15 gallons of wasted beer

This sucks but I thought i'd post it anyways... I brewed 3 beers a few months ago that are just horrid, they all taste like rotten meat or something along those lines. I made an english brown, a bitters, and a pale ale and they all taste like this. I checked my notes and realized I had switched to idophor at that time and my beers made with one step before and star san after are fine. I probably used more than I should have but I did measure the idophor. The rotten meat taste is just too much, I thought after 2 monthe of aging and a month in the fridge they would mellow but now the taste is worse because the beer mellowed but the idophor didn't.

I could be wrong, maybe I have a different problem than the idophor but my new beer is fine and that is the only change.

I read the autolisis thread about people reporting a "slight' autolized flavor and thought, that is no slight autolized flavor that is just idophor!

Thoughts...

I think you should send them to Tonedef131.

chumprock said:

I think you should send them to Tonedef131.

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best reply evah!








hope you don't get banned.

chumprock said:

I think you should send them to Tonedef131.

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Epic

on the serious side, I can't imaging how Iodapher would cause such a taste, even if it was mixed strong. Maybe I'm wrong?? I have used iodapher for a long time, never an issue.

Did you brew any beers with Iodopher that did NOT have this taste?

Did you have any other process changes that you can remember that were with these brews?

Sorry to hear about your loss. If its really bad and you think there is no recovery I would personally feed it to nature.

I use Amway's Pursue cleaning agent, it is a organtic, (edible) tasteless, & kills all types of fungus & bacteria.

Don't discard the beer! If it really tastes that bad, you could recoup your losses and sell the entire case to a bunch of drunk college students looking for more beer, but don't want to drive. You drive to them, sell it for the INSANELY LOW PRICE of what it cost you to make all 15 gallons, and they'll think they got a steal.

The best part is, they won't even realize it's bad beer since they're already drunk. They'll contribute it to the amount of alcohol they've had.

I once gave some friends shots of water after they had an entire handle of Vodka...they didn't realize the difference and even said "That's good stuff" until one person who was less drunk said, "Wait...wtf..."

it sounds like Autolysis. I have read this produces a meaty flavor.

ThreeTaps said:

Don't discard the beer! If it really tastes that bad, you could recoup your losses and sell the entire case to a bunch of drunk college students looking for more beer, but don't want to drive. You drive to them, sell it for the INSANELY LOW PRICE of what it cost you to make all 15 gallons, and they'll think they got a steal.

The best part is, they won't even realize it's bad beer since they're already drunk. They'll contribute it to the amount of alcohol they've had.

I once gave some friends shots of water after they had an entire handle of Vodka...they didn't realize the difference and even said "That's good stuff" until one person who was less drunk said, "Wait...wtf..."

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So since it's bad, he should distribute it to possible minors? I would not suggest this plan.

Cold_Steel said:

it sounds like Autolysis. I have read this produces a meaty flavor.

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I had thought that Autolysis provided a rotten egg or sulfuric scent?

HIM_Tattoos said:

So since it's bad, he should distribute it to possible minors? I would not suggest this plan.




I had thought that Autolysis provided a rotten egg or sulfuric scent?

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but he said taste.

Use it for cooking? perhaps?

Feed it to the local children while drinking some good store bought stuff. Then post it on youtube so i can watch while i drink some homebrew

I would have to agree that it sounds like Autolysis possibly caused by the idophor, its not as nice as starsan, if to much is left in the carboy I guess it could happen. I used to use it tho and never had a problem like this. Could your ferm temp have gotten way to hot/ left on the yeast to long... I would assume that there was no infection as you would have seen it and mentioned that as well.

I checked my notes and 2 of the beers were in a plastic ale pail for a month and one was in for 5 weeks. Maybe it it autolysis.

I should have been more clear, it tastes and smells bad. The smell is the worst part!

I thought autolized beer looked bad too, this stuff looks killer, clear, nice head, great body, great "background flavor". I thought it looked like a gorilla turd or something if that was the problem.

