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Why it’s important to

know off flavours in
beer
by Matthew Curtis / 21st August 2022 /
Beers, Homebrew, Microbrewing

Why it’s important to know off flavours in beer,

and how to identify them

As well as being incredibly delicious, beer is a fragile,

highly perishable product. It’s why you’ll often pick up
a can that says “drink fresh, store cold” on the label—
instructions you absolutely should follow if you want it
to stay at its best.

It’s because of beer’s inherent fragility that brewers

and bartenders go to great lengths to ensure the beer
you spend your hard-earned cash on is served as
fresh and tasty as possible, because without proper
care it can easily be spoiled, and ruin that experience.
The bad news is that there is a lot that can go wrong
in terms of said spoilage. From stressed yeast and
fermentation faults, to bacterial contamination, taint
from dirty lines, or a glass that hasn’t been cleaned
properly, we refer to a negative impact on a beer’s
taste as “off flavours”.

The good news, however, is that the vast majority of

beer you drink will be fault-free, and with a little
practice it’s easy enough to teach yourself how to
identify them. The simplest way to do this is to pick up
an off flavour kit from a manufacturer such as Aroxa or
Lallemand, which gives you the ability to dose beer
with off flavours so that you can learn how they impact
a beer’s taste. It can be tempting to use these on a
very neutral beer so that they can be identified more
easily, but it will be far more rewarding to use them in
a beer style you’re more familiar with—if you want to
know how diacetyl affects hazy pales for example,
that’s what you should be dosing.

Understanding how off flavours impact a beer is only

part of the equation however. It can be immensely
challenging, or even uncomfortable returning a beer in
which you think there is something wrong. But it
shouldn’t be, and it’s a case of a little good etiquette
going a long way. Learning off flavours and then
lording your newfound knowledge over the person
who sold you your faulty beer will not do you any
favours. Remember when returning a beer to be
polite, which can be as simple as asking for a different
beer because “something doesn’t taste right with this
one.” If you’re unsure and in a bar with a great beer
selection, don’t be shy about asking for a taster of the
beer you’re about to buy either, a good bartender will
always let you taste it first!

Here’s a few of the most common off flavours in beer,

what causes them, how they present themselves, and
how to identify them correctly.

Diacetyl (2,3-butanedione)

Perhaps the easiest way to describe the dreaded

diacetyl, one of beers most common off flavours, is
that it tastes like buttered popcorn. It doesn’t just affect
a beer’s taste either, with high amounts leaving an
almost butter-like, slick mouthfeel. What’s perhaps
most interesting about diacetyl is that it is produced
naturally by yeast during fermentation, but the yeast
will clean it up given time (during a stage of the
brewing process known as the “diacetyl rest”).

That it’s a byproduct of fermentation can indicate if a

beer has been packaged and released too soon. It can
also appear in beers that undergo secondary
fermentation, such as cask ale, if not correctly
managed, or it could be a sign of bacterial
contamination in the beer. It’s also important to know,
however, that trace amounts of diacetyl (its name
often shortened to “diac” by brewers) are normal in
several beer styles, most notably Czech pilsners, but
also in some cask beers, stouts and porters. It’s often
undetectable though, thanks to fine-tuned balance
from proper hop additions.

Lightstrike (3-methyl-2-
butene-1-thiol)

Also known as “skunking” (in that it smells and tastes

similar to the spray produced by a skunk, and another
naturally occurring product that shares the use of the
word) lightstrike is caused by UV light breaking down
isomerized hop compounds in beer. It can be easily
avoided by keeping beer out of direct sunlight, or
using brown glass, which filters out the UV light and
prevents the chemical reaction from taking place.
Lightstrike is common in commercially produced beer
that use green or clear glass bottles, to the point
where many consumers believe that is actually how
these beers are meant to taste.

Isoamyl Acetate

Isoamyl Acetate is an ester; a natural byproduct

produced by yeast during fermentation. This particular
ester commonly manifests itself as flavours of banana
(specifically those foam banana sweets you used to
enjoy when you were a kid) or pear drops/boiled
sweets. It is a desirable flavour in certain styles such
as hefeweizen, or witbier, but if you discover it in a
pale ale or lager, it means the yeast was stressed
during fermentation, and produced esters due to being
worked too hard, or for too many generations. Fresh,
healthy yeast used in the proper quantities is the best
way to avoid Isoamyl Acetate in beer.

Ferrous Sulphate

When beer smells or tastes metallic—which could

range from the aroma of old copper coins, to the taste
of blood when you lick a wound—it means it is tainted
with ferrous sulphate. It’s caused by brewing with
water containing high levels of metallic ions, or by
direct contact with metallic equipment, especially if
that equipment has not been adequately cleaned. It
can occur at any stage of the brewing process, right
the way up to being served at the bar. Thankfully it’s
perhaps one of the easiest off flavours to identify,
meaning your exposure to it should be minimal.
(Although if you taste it regularly at the same venue,
it’s a sign they are not adequately cleaning their lines,
and that you should perhaps take your custom
elsewhere).

DMS (Dimethyl Sulphide)

Dimethyl Sulphide (usually referred to as DMS) is

produced by a naturally occurring compound that is
present in lighter malts such as lager, or pilsner malt,
as well as corn if used as an adjunct. It presents itself
as a stale, vegetal flavour that can range from boiled
cabbage to tinned sweetcorn, or tomato soup.

