My recently learned lesson on oxidation.

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permo

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I have had 3 beers that I didn't think were finishing properly, FG not low enough. After a week the yeast was floccing out and the gravity was about 5 points high......so what I did to all three of these batches was AERATE the wort and raise the temp about five degrees. These beers did end up dropping gravity, but they all have this spicy/sherry/vineous taste that just isn't correct. And the hop aroma and flavor is lacking....


Now I know what oxidation tastes like.


The moral of the story, just give your beers time to finish. I now don't pull them off the yeast for at least 3 weeks....problem solved. Also, 5 points high FG with no oxidation is way better than oxidized beer.
 
I was fermenting a fairly high gravity stout (OG 1.086) that went crazy for about a week and then stopped. I gave it a little swirl in the fermenter and it started bubbling again for another 3 days or so. When i transferred it to a secondary and took a taste, the bitterness was pretty weak. I was shooting for about 55 IBU and the cooled wort had a lot more hops bite to it. Do you think that swirl might have killed my bitterness?

I was just kind of under the impression that if I didn't break the seal of my fermenter, most of the gas in the head space is probably CO2. I gave it a healthy swirl just kind of as an experiment, but didn't expect that I could be risking oxidizing my stout.
 
if you didn't break the seal on the fermenter I think you are fine. There are so many variables that effect hop utilization for the homebrewer that it is tough to nail down. I bet if we all actually had our hops analyzed, the accation AA content would be considerably lower than rated...the hops usually change hands at least 3 times before we ever see them. I have found that my beers are much more hoppy and fresher tasting since I have done these two important things.

1. buy my hops directly from the farm and don't sit on them forever......hopsdirect and brew your butt off when you open a pound.
2. Cool my wort ASAP IE...get a chiller
 
What gets me though is that after cooling my wort (via ice bath and an immersion chiller), prior to transferring it to my primary, it had a nice pungent bitterness. Now that it's 99% done fermenting, it has lost much of its bitterness. I would expect it to taste more bitter as the fermentable sugars are converted to alkeehol. Oh well, I totally botched this batch anyway by mashing at a temperature that is too high, producing an entirely too sweet beer IMO. Thought if the bitterness was still up there i could just call it an imperial brown ale and acted like I did it on purpose.
 
sm007thie said:
What gets me though is that after cooling my wort (via ice bath and an immersion chiller), prior to transferring it to my primary, it had a nice pungent bitterness. Now that it's 99% done fermenting, it has lost much of its bitterness. I would expect it to taste more bitter as the fermentable sugars are converted to alkeehol. Oh well, I totally botched this batch anyway by mashing at a temperature that is too high, producing an entirely too sweet beer IMO. Thought if the bitterness was still up there i could just call it an imperial brown ale and acted like I did it on purpose.
Click to expand...

That's happened to me before too. I made an ale that was really hoppy when I started and it came out with only a little bit. I think perhaps the solution is just to add more hops or dry hop, the smell seems to bring out the flavor or something.
 
sm007thie said:
I was fermenting a fairly high gravity stout (OG 1.086) that went crazy for about a week and then stopped. I gave it a little swirl in the fermenter and it started bubbling again for another 3 days or so. When i transferred it to a secondary and took a taste, the bitterness was pretty weak. I was shooting for about 55 IBU and the cooled wort had a lot more hops bite to it. Do you think that swirl might have killed my bitterness?

I was just kind of under the impression that if I didn't break the seal of my fermenter, most of the gas in the head space is probably CO2. I gave it a healthy swirl just kind of as an experiment, but didn't expect that I could be risking oxidizing my stout.
Click to expand...

You are tasting/making conclusions at 2-3 weeks about a beer that is going to need 2-3 months at least to condition properly. That is what I see is your biggest problem here.
 
broadbill said:
You are tasting/making conclusions at 2-3 weeks about a beer that is going to need 2-3 months at least to condition properly. That is what I see is your biggest problem here.
Click to expand...

i have no intentions of drinking this until the holidays. i just tasted it to so how everything was going. i realize that how it tastes now may be quite different from the finish. so, are you saying that the bitterness might come back with more time?!?!

oh yeah, and using WLP005.
 
sm007thie said:
i have no intentions of drinking this until the holidays. i just tasted it to so how everything was going. i realize that how it tastes now may be quite different from the finish. so, are you saying that the bitterness might come back with more time?!?!

oh yeah, and using WLP005.
Click to expand...

That can sure happen. There me be other flavors in your beer that are very prominent and masking your hop flavor. Once those flavors mellow and blend they hop flavors may come through better
 
I experienced my first oxidized beer last night with a Bell's Java Stout. Tasted like coffee ran through a sweaty sock.
 

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