I brewed a mirror pond clone from Austin home brew supply and it sort of has what I can only describe as a off metallic-y taste. I am wondering could my copper immersion wort chiller be causing this? My first batch had only a couple bottles that tasted like that. I didn't change any sanitizing steps procedures. Could it be bottle infection also? Also when bottling, do you have to cap the beer immediately? As opposed to filling them all and then capping? Would that time affect anything? I doubt bottling took more than 15 or 20 minutes once I actually started the filling process. Also, I pretty much have my burner going full tilt during the boil and the beer has a pretty week boil. Not even bubbling really. Just kind of swirling around. Wondering if I need to buy a burner and go outdoors. Sorry for throwing all this stuff out there but I'd like to get an idea whats causing the issue before I go forward and spend any more cash.
Metallic flavors can be from iron in the water, which is what I think JohnSnowNW was pointing out. Question...did this kit use Liquid Malt Extract (LME)? Old stale LME can have a flavor some describe as metallic. I think it's unlikely your wort chiller is the cause.
I'm used ozarka bottled water. Not sure how to test specifically for iron. Just general water hardness. Yes it was LME.
When bottling, fill the bottles and just put the wet/sanitized cap on top of the bottle. That will keep air exchange to a minimum, keep out crawlers, and have the bottle cap in place ready to go when you are ready for the capper.
Every AHS recipe I ever brewed had a similar off-putting taste. Always thought it was user error. Apparently...it's a feature of AHS recipes.
A turkey-fryer setup will have a big brewpot you can use for full boils of up to about 7 gallons of wort, plus the IBUs to get a good rolling boil going. Mine has worked like a champ for me. If you're hardly getting a boil, that could be part of the problem. The only thing I don't recommend about a turkey fryer is actually frying turkey in it. I also recommend you modify your procedure for bottling to include capping immediately. It is possible to accomplish this by yourself, but... I've found bottling to be quite easy if you have a helper, and the caps go on immediately. However, just placing the sanitized cap on top is much better than leaving them all open until you're done filling. Bottles must be very clean and dry during storage. I clean and rinse with HOT water, dry thoroughly upside-down, and cap with a square of tinfoil for storage. Any bottle that would require a brush to remove the junk from the inside is rejected and sent to the recycle bin. Try using dry malt extract, or ordering LME from a different vendor. Also, brewing the same recipe again, from a different vendor, might illuminate your situation nicely.
I'm not sure what you mean by "off flavors." Does the beer taste sour, grassy, greasy, or stale? Many brewers on here, with more sensitive palates than mine, could detect dicetyls, esters, fruit flavors, and describe them as being "off" because the particular beer style should not exhibit those. My feeling is that if you have flavors that are sour or greasy, then you probably have a sanitization issue. Whether this is because of something you overlooked while brewing (bottle infection), or something at the brew store (bad/contaminated extract syrup), I don't know. If the flavors are in the other category (grassy, stale, or any of the others) then it could be due more to old ingredients or to your brewing process. Personnaly, I use a copper immersion wort chiller, which I sanitize before using, and I have not experienced any off flavors that I could attribute to that. I also fill all my bottles, which takes about 10 minutes and then begin the capping process. I don't place the cap on each bottle while I am filling the others, although this sounds like it's not a bad idea at all. Lastly, if your kitchen stove isn't up to the task, I would definitely go for the outdoor burner. It's maybe not as important with extract as it is with all-grain, but maintaining a rolling boil helps you avoid dimethyl sulfide, which could cause some more "off flavor." Austin, in addition to being weird, has a huge population of home brewers. And everybody likes free beer. Could you maybe give a few tastes out and ask for opinions on the off flavors?
As far as the waiting to cap when bottling goes, I put a sanitized cap on each bottle as I go, I fill 6 bottles and place a cap on each one as I go. After 6 bottles I leave the bottling wand inside #7 on a chair (that I have all the filled bottles on as well) then I crimp the caps on all 6 bottles, place them into the 6 pack holder and proceed with the next 6. Keeps the work area uncluttered, keeps microbes and such out of the beer, caps on foam, allows me to track how much I have to go since each 1/2 gallon of beer is about a 6 pack.
