First run- infected?

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

edgeofblade

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 25, 2010
Messages
116
Reaction score
1
Location
Houston TX
Long time drinker, first time brewer...

First, I admit know very little about brewing. This is my first run at this, and I'm hoping for drinkable results.

So, I drew off some brew to test the SG to determine if the primary fermentation was complete, and the brew smelled of fruity acid. I tasted the quantity I drew, and it tasted similarly like maybe cider, but the other flavors of beer, the hops primarily, were intact.

What I want to know is if that's indicative of an infected batch, or if the wort simply tastes like that at this phase.. I've already bottled, and I'm using the Coopers kit with the 23L fermenter, "lager" hopped malt extract, a handy bottling valve, and carbonation sugar drops. I'm going to see this through before calling it a failure, but I'm wondering if what I experienced is normal.

Also, for the beer experts, tell me if I'm right: it's not a lager unless it's stored at cool temps to condition... and the instructions give no requirements for that.
 
Wort does not taste much like a finished beer. Neither does uncarbonated beer, for that matter.

Unless you used lager yeast at warm temperatures you should be fine.
 
The kit gave me a 21-27 *C (70-80 *F) ideal range, and it stayed near about 26, maybe cooler at night. I'd like to think I did a good job of controlling the temps.

This gives me a lot more confidence. I'm really looking forward to this now. A few more batches into this little adventure and I'll try an unhopped extract and progress from there.
 
27C would be on the 'very warm' side of things. Ideally for most ales you want 70F max temp (21C).

cidery flavors often stem from acetylaldehyde, which is a compound the yeast can remove if it sits long enough after primary.
from the sounds of it you might have rushed it into the bottle so you might resign yourself to this batch having a 'cidery twang' to it, but its not infected.

typically an infection will be a very ugly off flavor, sometimes not too overpowering, sometimes gut-retching.

next time, just don't rush and try to keep temperatures on the cooler side of the range given for the yeast. Warm ferments enhance esters (bubble gum, banana) and phenols (cloves, spiciness), which is good for some beers and 'flaws' for most styles.
 
27C would be on the 'very warm' side of things. Ideally for most ales you want 70F max temp (21C).

I agree! If you want to do a lager then you need Lager Yeast, cool temps, and some time!
Lager loosely means to store something like in a warehouse or cool cave wait a minute, they stored beer in Germany in cool caves:cross:

Most ale yeasts are good up to the mid 70's(that's pushing it) lager yeasts are like the upper 40's to low 50's.

So lager is a yeast and a process cause you can "lager" an ale but it will just be a lagered ale or Alt. Sort of!!

Just my opinions of course

Get those temps down to the upper 60's and you'll see a marked improvement!
 
Back
Top