Grassy sour beer same colour

[iBrewbeer]

Hey Lads 

Just after some help.

My first 4 brews I ever done came out really good but my last two came out sour and grassy tasting.

Doesn't matter what I brew they come out the same colour.

I normally do pale ale but this time did a lager and it came out horrible.

I ferment around 18 to 24 degrees as suggested on instructions and use plastic bottles. I'm a bit worried to brew more because it's just wasting time and energy coming out like this.

I sanitize and rinse everything all the time so I really don't understand what is going on.

I use the Cooper's fermenter, could that be the problem?

Any thoughts?

[ozdevil]

did the beer smell off

give it a week or 2 it may settle out if its not infection

 

[iBrewbeer]

Just smells sour

[iBrewbeer]

I have rinsed my bottles just before putting beer out of the fermenter into them so they did have a bit of water in the bottles when I added the beer. Could this be the problem?

[Shamus O'Sean]

4 hours ago, iBrewbeer said:

sanitize and rinse

I suggest you get a no-rinse santiser - Starsan, Stellasan, Phosphoric acid, etc.  Maybe the rinsing is letting in some nasties.  Having said that, if you are topping up the fermenter with 20-odd litres of the same water, why would rinsing be an issue?  What is it called when you answer the question that somebody else asked with a different answer to your first answer.

What water are you using?

Where are you brewing?

What are your typical processes?

What other ingredients in these suspect brews?

[iBrewbeer]

Tap water, port Hedland. I heard somewhere your bottles should be completely dry before filling them with beer before carbonating. Anyway I'll try filtered water next.

[Shamus O'Sean]

2 minutes ago, iBrewbeer said:

Tap water, port Hedland. I heard somewhere your bottles should be completely dry before filling them with beer before carbonating. Anyway I'll try filtered water next.

I do not know anything about your water (I'm a Mexican).

My bottles are rinsed as soon as they are emptied and soaked in PBW, Oxy-San, or Sodium Percarbonate overnight.  Rinsed and dried on bottle tree until next use.  I sanitise each on bottling day before filling.  Drain sanitiser.  Add my priming sugar first.  Fill with beer while bottles are wet with sanitiser. 

[iBrewbeer]

Thanks for that

[Pale Man]

Unless you have done something badly wrong i dont think you have a problem. Let your beer mature. From experience can beers at basic level arent too flash, until maybe a month or two maturation in the bottle.

Dont expect the best beer in the world with cans. I am a new All Grain brewer and my beers also need to mature.

[iBrewbeer]

1 hour ago, Shamus O'Sean said:

I suggest you get a no-rinse santiser - Starsan, Stellasan, Phosphoric acid, etc.  Maybe the rinsing is letting in some nasties.  Having said that, if you are topping up the fermenter with 20-odd litres of the same water, why would rinsing be an issue?  What is it called when you answer the question that somebody else asked with a different answer to your first answer.

What water are you using?

Where are you brewing?

What are your typical processes?

What other ingredients in these suspect brews?

 

1 hour ago, Shamus O'Sean said:

I do not know anything about your water (I'm a Mexican).

My bottles are rinsed as soon as they are emptied and soaked in PBW, Oxy-San, or Sodium Percarbonate overnight.  Rinsed and dried on bottle tree until next use.  I sanitise each on bottling day before filling.  Drain sanitiser.  Add my priming sugar first.  Fill with beer while bottles are wet with sanitiser. 

 

36 minutes ago, Hefe Man said:

Unless you have done something badly wrong i dont think you have a problem. Let your beer mature. From experience can beers at basic level arent too flash, until maybe a month or two maturation in the bottle.

Dont expect the best beer in the world with cans. I am a new All Grain brewer and my beers also need to mature.

My first 4 batches were really good. There is definitely something wrong with the last two I did. 

[Shamus O'Sean]

13 hours ago, iBrewbeer said:

sour and grassy tasting

I reckon I have had that once or twice.  Like you say, in my case there was no evidence of an issue until I tasted the beer.  No weird film on the surface, no strange smells, no floaties.

The beer I tasted in the SG sample tubes tasted fine.  I think my issues may have been dry hop related.  That is why I asked about the recipes and your process.  A really simple beer, either a kit n kilo or a SMaSH with just a 60 minute addition, cannot go far wrong.  But if you start doing multiple dry hops, whirlpool additions, coriander seeds and spices, etc, every time you do something on the cool side of the brew, like opening the lid, is a risk for something else to get in.

In one case I think I might have left the dry hops in for too long.  Another time, I think that the dry hops were just old, it might have been a 100g packet that had been opened a few times to shake out 20g here and 20g there and something had got in.  

Sometimes you can just not work out what went wrong.  Somebody once said on the forum that almost every beer has something wrong in it.  It just depends if the level of the issue is perceptible or not.

Maybe nuke your fermenter with an overnight bleach soaking.  1 capful of bleach per litre.  Give it a really good rinse with hot water and leave to drip dry in the sun.

[iBrewbeer]

3 hours ago, Shamus O'Sean said:

I reckon I have had that once or twice.  Like you say, in my case there was no evidence of an issue until I tasted the beer.  No weird film on the surface, no strange smells, no floaties.

The beer I tasted in the SG sample tubes tasted fine.  I think my issues may have been dry hop related.  That is why I asked about the recipes and your process.  A really simple beer, either a kit n kilo or a SMaSH with just a 60 minute addition, cannot go far wrong.  But if you start doing multiple dry hops, whirlpool additions, coriander seeds and spices, etc, every time you do something on the cool side of the brew, like opening the lid, is a risk for something else to get in.

In one case I think I might have left the dry hops in for too long.  Another time, I think that the dry hops were just old, it might have been a 100g packet that had been opened a few times to shake out 20g here and 20g there and something had got in.  

Sometimes you can just not work out what went wrong.  Somebody once said on the forum that almost every beer has something wrong in it.  It just depends if the level of the issue is perceptible or not.

Maybe nuke your fermenter with an overnight bleach soaking.  1 capful of bleach per litre.  Give it a really good rinse with hot water and leave to drip dry in the sun.

Thanks for this... Awesome feedback

[ozdevil]

What  was the 2 brews you tried to make

list the ingriediants   and ya method

might also bring out some other answers

as well...

however Shamous has given you some good tips..

[Naughty Corner Brewing]

You mentioned that the last two have been lagers and that you fermented at 18-20 degrees? Normally, lager treats tend to work best at the 12-14 degree range so fermenting then warm may lead to some unexpected results, but that is unlikely to include sour, which is generally caused by a bacterial infection (often lactobacillus or acetobacteria) which both produce acids. In the first case it will often taste like a sour beer from a craft brewery whereas acetobacteria will have a vinegary type smell.

Hope that helps somewhat in your diagnosis of the issue.

[iBrewbeer]

On 2/22/2021 at 9:11 AM, iBrewbeer said:

Thanks for this... Awesome feedback

Is it ok for there still to be a bleach scent in the fermenter? Or do I need to get that smell out before starting my next brew?

Thanks in advance

[ozdevil]

36 minutes ago, iBrewbeer said:

Is it ok for there still to be a bleach scent in the fermenter? Or do I need to get that smell out before starting my next brew?

Thanks in advance

get the smell of bleech out of there    you do not want that in your next beer