Miso with slightly off pungent taste

[Zootal]

My last three batches of Miso - yellow, barley and chickpea - all had a somewhat unpleasant pungent bitter taste. My prior batch of 2 month sweet white miso did not have this. Yesterday I opened a 4 month black soya-barley miso, and it had this same flavor but very faint. I've been eating store bought miso for decades, and never once tasted this in a store bought miso. I make my own koji, and the only thing these batches had in common was the same apsergillus strain.

I don't really know how to describe this taste - it's not spoiled, it's not bad, it looked fine and to all appearances was edible, it just had this weird taste to it. I know it's hard to tell with actually tasting it yourself, but have any miso makers here ever had their miso batch turn out with a less than pleasant taste?

[ArthurDent004]

I love the miso made by South River Miso - http://www.southrivermiso.com/

It's the best Miso that I have ever tried. They offer Miso that is made in the traditional Japanese way and is aged for 1 to 3 years. It used to be carried in Whole Foods stores years ago but since the company only ships during the cold months of year they stopped carrying so now ever couple of years I buy a mixed case of jars.

[Christopher Weeks]

I do too! I've brewed my own a few times but it's never been as good as theirs is.

[Zootal]

What is weird is that my sweet miso was awesome. I'm wondering if my koji strain is not a good one, or maybe I'm not letting the koji mature enough? I'm currently doing a side by side with my old koji strain, and one from Gem cultures. The Gem strain grows twice as fast, and can sporulate in just 36 hours. My old strain I grew for 72 hours and it did not sporulate, or really form a solid mat. It's a 5 week sweet white miso with temp controlled ferment (75-85-95-85-75), so I won't know for a month. The I might try some longer term side by side tests. Home made miso should be awesome, but I tossed out two batches because of this.