Made an all-grain beer last saturday, mostly wheat malt and pilsner malt. I usually mash 60 min and boil 60 min but this recipe wanted a 90 minute mash and 45 min boil. The only equipment change was I made a wort cooler from copper tube. It was immersed in the boiling wort for 10 minutes before the end of the boil.
One week on, I opened the fermenter and it smelled like feet. When racking to a carboy the colour was slightly green. It also tasted like feet, with a slight wheat beer taste. OG & FG were pretty normal. There were no obvious signs of infection (although I have never seen one before) and the yeast cake looked normal, actually pretty healthy. After racking and rinsing the fermenter smelled normal.
I have heard that copper needs to be treated before it touches wort, something I didn't do. I'm guessing this is why the beer tastes and smells so bad, there is green copper in it. Do you think this is the problem? If it is, how should I treat the copper before the next batch? Will the beer "get better?"
One week on, I opened the fermenter and it smelled like feet. When racking to a carboy the colour was slightly green. It also tasted like feet, with a slight wheat beer taste. OG & FG were pretty normal. There were no obvious signs of infection (although I have never seen one before) and the yeast cake looked normal, actually pretty healthy. After racking and rinsing the fermenter smelled normal.
I have heard that copper needs to be treated before it touches wort, something I didn't do. I'm guessing this is why the beer tastes and smells so bad, there is green copper in it. Do you think this is the problem? If it is, how should I treat the copper before the next batch? Will the beer "get better?"