Damn.....Damn....Damn!!!

I just racked my first batch of brew (a stout) into the secondary. Problem is, the beer smells and tastes more like green apples now (13 days since pouring into primary) than it did a week ago.


Also, there is about an inch plus of brown sludge left in my primary after transfer that looks suspiciously like the semi-sweet bakers chocolate and cocoa powder that I added to my boil (which I certainly can't taste).


Thanks for any help.

Green apple (acetaldehyde) is produced during fermentation. It should diminish over time. Some yeast make more of this than others.

The sludge at the bottom of your fermenter is yeast, trub, and various other particulates that have settled out. It is normal. For your next beer, consider collecting harvesting the yeast out of your fermenter. Saves you some money, and gives you a nice healthy pitch rate. You can also rinse this slurry to make sure you are capturing only yeast. See this thread.

Nothing you describe sounds out of sorts. The green apple flavor is associated with young beer and should dissipate over time as the beer matures - just give it more time. The trub you describe probably does contain the cocoa powder since it doesn't dissolve. This is also normal/fine/expected. As far as the lack of chocolate taste - how much did you use and what were the rest of your ingredients? Also, you may be surprised how additional time will help here as well.

Or don't rack at all....


3 weeks in primary and bottle if OG was moderate, longer for bigger beer, maybe a little shorter for smaller beer.

You're suffering from newbie-itis.

Just let it sit another week or two in the secondary. Even then, it might still taste like green apples. I have a Belgian Tripel recipe that takes over a month to settle down those green apple flavors. And that's after three full weeks in the primary.

Patience is all that's required.

eric19312 said:

Or don't rack at all....


3 weeks in primary and bottle if OG was moderate, longer for bigger beer, maybe a little shorter for smaller beer.

Click to expand...

I rack to the bottling bucket at that point myself. Some might want to dry hop,age,etc. It's usually 3 weeks for me. Sometimes 4 or 5 depending on the batch. I give the yeast whatever time it needs to be ready for bottling.

I used about 4 0z of cocoa powder and 4 oz of bakers chocolae. Shouldn't that have been enough to notice? Thanks for all of the help. I was really confused why the off taste seemed to become more pronounced with a few more days in the primary. Thanks guys.

Just takes time. And yeah, bakers chocolate and coca powder are comprised of a lot of substances (oils, fiber, fats) that will fall out of solution. Don't worry that they settled out and into the trub. It's normal.