's possible that it is caused by chlorine/chloramine water additives, but I don't think you would perceive those as clove-like. Many wild yeasts also produce these phenolic compounds and some likely ended up in your beer. There are worse infections. Just call it a Belgian style pale ale and drink it quickly.

On the water side - It is probably worth it to buy a good filter from from a place like Home Depot. A "Whole-House" type filter lasts a long time, and if you read the specs, you can choose one that will filter out many impurities that will effect your beer. Be sure to buy the appropriate plumbing fittings to make it easy to use with your brewing setup. I added garden hose fittings to mine.

Even though I have, what seems to be a good filter. It does not specifically mention removal of chloramines, so I also add 1/2 metabisulfite tablet along with the other salts to my HLT. This is supposed to eliminate chloramines in up to 20 gallons of water.

 

How many times did you check your temperature during fermentation?

69 is kinda of high and a dip into the low 70's would give you phenols.

If it was an infection you would taste other off flavors besides phenols.

Lastly, if an infection is happening in the bottle you would see a small crud ring around the level of the liquid and you will start to get gushers because the wild stuff will ferment sugars the beer yeast did not.

If you do not have an infection and just have a spicy pale, the phenols will fade with time but so will some hops.

 

After you use the heat cycle in the dishwasher, do not rinse b/c they are sterilized when the cycle is complete. Rinsing will add in unknown bacteria or what not from your water.

Also, you are using a cleanser, not a sanitizer. Get yourself some Iodophor or a sanitizer product to sanitize your bucket and everything that will touch your beer post boil.

 

Phenolic taste is a classic sign of wild yeast infection.

High temperature mash-out is associated with polyphenols (note the "poly") are associated with astringent bitter taste and chill haze - not the same as phenol/phenolic medicine taste.