well...after 5 years of brewing, i may have brewed my first fucked up batch

[757Hokie83]

i kegged it last night, so i'm hoping some time will smooth things out...but tried a couple of small pulls last night, testing the carbonation...soemthing very off tasting, dont know if i fucked up sanitizing or what, but it did not taste right at all. damn it all.

 

[BigBlueNation111]

Let it set for awhile then try it again.If it still tastes off,i'd say ur right about the sanitizing.But who am i?? lol

 

[Darkstone42]

It may just need a little aging. Like Blue said, don't give up just yet.

The guy who taught me how to brew once made a beer so foul he almost threw it out. But he saved it and tried it again a couple months later, and it was delicious.

 

[Sleepy T]

Any chance it could be associated with the yeast problem you were having 757?? I like NBFT but FWIW I think it has some strange malty flavors..very breadish/nutty/yeasty. A bit of an off flavor/aftertaste.

When it comes to sanitizing (up to this point) I am a little over board about it. I am sure if you brew enough batches eventually you will get a bunk one. I am sure I will get one somewhere down the road. Hopefully it comes back to life for you. Keep us updated...

 

[757Hokie83]

It may just need a little aging. Like Blue said, don't give up just yet.

The guy who taught me how to brew once made a beer so foul he almost threw it out. But he saved it and tried it again a couple months later, and it was delicious.

yeah, i just hate that it's going to be taking up valuable keg space in the kegerator, i'm not dumping it just yet.

 

[757Hokie83]

Any chance it could be associated with the yeast problem you were having 757?? I like NBFT but FWIW I think it has some strange malty flavors..very breadish/nutty/yeasty. A bit of an off flavor/aftertaste.

When it comes to sanitizing (up to this point) I am a little over board about it. I am sure if you brew enough batches eventually you will get a bunk one. I am sure I will get one somewhere down the road. Hopefully it comes back to life for you. Keep us updated...

i've wondered about this...i dont think i did anything wrong sanitizing, like you, i tend to go a little overboard.

i'm wondering if it may have had something to do with the ingredients. i usually brew as soon as i get my ingredients in, but for this batch, i got them in, then some stuff came up and i didnt have a chance to brew it for a few weeks, then my gf and i were moving at the beginning of may, so i put it off til we got to the new house, then once getting in i just never got around to it until earlier this month...wondering if the grains or the extract or yeast werent as fresh as they could have been

it's got a bit of a sour smell and taste, pretty boozy, almost cidery

but like you all have said i'm gonna give it some time and see, ill be tasting throughout this week, then sunday i'm leaving town for almost 2 weeks....maybe by the time i get home ill notice some improvement

 

[BigBlueNation111]

It may just need a little aging. Like Blue said, don't give up just yet.

The guy who taught me how to brew once made a beer so foul he almost threw it out. But he saved it and tried it again a couple months later, and it was delicious.

Let it age my friends!

 

[wartyOne]

Sup, fellas? Been a while. Kinda been in over my head with work and school. Haven't been able to lurk, let alone post. But I just finished my first exam, and I'm getting a bit lit up at the moment (sadly, it's PBR; shut up. Too many big beers lately. Need a break).

Sanitizing. Good practice. Know now that every batch that has ever been brewed in the history of man has been infected. It's the degree of infection that you're concerned with. This is controlled by yeast health, cell count and activity. Do your sani-cycle. It's important for a number of reasons. Go overboard on your yeast, and make sure it's healthy and happy. Then control your fermentation temperature. Those last two points are worth much more than your sani-cycle.

Also, transfer under CO2, instead of exposing your beer to O2. If possible. I realize this is an expensive proposition, especially if you don't have a conical fermenter that you can pressurize.

Sorry to beer-geek out. Itching to brew again. It's been months. Working on somebody else's brewhouse with their recipes isn't the same thing. Desperate to design something right now.

 

[wartyOne]

i've wondered about this...i dont think i did anything wrong sanitizing, like you, i tend to go a little overboard.

i'm wondering if it may have had something to do with the ingredients. i usually brew as soon as i get my ingredients in, but for this batch, i got them in, then some stuff came up and i didnt have a chance to brew it for a few weeks, then my gf and i were moving at the beginning of may, so i put it off til we got to the new house, then once getting in i just never got around to it until earlier this month...wondering if the grains or the extract or yeast werent as fresh as they could have been

it's got a bit of a sour smell and taste, pretty boozy, almost cidery

but like you all have said i'm gonna give it some time and see, ill be tasting throughout this week, then sunday i'm leaving town for almost 2 weeks....maybe by the time i get home ill notice some improvement

Lactobacillus. You're infected. Dump it. It'll never recover.

Scald the shit out of your fermenter (and anything that touched that beer; lines, stopper, airlock, etc.; Or just throw the cheap stuff away and buy new stuff), and let it soak in an alkaline solution overnight (I recommend PBW since Sodium Hydroxide is bad for you, and expensive).

Seriously though, that beer is fucked by your description. Lactobacillus is a bacteria, and typically infects a beer through O2 exposure (homebrewers struggle with this one; unless you have a fermenter that you can pressurize with CO2). Most beer has a degree of Lactobacillus, but it can be overcome by an overwhelming target yeast count. If the Lactobacillus is allowed to fester, and prosper, you're going to end up with a sour-y beer that has cider-like qualities.

The Belgians have perfected the art of using Lactobacillus and Brettanomyces to generate their sours. They know what they're doing. American brewers who get Lactobacillus in their breweries freak the hell out. It typically means crashing the infected part of the brewery and running chlorinated caustic cycles through their equipment.

Dump that beer. It's taking up valuable resources. It sucks. I've done it before. It's like watching your kid get beat up. Dump it and move on to the next batch.

 

[757Hokie83]

yeah, i just got home from vacation a couple nights ago and pulled a pint, same shit...thanks warty...when i transferred from primary to secondary, all seemed fine...when i transferred from secondary to keg, that's when i noticed the smell...damn it all...oh well, at least i get to brew again sooner! and make sure everything is sanitized as good as possible!

 

[wartyOne]

yeah, i just got home from vacation a couple nights ago and pulled a pint, same shit...thanks warty...when i transferred from primary to secondary, all seemed fine...when i transferred from secondary to keg, that's when i noticed the smell...damn it all...oh well, at least i get to brew again sooner! and make sure everything is sanitized as good as possible!

You got it, man. Happens to all of us.

Just realized we have a diacetyl and sulfur problem in the brewery today. Sulfur, no biggie. Diacetyl = complete overhaul in fermentation practices. Both our stout and IPA were diacetyl bombs. Couldn't crash or transfer. New practices in place.

Yay.

Canning 90 barrels between Thurs and Fri. That's 22,320 pint cans. Eye-yai-yai. Minimum 24 hours in two shifts.

Cheers, folks. Get drunk for me. I'll be asleep, trying to catch up.