What to do with the world's worst honey brown ale?

So I don't think my honey brown attenuated properly. Can I just create a starter, and start it over, or should I just dump this batch?

I'm going to first get a gravity reading to see if it's just a sucky beer. If the FG is still really high, what should I do?

You nailed it. Create a starter and pitch that when it's actively fermenting the starter. Otherwise, they'll just floc out and not do a darn thing. Good luck.

why do you think it didn't attenuate properly if you haven't taken a reading yet?

rycov said:

why do you think it didn't attenuate properly if you haven't taken a reading yet?

Click to expand...

Because it is sweeter than expected.

How do you know it attenuated properly if you take a gravity reading, assuming you did not perform a forced ferment test?

i would go by the average attenuation of the yeast and fermentability of the wort. (actually i wouldn't i keg, and don't care as long as it tastes good).

did you taste his beer?

i see that he has another post about the same beer.

how long has it been fermenting? i brewed a honey amber ale (or something like that) a while back and it took a while to ferment. i wouldn't dump it. at least i would try adding more yeast.

Another question worth asking is whether or not it was an all grain batch. If it was, what was the mash temp? If it was extract, how old was the extract?

It was extract. Not sure how old. It tastes obnoxiously sweet. I'll get an FG reading when I get home tonight and let you guys know.

I let it 'ferment' for the better part of 6 weeks and then cold crashed. When I took it out of the cold crash, the bubbler was bubbling - just one more reason I think I probably had a stuck fermentation...

when you take it out of the cold crash it warms up, causing the beer and air space to expand some. those bubbles weren't necessarily from fermentation restarting or anything like that. 6 weeks seems like a long enough time. but you should be taking the hydro readings so you know if its working slowly, or not at all. if you do find out its stuck then add more yeast at least, before you consider dumping the batch

FG is at 1.010....so it fermented properly. It almost tastes sour...maybe it was infected, but came out looking nice after filtration? I'm going to get a second reading once it heats up, bc it was 40 degrees when i took the first, but I don't think that would throw of the hydrometer 30 points...

there is a calculator for that. i can't remember what it is. but i think if you look up how to calculate abv by gravity you will find it. (the temperature correction that is) thats strange that it tastes sour, is it drinkable? maybe it will get better with some aging?

The carbonation will add a bit of bitterness too. I had a ipa that I did not add enough bittering hops and it tasted way too sweet despite it finishing at 1.010. It was much better and didnt seem as sweet after carbonation. You know the story relax.....

JRems said:

The carbonation will add a bit of bitterness too. I had a ipa that I dos not add enough buttering hops and it tasted way too sweet despite it finishing at 1.010. It was much better and didnt seem as sweet after carbonation. You know the story relax.....

Click to expand...

Mmmmm buttering hops.

I think this might be the problem...

Acetaldehyde
A flavor of green apples or freshly cut pumpkin; it is an intermediate compound in the formation of alcohol. Some yeast strains produce more than others, but generally it's presence indicates that the beer is too young and needs more time to condition.

It's got some sour tones to it...not bitter...and it bears some commonalities with a green apple...but doesn't taste like biting into a green apple...