Effect of leaving a batch in primary for over 60 days?

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chumprock

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Long/Short, a friend got a starter kit that had a APA extract batch included which I think he got for christmas.
I helped him brew it on 5/31, and he never came over to bottle for one reason or another. 2 months later, I free up a keg and dump it in, telling him I'll carb it up and we can move it to his bottles when he's ready.
So here it is, August 10th, and he finally asked if he can come over to bottle. I just drew a sample from his keg... I gagged.

It is SOUR. I don't even think you could call it extract twang, its so sharp and off I had to rinse down my lunch with one of my own beers.

Now I'm trying to figure out how to break it to this guy. I want him to enjoy the hobby, but I'm assuming leaving it on the cake so long had a not so great input on the final result. Are there any "factual" explanations I can give him for why it taste so gash darn awful?? Any way to explain it other than "he took too long?"

The color is great, the smell aint even that bad, but the taste made me spit it out and gag.. heh.
 
could it just be a sanitation issue? Ive had brews on the cake for 2 mos+ and it never came close to that.

Troubleshooting – Off Flavors in Beer
SOUR-ACIDIC

CHARACTERISTICS: Another of the basic tastes. This is perceived on the sides of the tongue towards the back of the mouth. At higher levels it can be felt all the way down the throat. Generally in beer this is perceived as a sour aroma and a tartness or vinegarlike aroma. Bacteria contamination sourness can also be perceived as spoilage or putrefaction.

CHEMISTRY: Caused by lactobacillus, pediococcus, acetobacter and some yeast strains.

HIGH CONTENT DUE TO PROCESS: Poor sanitization; bad yeast strain; too much corn sugar; excessive amounts of citric or ascorbic acid; high fermentation temperatures; excessive acid rest; mashing too long; use of wooden spoon in cooled wort or fermentation; storage at warm temperatures; scratched plastic fermenter.


LOW CONTENT DUE TO PROCESS: Good sanitization; stainless steel equipment and spoons; cool fermentation temperatures; cool beer storage; mashing for not more than two hours; glass carboy fermenter.
 
I'd let it condition for awhile. I'm sure sitting that long on the yeast had some adverse effects, but I've never had it happen so I don't know what it tastes like. It may condition out.

Let your friend know that he shouldn't brew if he doesn't have the time to maintain it. I'm all for getting new people into brewing, but if it's at the cost of good beer, I'd prefer to tell them to wait until they have more free time.
 
I'm assuming leaving it on the cake so long had a not so great input on the final result.

Definitely not. Sour is an infection that has nothing to do with the yeast.
 
+1 on not being the cake i dont know about 60 days but i quiet often leave a batch in the primary for a month or so waiting for a keg to free up
 
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