I don't have a drying tree, I dry my bottles 7 at a time in my dishwasher's silverware rack. When the beer gets bottled there are drops of sanitizer left in the bottle for sure. I don't rinse either. My notes mention that a couple of these beers were good yet "green" at bottling time.

At first I thought I had a bad case of extract twang but some of the beer used with the same 50# bag of extract bottled with star san came out great. They were an aggogant bastard clone, a pretty serious mocha porter, and a high og brown ale brewed with molasses, belgian candy sugar and brown sugar, all gnarly beers which could hide taste flaws well.

I even brewed a BB kit brown ale which I usually love and it tastes vile.


THANKS FOR ALL THE RESPONSES BTW, THIS IS IMPORTANT STUFF; GOOD BEER!

I once left a gallon of iodophor solution in the bottom of a carboy and racked onto it. Oops. No meaty flavor at all. Iodophor at that concentration tastes very medicinal, almost like a metallic flavoring.

I can't see that flavor being confused with rotten meat.

This sounds like autolysis all the way. Were these racked onto the same yeast by chance?

This could also be a wild yeast infection. All kinds of nastiness can come from wild yeasts.

No, not racked onto the same yeast. I have made some good beers, cider, and wine with the idophor btw.

I talked to a friend who was the master brewer for a prominent brewery and as I was listing out stuff I did when I mentioned idophor he was like "Ohhh, idophor!" that is the problem. I was thinking it was this too...

I say rotten meat but I have cut a lot of meat as a chef, I should say, meat that has just started to turn.

I have read about wild yeast infections and this problem sounds like one. Maybe that is a problem, I am very sanitary in my brewing process but I can't control what is in the air.

Thanks again.

Actually, i have heard of this once before. I only thought it to be a rumor. Many had spoken of it and the called BRETTANOMYCES BRUXELLENSIS. Its a wild yeast found normally in tropical environments. Most people commonly refer to it as the gorilla turd!!!

Dude too funny!

I checked my notes again and see 1 thing in common with everything, Notingham yeast! Maybe that is it. I can taste a hint of this flavor in some stouts I have bought, maybe it is the yeast.

Mr. Nice Guy said:

I checked my notes again and see 1 thing in common with everything, Notingham yeast! Maybe that is it. I can taste a hint of this flavor in some stouts I have bought, maybe it is the yeast.

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I'm probably mistaken, bit wasn't there a recall on a big batch of Nottingham recently?

wow that would seriously suck, sorry to here.

ThreeTaps is right - there was a Notty recall lately.

The recall on the notty yeast was more due to slow starting yeast, not really off flavors. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/nottingham-yeast-recall-135065/

After sampling loads of stuff I have aging I am starting to think it was the Nottingham yeast. I have 3- 5 gal beers, 2- 5 gal ciders, and a 1.66 gal beer that all taste meaty and rank and they were ALL made with the Notty. Some beers and a cider made at the same time with some pac-man I was repitching on are great. They got bottled with star san, not idophor though. At the time I thought it was the idophor that was responsible for the foul taste, maybe it is the yeast.

I know I bottled some of Ed Wort's Apfelwein with the idophor and it came out great.

I have a yeast packet from one batch made with the Nottingham and that packet was not from the recall. I don't remember anything having an unusual lag time, everything started up fine.


Maybe I have a wild yeast problem, I live on a mountain at 7300 feet in the middle of a thick pine forest. There are mushrooms, mold, moss, birds, deer, etc within feet of my brewing area. Could the Pac-Man and other yeasts I used be less prone to being taken over by infection? I haven't found anything bad that used campden so this makes me wonder...

It is too bad these beers didn't get brett, I can't standing paying 14 a bottle for sour beer!

Mr. Nice Guy said:

After sampling loads of stuff I have aging I am starting to think it was the Nottingham yeast. I have 3- 5 gal beers, 2- 5 gal ciders, and a 1.66 gal beer that all taste meaty and rank and they were ALL made with the Notty. Some beers and a cider made at the same time with some pac-man I was repitching on are great. They got bottled with star san, not idophor though. At the time I thought it was the idophor that was responsible for the foul taste, maybe it is the yeast.

I know I bottled some of Ed Wort's Apfelwein with the idophor and it came out great.

