Jet Fuel Weizen

I am very new to brewing and I tasted my second batch gravity sample after a week in the primary and it tasted like jet fuel. And I'm pretty sure it burned some taste buds off in the process (not kidding). It was a clone of Summer Buzz from Brickhouse Brewery. I followed the recipe (link below) with a few tweaks, including using Wyeast 3068 Weihenstephan yeast and eliminating the lemon. I know that I fermented too high. It probably got up to mid-70s at times. I expected a very honey-banana tasting beer, but I didn't expect the very harsh alcohol that was the only flavor present. Though this beer has a high alcohol content (measured OG 1.080, FG 1.018, 8.2% ABV), I did not expect the jet fuel taste. I am sad because it smelled/tasted very promising when I did my OG reading. I will keep it on the yeast cake for another week or two...any chance that will help make it drinkable? I am thinking about cutting my losses and dumping it.

FYI...I am new at this and I was hoping to get away at fermenting at room temps ~70F. I live in a basement apartment on Long Island so space and humidity are issues when it comes to setting up water tubs with fans around it. Any ideas for fermentation cooling with these limitations?

http://forum.northernbrewer.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=18916&hilit=Summer+buzz

Time, time, time, see what's become of me
As I look around, all my possibilities
I was so hard to please...
~~ P. Simon

So um, yeah. Give it time. Time is what it wants. Two more weeks in primary (at least). Then bottle it, try one at two more weeks and see if it's progressing. You've already invested a lot of money in the batch, but not enough time. Some will say that time is money, but they are wrong. In this instance, time is cheap.

Thanks for the reply! I was planning on giving it 2 more weeks but was worried that all hope was lost already. Good to know there's still a shot at getting a drinkable batch.

the high fermentation temps have produced a fair amount of fusel alcohols. hence the burning jet flue taste. not much you can do about them at this point. i agree with frazier wait a minimum of 2 more weeks before bottling. the extra time will help mellow this beer out. right now your beer is very green and isn't going to taste right no matter what you do. after bottling let it sit at room temp as long as you can stand it. that will also help.

as far as cooling goes get a mini fridge either new or used. also get some sort of external temp controller. i am a big fan of the Ronco ETC controllers. you tape the temp probe to your carboy with some sort of insulation over it. then set the fridge on is most cold setting and plug it into the controller. then its just a mater of setting the controller to the temp you want and walking away for 3 weeks.

Can you recommend a mini fridge? A lot of them seem to have a compressor bump on the bottom and/or a freezer compartment on the top that would not allow enough space for my 2 foot tall 1 foot wide carboys and buckets. Thanks for the help.

yea thats always been my problem. i got lucky and my friend got a kegerator for his birthday. but they are expensive. all i can say is go down to your local Lows and see what they have. or go on craigslist and bring your tape measure when you go look at the thing.

tozebeach said:

Can you recommend a mini fridge? A lot of them seem to have a compressor bump on the bottom and/or a freezer compartment on the top that would not allow enough space for my 2 foot tall 1 foot wide carboys and buckets. Thanks for the help.

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Walmart sells a cheap one without the freezer, but being that Walmart stocks it you can bet money that it is a complete POS.

tozebeach said:

I am thinking about cutting my losses and dumping it.

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Never dump a batch until you've given it plenty of time on the yeast, and plenty of time in a keg or bottles.

If you finish every beer through to the very end of the process, you'll be amazed how much it changes from what is it 1 week in primary (not drinkable) to what it becomes after several weeks in primary and several weeks in bottles (likely very drinkable).

strat_thru_marshall said:

Never dump a batch until you've given it plenty of time on the yeast, and plenty of time in a keg or bottles.

If you finish every beer through to the very end of the process, you'll be amazed how much it changes from what is it 1 week in primary (not drinkable) to what it becomes after several weeks in primary and several weeks in bottles (likely very drinkable).

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Thanks! Yea, that's why I came here and checked before giving the dumping option serious consideration. I was just a tad worried about my scorched taste buds and was afraid there was no hope for this batch.

So I let this beer sit in the primary for a total of 3 weeks and it tasted much better after week 3 than it did after week 1. Almost all of the fusel taste went away I have high hopes for how this beer will taste after it is chilled, carbed, and bottle conditioned for a few weeks. Thanks for all the help and tips!