Can I drink it??

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JJRJR

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As many of you fine fellow home brewers may have noticed, I've made many mistakes on my first dance here. Added water during fermentation, stirred the Wort, temperatures from 43 degrees to 78 degrees, pretty much everything you can do wrong.

I've absolutely learned how to make batch #2 better, but . . .

Do you think I'm wasting my time with this batch or will it be palatable? It's been in the fridge at about 46 degrees for the last day and this is day 4 of the brew. I solved the fermentation temperature issue with a chest freezer and temp control device, but was hoping my inaugural batch won't be a total waste.

Is is better to leave in fridge a bit cold or leave in garage at 78? Temp control device won't arrive for a few days so can't put in my chest freezer yet.

Thoughts?

John
 
Hell, the worst that'll happen is you drink a crappy beer, and maybe get a bit gassy.

edit: wait, are you in day 4 of fermentation? if so, leave it in the fridge until you get your chamber running. your yeast are sleeping now. don't wake them until you are ready for them to go to work.
 
all the problems you've mentioned are procedure issues, not sanitation issues.

test it and see.
sock some away for a month and test it again.
 
Is the first batch of beer an Ale or a Lager? If it's an ale, your yeast won't ferment very well (or at all?) at 46 degrees. Most Ale yeasts have an optimum temperature range between 60 and 74 degrees. If it's a lager, then I'm not the best person to ask, since I've never actually made one myself, but I believe that 46 degrees is a temperature that the yeast can handle pretty well.

My advice is that since you've gone through the trouble and expense of making the brew, see what it's like. Make sure you check what is the best temperature for the yeast you used and keep it there. If it's an ale, the yeast should get active again (I think) once it heats back up. Leave it in the fermenter at least two weeks and see. The worst thing that can happen is that you taste it and it's bad.
 
JJRJR said:
As many of you fine fellow home brewers may have noticed, I've made many mistakes on my first dance here. Added water during fermentation, stirred the Wort, temperatures from 43 degrees to 78 degrees, pretty much everything you can do wrong.

I've absolutely learned how to make batch #2 better, but . . .

Do you think I'm wasting my time with this batch or will it be palatable? It's been in the fridge at about 46 degrees for the last day and this is day 4 of the brew. I solved the fermentation temperature issue with a chest freezer and temp control device, but was hoping my inaugural batch won't be a total waste.

Is is better to leave in fridge a bit cold or leave in garage at 78? Temp control device won't arrive for a few days so can't put in my chest freezer yet.

Thoughts?

John
Click to expand...

i think you're going to have a strong banana presence in your beer. embrace it. make "banana beer" label and your friends (assuming they're not very beer educated) will think you're a genius.

try to find a bin or something your fermenter will fit in. fill it up with cold water, place your fermenter in it, and place it in the garage. as a florida brewer myself (i'm actually from plantation but am going to FSU currently), this technique works great for me and keeps my fermentation temps in the mid to high 60s. if you can't find a bin that submerges all your fermenter, just get an old t-shirt and dress your fermenter in it and place it in the water. adhesion and cohesion should allow the water to "crawl" up the fermenter and keep it cool.
 
Awesome...all is not lost. Plantation?? I'm in Weston. Sounds like there isn't much you can do to make the beer dangerous to drink. I'm stoked. 49 year old CPA, don't take much guys to make me happy. LOL.

Thanks again.

John.
 
The whole reason beer is so ubiquitous and so important historically is that whole civilizations of people could count on it to be OK to drink even when the water supply was unfit for consumption. Beer's really one of the major reasons anyone in Europe survived the black plague.

The alcohol in beer kills all known human pathogens, starting with ABVs around 2%.

That said, my first batch back in 2003 was an absolutely terrible Mr. Beer Amber Ale. It was certainly a baby that only a father could love. Even after it was well established that it was the satan spawn of beers that no one else would even look at, let alone drink, I finished (but didn't enjoy) the whole thing.

So I say, you may have made the Frankenstein of beer, but it's still YOURS. DRINK THY CREATION....it's good karma!
 
Hahaha. Awesome TopherM, exactly how I feel. Thanks brother. I will enjoy it.
 
You'll be fine. Get your temperature issues figured out, then let those yeast go to work. Bottle this beer, and even if it sucks, don't give up - let it age (maybe even for months), then try it again.

Worst you do is make bad beer. It's not gonna hurt you.

Also - banana beer is genius!
 
I made my first batch earlier this year. It was supposed to be an amber, but turned into a really sour apple cider. It has tasted better over time, so I've just been mixing it with guinness and enjoying a "Will and Tan". Tastes like a mediocre snake bite. After several months it has gotten drinkable on its own, but still tastes better with Guinness.

It's definitely like your ugly baby. Its only a beer that you could love.

Thankfully my second beer was excellent, but unfortunately all but 4 of it are gone and I'm saving them to see how they are in a few months. 3rd Beer is bottle conditioning and 4th is in the fermenter. Samples thus far on both seem tasty, so don't worry, there is hope.

I suggest picking up Palmer's How to Brew.
 

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