DMS is typically formed during the brewing process,

either by over sparging, or by not crash-cooling
finished wort quickly enough post boil (as DMS is
formed at warm, but not boiling temperatures.) Many
modern breweries (especially those producing lagers,
or other pilsner malt adjacent beers) will have an
oversized kettle, allowing for a vigorous boil which will
drive off the volatiles that cause DMS to form.

It can also be caused by a yeast or bacterial

contamination within finished beer. And as with
diacetyl, DMS is a naturally occurring flavour in many
commercially produced beers, in particular certain
adjunct-heavy mass produced lagers from the United
States.

Hydrogen Sulphide

Although now somewhat antiquated, “Burton Snatch”

was a term used to refer to the smell of hard boiled
eggs present in beers produced in Burton-upon-Trent.
Considered to be the traditional home of brewing in
the UK, water in Burton is very soft—ideal for brewing
—but also contains high levels of calcium sulphate,
more commonly known as gypsum. When beer made
with high levels of sulphate ions interacts with yeast
during fermentation, it will produce this “eggy” smell
(which, in extreme amounts, will smell like rotten
eggs). It’s pretty common these days for brewers to
use calcium sulphate to “Burtonise” their water (as it
aids hop compound absorption) but in minimal
amounts, so hydrogen sulphide won’t present itself in
the finished beer. A few classics made in Burton, such
as Bass and Marston’s Pedigree, still present a faint
egg aroma, but allegedly in much smaller quantities
than in days gone by.

Acetaldehyde

Presenting itself as an unripe, “green” apple flavour, in

larger amounts acetaldehyde can be a particularly
nasty off flavour, as it is the chemical that also causes
hangovers (as it’s what our livers convert alcohol into,
before returning it to our bloodstream.) It’s formed by
yeast before it’s converted into ethanol, and at very
high levels it can have an almost paint/solvent taste
and aroma. If proper brewing procedures are followed,
such as pitching enough healthy yeast, and waiting a
couple of days before racking off spent yeast after
fermentation, then the formation of noticeable
amounts of acetaldehyde can be avoided. It can also
form in packaged beers that contain high levels of
dissolved oxygen, as trace amounts of yeast present
in the beer will begin converting ethanol back into
acetaldehyde given the correct conditions.

Oxidation

Contact with oxygen is largely considered to be bad

for beer, and while modern packaging systems will
keep its presence in packaged beer to a minimum, it
will still exist in trace amounts, and gradually break
down volatile compounds (such as hop oils) in a
finished beer. Oxidised beers will taste musty and
stale, initially like wet paper or cardboard, but at very
high levels it can taste acrid, like cigarette ash.
Oxidation will also affect the colour of a beer, with pale
beers turning to a darker, muddier copper shade.

Oxidation can have some desirable effects too,

however, especially in stronger, less hop-forward
beers such as imperial stouts or barleywines, which is
why these beers can be good for ageing. Beers that
undergo ageing follow what’s known as an “oxidation
curve” initially picking up the musty flavours mentioned
earlier, but eventually developing into sweet, sherry or
port like notes that can be desirable. It can also be
beneficial in beers dosed with Brettanomyces, such as
the Belgian classic, Orval, for similar reasons.

Proper ageing, however, requires a temperature

controlled environment such as a cellar, as seasonal
temperature fluctuations will likely ruin the majority of
aged beers, unless they are properly stored.

Mouse/THP
(Tetrahydropyridine)

More commonly found in natural wine and low

intervention cider, THP—or “mouse” as it has been
affectionately nicknamed—is becoming more common
in beer. This is due to a rise in styles such as lower
alcohol barrel-aged beers such as saison and
farmhouse ale, along with kettle sours. It is formed by
yeast such as Brettanomyces during slow
fermentations, and given enough time it should
eventually be cleaned up (albeit very slowly) as a
natural part of maturation on live yeast. The name
“mouse” comes from the fact it shares an aroma with
that of mouse droppings.

Presenting itself as a stale cereal or corn chip flavour,

it can be undetectable for a few sips either due to the
beer being too cold, or our mouths being at the wrong
pH. Once our palates adjust the off flavour will be
detected at the very back of the throat. Luckily for
some, 3 in 10 people cannot taste THP as the ability
to perceive it is genetic (much in the same way that
coriander leaf tastes like soap for some people). That
doesn’t excuse the beers that do possess this, quite
frankly, ghastly flavour.

A few others to watch out

for…

Although the off flavours listed above are among the

most common, there are other, less common
variations out there. Some of which are truly putrid.
Isovaleric Acid will make a beer taste like blue cheese,
and is often caused by brewers using hops that have
gone stale, or oxidised. Two of the absolute worst off
flavours are Butyric Acid and Mercaptan, which will
present themselves as baby vomit and faeces,
respectively.

Thankfully they are very rare, and if proper brewing,

packaging and dispense methods are followed, so too
should the ones listed above be. Perhaps the most
important way to prevent off flavours is through proper
cleaning of equipment, whether that being a regular
CIP (clean-in-place) of brewing equipment, or regular
line cleans in pubs and bars.

If you do come across a faulty beer, try to find out the

batch number (either from the can, bottle, or on the
keg/cask) and politely let the brewery know you think
something isn’t right. But remember to be polite, as
most breweries are genuinely trying to produce
something delicious for you to enjoy time and again…
plus no one likes a know-it-all.

Tags: ACETALDEHYDE DIACETYL

FERROUS SULPHATE HYDROGEN SULPHIDE

ISOAMYL ACETATE LIGHTSTRIKE MOUSE/THP

OXIDATION

WHY IT’S IMPORTANT TO KNOW OFF FLAVOURS IN BEER

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