sour beer ):

hello, this is my first post in this forum .i have made an all grain irish red (my second all grain batch) . it was in the primary for 1 week and in the secondary also for 1 week. bottled it today and sampled it - it taists very sour. the beer wasn't sour a week ago (when i racked it to the secondary).
is my beer ruined?

here is my reciepe:

3.5 kilo pilsner malt
1 kilo munich malt
0.35 kilo caraamber
0.15 kilo wheat malt
0.05 carafa III
30 gram williamette 60 minutes
15 gram willimette 15 minutes
dry yeast US-5

i would be glad to know what you think,

dooksh

Sour taste is usually from a lactobacillus infection, usually from poor sanitation practices. It's possible it was just from some bottles that weren't completely cleaned out, which happens from time to time.

Where did you sample from?

A: a bottle that you just filled on same day as bottleing

B: bottleing bucket that has your priming sugar in it

C: Hydrometer Sample before you racked to the bottleing bucket

D: left over from the secondary vessle


I'm not sure you could have a lactobacillus infection from bottles so quickly if you're sampling from A, but if it's been in the bottles for 2-3 weeks yeah .

What did you do for sanitation while brewing this? Perhaps the vessle you used for Secondary wasn't sanitised as well as it could have been.

I see posts about not doing anything in the same place that you grind grain as well. so if you racked in the same room that you grind your stuff..

thanks for the response.
the beer tasted sour on the bottling day (today), and was not sour
on the day i transferred it to the secondary.
i used iodophor for sanitation (about 1 ts per 5 gallon).
is there any chance it could be ok after 2-3 weeks?

thank again

When you racked to secondary, did you start the siphon with your mouth? If so, there could be lactic bacteria contamination. Generally though with that kind of infection you will see some kind of growth on the surface of the beer.

The flavor will definitely change in 3 weeks. It might still be sour but it's really too soon to tell.

There is always a chance - but it will probably always have a taste of what you are tasting to it. A lot of people will sit on beers upwards a year until it becomes drinkable. Do not dump - and taste every few weeks - it may not even be an infection, just green.

One thing I am not too sure about is if it is an infection - could it create a bottle bomb problem?

Personally, 5 gallons is alot to throw away. Unless it's absolutely undrinkable.

I'd wait on it and see since you have it in bottles already. I have a pretty good idea what beer is going to be link from bottling day to carbed and ready to drink, but some times it has changed with some age on it.

thanks for the replyes . hope its not ruined

Guinness tastes sour to me.

I'm not a big fan of Guiness, but sour != ruined.

LagerJam said:

Guinness tastes sour to me.

I'm not a big fan of Guiness, but sour != ruined.

Click to expand...

I tend to prefer sour beer

To the OP: Let it sit for while, taste it again and see. You put all that work into it, nothing wrong with holding onto it.

Hopefully you are just using some new hops or some thing your not used to.

The first beer I made was of course a disaster and after around 3 weeks in bottles it started to taste like the worst green apple puck you ever let close to your nose, but it smelled like apple cider. Needless to say after a month I had to toss the bottles, I could not stand to open them and I have no words to describe the stench.

If it gets worse in the next week, just dump it all and soak the bottles in strong bleach then acid wash, and scrub them, having tried to drink bad beer I can tell you that aging them does not work.

Kauai_Kahuna said:

Hopefully you are just using some new hops or some thing your not used to.

The first beer I made was of course a disaster and after around 3 weeks in bottles it started to taste like the worst green apple puck you ever let close to your nose, but it smelled like apple cider. Needless to say after a month I had to toss the bottles, I could not stand to open them and I have no words to describe the stench.

If it gets worse in the next week, just dump it all and soak the bottles in strong bleach then acid wash, and scrub them, having tried to drink bad beer I can tell you that aging them does not work.

Click to expand...

Just because a month of aging did not help your particular situation does not mean it won't help him. Like stated before, many people have sat on a beer that was off for upwards of a year before it was drinkable. It's already in bottles. Unless you're in a pinch for the bottles let it sit and open one every week or so like suggested, but wait 2-3 weeks longer before opening any.

Theres not really enough gravity to age this one. Don't lower ABV beers go bad quicker then say something that had an OG of 1.090?

Is it a good sour, like a lambic?