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Help - Brew turned bad??


Jimmy78

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Hi Guys

 

I have had about 10 successful brews to date except for now!

 

Coopers Draught with 1 kg of brewing sugar. OG 1.036 FG 1.003 Ferment time 16 days.

 

IT has now been in the bottle for 3 weeks with 2 carb drops per bottle etc.

 

Well it tastes like shit! hardly any carb and very sour! Could this be an infection?

 

The only other thought that I had was that this did get quite hot during the ferment process as we had a massive heat wave in Sydney and temps hit 47, brew temp went up to 30. I don't have temp control so I try to keep the temp as even over the first 5 days or so buy judging the weather. I have been fermenting in summer at around 22 - 24.

 

Thoughts??

 

I'm gonna tip it down the drain but just want to know what went wrong to avoid it in the future..

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But sour is something different. It could be an infection. If it is it will get worse.

 

Hey Jimmy

How did it taste when you bottled it?

How many bottles have you tried?

The thing now is to determine whether it is an infection picked up from the bottle or from the primary ferment.

If you don\u2019t need the bottles then I wouldn't tip it until your sure they are all infected. The fact that you have no fizz would indicate that you don't have gushers so bottle bombs don't sound like an issue. In the only bottle infection I had there was plenty of fizz and the beer just kept on foaming out the top, even after pouring a glass.

 

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Scottie

 

I have to admit that I didn't taste it when I bottled it.. I had done this brew 3 times before and all worked great so I didn't bother.. Perhaps this is where I went wrong..

 

I have now tried 3 bottles. I just opened another one and it had plenty of fizz but still tasted like shit. I asked the missus to try it and she said it tastes like a sour apple with perhaps a soapy type smell...

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I have now tried 3 bottles. I just opened another one and it had plenty of fizz but still tasted like shit. I asked the missus to try it and she said it tastes like a sour apple with perhaps a soapy type smell...

Generally when you ferment at 30\xb0C you are not going to be producing great beer. All that aside, the fact that some bottles are carbonated and others not is another concern. Did you perhaps use incorrect dosage of carb drops in some bottles? Is it a bottle sealing issue?

The soapy smell makes me ask what is your overall cleaning and sanitary process?

If you have a green apple taste then that is an indication that the beer is too young and needs to be given more time to condition. As Scottie said, if you do not need the bottles immediately and have the space then store them at room temperature for a couple of weeks and see if they improve.

It is amazing how time (and temperature control) will improve your beer.

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The hardest part about working these things out is that people have different tastes and also different descriptions of taste.

 

I've had slight green apple flavours in young beers before but had a case of acetaldehyde in a Euro lager that was anything but slight. It tasted like I was drinking a cider but it definitely wasn't sour.

 

I've only had one infection and that was an acetobacter infection that tasted like vinegar.

 

Give it some time and see if it improves or gets worse.

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After posting my "tangy APA" thread, i was too embarassed to mention this, but i lost a batch to infection today as well.

 

Regulars may remember my leaky tap problem (no not that one, i've had it checked[crying]) , well i ended up transferring it after 2 days to a spare FV. It went well in the brewfridge and when i pulled it out last weekend i tasted the SG sample and it was fine.

 

Now i have just checked and it smells like thinners and tastes like crap. If it was all good after a week at 20deg, but infected after a week at ambient its got me stuffed[ninja]

 

It was with US-05 which dropped 3 days ago, but now it has a thick layer with what look like strands hanging in the wort.

 

Its tipped out now and the FV is soaking in bleach...could it also have something to do with the yeast siting on top for so long?

 

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How do you capture a strain of lacto?

 

Mine originated from a blend of 5335 and 5526 and has over the years developed its own charector from additions of cherries and pineapple.

 

You can experiment with lactic acid in your brew which is a less time consuming process but you obviously dont get the brett profile.

 

If your thinking about trying a sour I would recommend you first track down a bottle of Cantillion gueuze (easy to find in boutique beer shops) this is the standard as to which I guage all sours, You could even 'harvest' your germs from there, just keep it away from your main brewery ;)

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