Is my beer infected?

drewcarp · 05-17-2009, 11:53 AM

I have brewed about 5 batches with success, but my last 2 have tasted like what I can only explain as "bready". The first is a pale ale and the second is a Dogfish Head 60 clone. they both taste very similar and the hops in both are extremely different (Warrior, simcoe, and amarillo for the DFH and hallertauer for the Pale ale). This is the second DFH 60 clone I made and the first was great and this doesn't even resemble that one. Am I getting infected batches? I sanitized everything with iodophor. any ideas or help would be greatly appreciated.

COLObrewer · 05-17-2009, 11:56 AM

Hmmm, how long has it been bottled/kegged?

drewcarp · 05-17-2009, 11:58 AM

Bottled the pale ale 7 days ago and the DFH 6 days ago...i wanted to try them to see how they were coming along...i am very impatient.

**Revvy** · 05-17-2009, 12:32 PM

Well the only thing wrong with the beer, is that it has an impatient brewer who won't let the yeasties do their thing and carb and CONDITION the beer...it is just geen..

Basically if the beer is less than about 2 months in the bottle, and just doesn't taste right to you, 99% of the time the beer is indeed green....and if you go back in another month or 6 or a year you will usually find that your beer now is amazing...that's why we say never dump a beer you don't like, unless it is truly infected...because most "off flavors" taste inthe first few weeks, are not really off but byproducts created during fermentation, and since the yeast are tenacious and clean creatures, given enough time they will consume that stuff...plus CO2 in solution for awhile seems to have a similar effect of mellowing out the flavors..

Do yourself and your beer a favor and leave them alone for a couple more weeks, and read this...Revvy's Blog; Of Patience and Bottle Conditioning.

This is sort of an extreme case of bottle conditioning.

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/never-dump-your-beer-patience-virtue-time-heals-all-things-even-beer-73254/

drewcarp · 05-17-2009, 12:51 PM

Great post...my main concern was the fact that they tasted so much alike that I was assuming I had a scratch in my bucket and have some sort of bacteria in there. i was drinking my last batch of Dogfish Head clone 7 days later and it was good, it did get better with time, but it did not have this "bready" off flavor what so ever.

**Yooper** · 05-17-2009, 01:00 PM

"Bready" flavor sounds like it might come from the yeast, which are active right now carbing up the beer.

See how it is in a couple of weeks. It should be better.

jacobiwj · 07-02-2009, 02:19 PM

Take a look at the following link (not sure if the picture came through from Photobucket):

India Brown Ale picture by jacobiwj - Photobucket

This is an India Brown Ale that has been in secondary for about 5-6 weeks. I've been waiting on the "stuff" at the top to fall, but it's taking its time. A day after I racked from primary to secondary, the layer in the picture was about 1/2" thick. It has slowly fallen to the bottom in chunks.. almost like pieces the size of a nerd candy. This is the 7th beer I've made and I've never had anything like this happen. Is this normal or should I be concerned? I've not opened the carboy since inserting the plug and airlock.

**Revvy** · 07-02-2009, 02:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jacobiwj

Take a look at the following link (not sure if the picture came through from Photobucket):

India Brown Ale picture by jacobiwj - Photobucket

This is an India Brown Ale that has been in secondary for about 5-6 weeks. I've been waiting on the "stuff" at the top to fall, but it's taking its time. A day after I racked from primary to secondary, the layer in the picture was about 1/2" thick. It has slowly fallen to the bottom in chunks.. almost like pieces the size of a nerd candy. This is the 7th beer I've made and I've never had anything like this happen. Is this normal or should I be concerned? I've not opened the carboy since inserting the plug and airlock.

That looks like hops suspended in the remains of a fallen krauzen, not an infection.

But really the only way to tell is with your nose and your mouth...if it smells or tastes unpleasant then it's bad...Remember not every infection is a dumper..plenty of people intentionally infect their beer. It may taste deliciously funky. But to me it looks normal....