Okay i know I'm supposed to relax, not worry, and have a homebrew but...I'm a little worried and I don't have any homebrew yet
I moved a Newcastle Clone to secondary too early, I had to swirl the beer around to get it to kick up fermentation again. It did but not much. FG was supposed to be 1.012 mine is 1.018 but it's an extract kit (Midwest) with Munton's yeast so I wasn't too concerned about that. During primary I had a very active fermentation with no blowoff hose so it got all in my airlock. Cleaned that up no big deal. But I'm afraid my temps may have crept into the 72-74 degree range during that early fermentation (it's still 85+ in Georgia these days).
I've taken a few hydrometer readings over the last 8 days. They're all solid at 1.018 but the beer tastes absolutely terrible. I'm not supposed to judge the beer before it's been in the bottles for a minimum of three weeks right but I can't see a way this could turn out well. Tastes bad, bad horrible aftertastes and bitter as hell. It's hard to describe the aftertastes but the best comparison i can find is cigarette ashes and the aroma is very plastic smelling.
Should I bottle this and take my chances that 3-4 weeks in bottles can help or should I keep it where it is for another few weeks and see if it improves. I can't help but think of the old adage "garbage in garbage out" so I don't want to put terrible beer in bottles. This is my 3rd batch by the way.
I moved a Newcastle Clone to secondary too early, I had to swirl the beer around to get it to kick up fermentation again. It did but not much. FG was supposed to be 1.012 mine is 1.018 but it's an extract kit (Midwest) with Munton's yeast so I wasn't too concerned about that. During primary I had a very active fermentation with no blowoff hose so it got all in my airlock. Cleaned that up no big deal. But I'm afraid my temps may have crept into the 72-74 degree range during that early fermentation (it's still 85+ in Georgia these days).
I've taken a few hydrometer readings over the last 8 days. They're all solid at 1.018 but the beer tastes absolutely terrible. I'm not supposed to judge the beer before it's been in the bottles for a minimum of three weeks right but I can't see a way this could turn out well. Tastes bad, bad horrible aftertastes and bitter as hell. It's hard to describe the aftertastes but the best comparison i can find is cigarette ashes and the aroma is very plastic smelling.
Should I bottle this and take my chances that 3-4 weeks in bottles can help or should I keep it where it is for another few weeks and see if it improves. I can't help but think of the old adage "garbage in garbage out" so I don't want to put terrible beer in bottles. This is my 3rd batch by the way.