Honey note in all homebrew

I've been pretty quiet around these parts as I haven't had much inspiration to brew recently. I've run into a problem I can't make heads or tails of and am hoping you all can help. To make it short, every one of the last 5 non-dark beers I've brewed has had a honey note emerge after being in the bottle for a month or two. A wheat beer, a pilsner (twice), a blonde ale, a pale ale -- all of them. A porter and a dubbel have come out without the honey note.

To describe it, it's like you make green tea and add honey to it -- that kind of honey note. Not overpowering, but something I can't get past. Doesn't matter if I drink from the bottle or pour into a glass. I assumed sanitation first, so I cleaned everything with soap and a soft sponge, rinsed, PBW'd for 3 hours, then rinsed, then Star San'd them before use again. Even the brew kettle (easiest place for me to PBW bottles). Still got the honey the next 3 batches.

Is it oxygen? I bottle straight from primary, so if it's oxygen, I likely need to upgrade the fermenter. Any other ideas from you fine folk?

 

Good question. Might be worth trying if no other answers come up. Usually rinse the hell out of everything, but that’s not foolproof.

Depends on the beer — anywhere from 50-68 degrees. And some of the beers have taken off within hours of pitching, thanks to starters/oxygenation.

 

NYC water is pretty damn good, nearly neutral base to build off of. All the ions are single digits or low teens.

That sounds about right. I haven't had an import bottle in a while, but reading your question sent up a "that's it!" flag in my brain.

I had to drill a whole for the airlock in my fermenter and I think it's getting worn open more a bit, or I just made it too large to begin with. Weird thing is I didn't have this issue when I first started using this specific lid/fermenter, so it makes me wonder if there's something else amiss with it as well. It's a Speidel and well made, which is why I'm assuming my drilling is the issue.

I guess it's time to upgrade the fermenter -- been meaning to do so, just keep putting it off as more money to spend. Perhaps the first new batch without a honey flavor will rekindle things. @pweis909, how have the Anvil fermenters been treating you?

 

The 12L one (3.2 gallons). No hole for an airlock, but it comes with the spigot, so I just drilled a hole myself and put a grommet in. Has worked out perfectly for my 2.5 gallon brewing, or so I thought. I'm even loath to blame my airlock drilling as I always get vigorous bubbles through the airlock to the point of needing a blow-off tube the first couple days of fermentation, but I know it could still be sneaking back in once fermentation is done.

The only other thing I can think of is I could be bad at capping bottles, which lets air in? I have this kind of capper, and I usually cap the bottle firmly.

 

That's an interesting idea. I’ll have to read more about this as an option. Do you just use the blow off for fermentation or do you eventually attach to something else to act as an airlock?

I figured as much, but thank you for sharing the exact numbers. Does storing the bottles in “airtight” plastic containers change things at all?

 

Thanks for the notes on the Anvil equipment. I was leaning towards the smallest SS Brewtech fermenter, partly because of size and also because my LHBS sells it (and they are the real deal, so I’d like to support them) but your notes help me solidify that choice. Good thing I have a birthday coming up - nothing better than treating yourself to some homebrew equipment!

I’ve been trying to figure out where else I could go wrong and bottling is the only step between the tasty hydrometer samples and oxidized beer that might be an issue. That or I’m oxygenating the wort far more than I think I am and the yeast doesn’t need all that I add, which sticks around for a while and eventually causes the oxidation/honey note. I follow the advice @VikeMan programmed into Brewcipher, though, so I have a hard time believing that’s the issue.

 

Diacetyl is not something I've thought of, so I'm glad you brought it up. I'm not getting any kind of buttery/slick mouthfeel with any of the beers, and some of them have sat in primary 5-10 days after primary was done thanks to life happenings taking priority over bottling, so I would think the yeast would have time to deal with diacetyl in that time period.

I'll have to open one of the homebrews that displays the note most distinctly to see if there's any wet cardboardness to it and report back. I remember it being honey, but perhaps that's just the only word that came to mind.

I'll also add that I was never trying to get a honey flavor and none of the beers included honey in the ingredients. Probably should have noted that in the original post!

ETA: I opened a pilsner, my second most recent batch, and it's definitely honey and not wet cardboard, @GreenKrusty101. At least to my palate, it has the kind of sweetness you associate with regular honey when it's mixed into/used on something else. Not saccharine sweet, honey sweet. This batch spent by far the most time in the fermenter, so perhaps that helps narrow it down?