To give you an idea of what happened in the bottles, pour your beer and degas it by stirring vigorously and let it warm up to 60 degrees, then take a gravity reading on the flat beer. You said you bottled at 1015 so if it's lower than that you definitely picked up a bacterial infection. The second brew I ever did, a red ale kit, had this problem - the gravity reading came back at 1001 - it also was way overcarbonated, super dry, and astringent; I finally had to dump it after 4 months to make room for a drinkable batch.
I'm a 9 extract batch noobie so take this with a grain of salt.
I've only seen the characteristics you describe in one bottle of a my stout. The foam had a kind of hyper expansion quality--it jumped right out of the glass and kept on going. One taste of the stuff was enough to convince me it was buggy. The flavor wasn't just a little off. It was downright effing awful.
To give you an idea of what happened in the bottles, pour your beer and degas it by stirring vigorously and let it warm up to 60 degrees, then take a gravity reading on the flat beer. You said you bottled at 1015 so if it's lower than that you definitely picked up a bacterial infection. The second brew I ever did, a red ale kit, had this problem - the gravity reading came back at 1001 - it also was way overcarbonated, super dry, and astringent; I finally had to dump it after 4 months to make room for a drinkable batch.
To give you an idea of what happened in the bottles, pour your beer and degas it by stirring vigorously and let it warm up to 60 degrees, then take a gravity reading on the flat beer. You said you bottled at 1015 so if it's lower than that you definitely picked up a bacterial infection. The second brew I ever did, a red ale kit, had this problem - the gravity reading came back at 1001 - it also was way overcarbonated, super dry, and astringent; I finally had to dump it after 4 months to make room for a drinkable batch.
Sure enough, the SG dropped to 1.010... and now upon further inspection of the room temperature bottles I have been saving, I see a film inside the bottles.
Sure enough, the SG dropped to 1.010... and now upon further inspection of the room temperature bottles I have been saving, I see a film inside the bottles.
DAMN my first bad batch.
Film inside the bottle can also mean you bottled too soon and simply had some bottle fermentation take place. This would also explain the over carbonation issue.
Rarely does a beer smell fine and taste fine up front if there is a severe infection.
Infections are harder to come by than you might think. Strong carbonic (from over carbonation) bite can impart some very harsh flavors.
My (optimistic) guess is that you overcooked your extract. Bottled too soon and used too much priming sugar.
Mind your sanitation, but also try paying careful attention to your cooking methods. Give your beer at least 2 weeks in a primary before racking off of the yeast. Go with ¾ cup of priming sugar and no more.
Film inside the bottle can also mean you bottled too soon and simply had some bottle fermentation take place. This would also explain the over carbonation issue.
Rarely does a beer smell fine and taste fine up front if there is a severe infection.
Infections are harder to come by than you might think. Strong carbonic (from over carbonation) bite can impart some very harsh flavors.
My (optimistic) guess is that you overcooked your extract. Bottled too soon and used too much priming sugar.
Mind your sanitation, but also try paying careful attention to your cooking methods. Give your beer at least 2 weeks in a primary before racking off of the yeast. Go with ¾ cup of priming sugar and no more.
So , is there any hope for this batch? I have no idea what to do with it besides *gasp* dumping it.
Since I used washed yeast, is there any chance it was underpitched? Would underpitching result in an incomplete fermentation?
As for not scorching the extract... I'm thinking of adding the extract and getting it diluted into the water after steeping / before the boil begins. Are there any potential problems with doing it this way?
So , is there any hope for this batch? I have no idea what to do with it besides *gasp* dumping it.
I'm still leaning towards a strongly over carbonated batch. Carbonic bite can cause a bitter, astringent characteristic.
Try taking 4 bottles at room temp, pop them open and lay some plastic wrap loosely over the tops.
Let the beers sit for 2 hours, cap one and chill, two more hours, cap another and chill..etc.
So you now have four beers that have sat uncapped for 2, 4, 6 and 8 hours.
Give them 24 hours in the fridge and taste test. This degassing may help and whichever beer tastes the best will give you an idea of how long to repeat this procedure for all of your beers.
I'm still leaning towards a strongly over carbonated batch. Carbonic bite can cause a bitter, astringent characteristic.
Try taking 4 bottles at room temp, pop them open and lay some plastic wrap loosely over the tops.
Let the beers sit for 2 hours, cap one and chill, two more hours, cap another and chill..etc.
So you now have four beers that have sat uncapped for 2, 4, 6 and 8 hours.
Give them 24 hours in the fridge and taste test. This degassing may help and whichever beer tastes the best will give you an idea of how long to repeat this procedure for all of your beers.
Linear Mode
