Side-effects from letting wort sit for a week before pitching?

Due to stuff happening, my wort sat for about a week before I was able to pitch the yeast. Luckily it was not infected. I'm made this same recipe about 4 times now but this batch tastes off.

Is there some nasty side-effect that happens if you don't pitch within 24 hours? The beer actually hit the estimated FG so O2 doesn't seem to have been an issue.

Infection is all I 've ever heard of...that and setting a world record

I'm not aware of any effects other than the propensity for undesirable microorganisms to start growing.

The biggest risk is botulism poisoning, which can be fatal. I don't know how high the risk is, but personally, I wouldn't get that beer anywhere near my lips.

If you hit your FG then you have nothing to worry about. Nothing harmful could live in the alcohol that you made...

LovesIPA said:

The biggest risk is botulism poisoning, which can be fatal. I don't know how high the risk is, but personally, I wouldn't get that beer anywhere near my lips.

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This is not perfect but my understanding is basically this:
Botulism sporification is what's harmful. Botulism bacteria require a completely oxygen-free environment for sporification. The slight bit of oxygen will keep the botulism bacteria from producing spores. Environments capable of fermentation are not good environments for the sporification of botulism due to competitive bacteria and oxygen. Canning is a great environment for botulism; an environment where the oxygen has been removed and all other bacteria have been killed. Botulism bacteria is present on many natural products we eat; honey being the most well known for containing high levels of botulism bacteria.

In regards to the OP question: I still very possible you had or have an infection or wild fermentation playing with your normal fermentation due to the long idle period. Keep an eye on your FG and see if it continues to creep lower.

GreenDragon said:

Due to stuff happening, my wort sat for about a week before I was able to pitch the yeast. Luckily it was not infected. I'm made this same recipe about 4 times now but this batch tastes off.

Is there some nasty side-effect that happens if you don't pitch within 24 hours? The beer actually hit the estimated FG so O2 doesn't seem to have been an issue.

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What off flavors are you picking up? The off taste may have nothing to do with a late yeast pitch or maybe it does?

If you give the yeasties time they will often clean up most off flavors. Relax Don't Worry, Have a Home Brew

Nice guide to read while you are waiting regarding off flavors from more beer

Good Luck M8B

It depends on what created the off flavors. If it was created by sporatazoa,you could have problems. Under normal infection circumstances,you'd see it growing on top,as they need o2 to propogate. Microbes can be quite the opposite.

You probably had some wild yeasts in there and they had a week to do their thing before the regular beer yeasts showed up.

I had another homebrewer over last night. We both classified it as a "metallic" taste. Gonna keep it under pressure for another month and see if time cures it.

OP, I think you have answered your own question.

You made sweet, delicious wort and let it sit for a week before adding yeast. Wort is a wonderful environment for many microorganisms to grow in.

You say that you have unexplained off flavors, but in your opening statement, you explain exactly where they most likely came from.

Occam's razor - the most obvious solution is most often correct. You have an "infection" - most likely, growth of wild yeast or similar. This would not prevent you from hitting your FG number... but be careful, as some wild yeast can continue to metabolize sugars that our friendly beer yeast cannot... can end up with bottle bombs due to this.