Pale ale - Taste & Smell after 2 weeks.

Hi,

I have some Baron's Pale Ale kit fermenting in a 23L carboy thats been sitting there for about 2 weeks now. At the very beginning, the fermentation was very intense and is now stable. However, the smell coming from the carboy is very acidic, almost sanitizer-like. The hydro reads are also lower than indicated by the chart, and when I taste it after the read. I suspect an unwanted concentration of ether now...

I know that I should step back 'cause the yeast know what they're doing, but I just wanted your general opinion on that, based on your experiences.

thanks!

maybe a big whiff of CO2. was the temperature high for ferment, could be fusel alcohols. give it a taste.

You are never wrong to give it another week and taste it then. At what temperature is it fermenting? (still a n00b, but this seems to be the collective wisdom.)

Since I'm brewing in my apartment, the carboy is staying in a closet that is slightly cooler than the rest of the flat, so it's usually between 23-25 deg. celsius (72-78 deg F.) I also suspect that it is because of the hight temp...However my batch of wheat beer fermented fine at the same temp. and tastes great now.

so do you think there are chances of this ''taste & smell'' to fade out in another week?

If it is a harsh, solvent-like taste it is due to fusel alcohols, which generally do not go away. That said, other favors can go away as you give the yeast more time to clean up their byproducts. Also, how much lower is the actual gravity from the calculated gravity? If it is just a little it's probably nothing to worry about. Also, how close was your OG?

agcorry00 said:

If it is a harsh, solvent-like taste it is due to fusel alcohols, which generally do not go away. That said, other favors can go away as you give the yeast more time to clean up their byproducts. Also, how much lower is the actual gravity from the calculated gravity? If it is just a little it's probably nothing to worry about. Also, how close was your OG?

Click to expand...

OG was right on, about 1.050, and now it is already at 1.012 and recommended is about 1.015. I think it's not too bad and just wait and see.

thanks for your answers, i'll post the results later.

olord said:

Since I'm brewing in my apartment, the carboy is staying in a closet that is slightly cooler than the rest of the flat, so it's usually between 23-25 deg. celsius (72-78 deg F.) I also suspect that it is because of the hight temp...However my batch of wheat beer fermented fine at the same temp. and tastes great now.

so do you think there are chances of this ''taste & smell'' to fade out in another week?

Click to expand...

23-25 degrees is a lot for room temperature, have in mind that fermentation is an exothermic process, if your room temperature is 24 then you are probably fermenting at 26-27 degrees.

Also what do you mean by very begging? how much time since fermentation started? what yeast did you use(some beers fermented with some specific types of yeast can be almost undrinkable if fermented at high temperature)?

Time will general tell in situations like this. Give it a few more weeks and give it a taste.

Did you use the same yeast for both batches? If not, different yeast strains have different temp ranges, what yeast is the current one? May have needed a much lower temperature than your previous batch and certainly could have led to fusels.

I cannot say what yeast were used, it was part of the kit. But I will tell you this: from now on I will brew full grain with selected yeast, and ferment in a basement. I will just hope that this batch will be OK, and hope for the best.