So much about this looks good: smooth, steady head, nice, red, clear ale. But.
It tastes like butterscotch. There is really not much more to say about this beer. It’s flawed, and not just kinda-sorta. No, it’s just bad news.
It’s not something I can throw away, either…it’s bad but it’s not sickly bad and money is still money.
But damnit, it was supposed to be a pale. There is nothing resembling that style in this beer.
A little research suggests that the yeast may have fermented at too high a temperature, so at least I can take this knowledge into my next brew with this yeast. All is not completely lost.
I’m surprised, because pitch temperature is something I’ve been paying attention to lately. I’ve been making sure the temperature of the wort is getting down to at least 75 F. I didn’t worry about getting it lower because I usually have to add another gallon of water to it, and that should drop the temperature down another five degrees, easy. Low 70’s, high 60’s is about where you want to pitch (most) yeast.
Nonetheless, this is a new yeast for me-Imperial’s Barbarian (Aside, this is how we know that this is a young company is run by men. Instead of calling the product something that tells you what it is for, as every other yeast company does, they call it “Barbarian”. Because that’s cool, right?) and that means adapting to what’s given, not what I believe I “know”.
Next time, next time.
Brew date: 1.25.16
Steeping malt: 3 lb C40
Fermentables: 7 lb LME
Hops
1 oz Comet,.25 oz Dom Goldings @60
.5 oz Comet, .25 oz Domestic Goldings @ 40
.5 oz Comet .5 oz Dom G @10
Yeast: Imperial “Barbarian”
OG: 1.065
FG: 1.018
Secondary 2/13, 1oz Dom Goldings added
Bottled 2/14
ABV: 6.4%
A pint for Dionysus 
Failure is a big chunk of the learning process. Sorry the beer didn’t turn out good. Many beers create so much thermal energy they can raise the fermentation temperature as much as 10 degrees above what you may think it is. Temperature control is one of the toughest things to do at the home-brew level but also one of the most crucial to how a beer will turn out.
I was unaware that the fermenting process could generate so much heat. That might explain a lot, then. Thanks for the information: I’ll do more to bring the temperature down in the future.
Currently, how are you keeping your fermenter cool and how are you monitoring your ferm temperature? I assume you are making 5 gallon batches?
5 gallon batches yes. The carboys are just stored in my basement and I pretty much leave them alone until the activity in the carboy is done.