I have a yeast packet from one batch made with the Nottingham and that packet was not from the recall. I don't remember anything having an unusual lag time, everything started up fine.


Maybe I have a wild yeast problem, I live on a mountain at 7300 feet in the middle of a thick pine forest. There are mushrooms, mold, moss, birds, deer, etc within feet of my brewing area. Could the Pac-Man and other yeasts I used be less prone to being taken over by infection? I haven't found anything bad that used campden so this makes me wonder...

It is too bad these beers didn't get brett, I can't standing paying 14 a bottle for sour beer!

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First, I would love to see some pictures of your place. The area sound so pretty.

Second, both of you should be contacting the yeast supplier for some money back. You should atleast get your yeast free for a while.

Noone else has reported these kinds of issues with Nottingham yeast. I somehow doubt this was your issue. I can't imagine out of thousands of packets of nottingham yeast used by members of these boards over the last months that you happened to get the three causing these flavors. I'd be looking at sanitation, or maybe other ingredients.

Maybe I can also suggest what you're calling an off flavor may just be your pallette. Maybe you can get a bottle of this to someone (like a beer judge) or someone on these forums for sampling? If it is the yeast, and you say you've tasted this in commercial beers, maybe its just a normal, natural flavor that doesn't agree with your taste buds.

Before you dump it, send it to Revvy.

Henry Hill said:

Before you dump it, send it to Revvy.

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No, you give it a year - minimum.

Cheaton said:

Noone else has reported these kinds of issues with Nottingham yeast. I somehow doubt this was your issue. I can't imagine out of thousands of packets of nottingham yeast used by members of these boards over the last months that you happened to get the three causing these flavors. I'd be looking at sanitation, or maybe other ingredients.

Maybe I can also suggest what you're calling an off flavor may just be your pallette. Maybe you can get a bottle of this to someone (like a beer judge) or someone on these forums for sampling? If it is the yeast, and you say you've tasted this in commercial beers, maybe its just a normal, natural flavor that doesn't agree with your taste buds.

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I agree! (with everything)

When I say maybe it was the notty I mean the Nottingnam combined with some slight autolisis and infection, maybe oxidation, who knows. I think maybe the yeast just steered it in this direction, lmao...

"Normal, natural flavor" though, nahh, this stuff is bad! Hell I am a serious beer snob though, had some Chimay tonight and thought it wasn't too standoutish, but that was after a Durango Brewing Co Colorfest Ale which was just killer!

I don't have much of a mailing budget but I can send some sample bottles off to anyone who is a real sanctioned beer judge (well one or two people). Or Revvy if he wants it, I know he knows his beer! I promise there is nothing that will get you sick or anything, it isn't that foul either, more like, huh, smooth good beer but really funky aftertaste.

I gave some to a friend who just turned 21 and he said it tasted like his friends homebrew. This was from a batch that had the bad flavor but it is slight so I am still drinking it. (scotch ale)

I have only been brewing since January but I have made a lot of stuff and have read a lot of books. I think I know what I am doing! Maybe I am expecting too much or something. I want to make beers like Stone or Rogue, they are my two favorite breweries.

I pay a lot of attention to everything, temps, sanitation, yeast selection, ingredients, you name it. My first few beers were awesome, I even remade my first beer, a simple brown ale to try to get on track and it is the worst one.

Tomorrow I'll see if my Sorachi Ace IPA is any good, I hope it is, it is the first beer I have kegged in my new keezer system.

I look forward to hearing the verdict!

I kegged 15 gallons a couple of days ago and tasted everything las might, awesome! I had a sorachi ace ipa that went 3 weeks in primary and spent 6 weeks dry hopping, perfect! Peach Wine in the primary on the yeast for 5 months, perfect! Apfelwein per recipe with 2 extra cans of concentrate added, on the yeast since april, perfect! The sorachi ace was my first mini mash, first dry hopped beer, and my first beer to reuse yeast from. I actually took the yeast ffrom anoher beer and scooped it into a glass jar, fridged it, then pitched straight onto the beer. If anything was off I'd expect it to be this beer, not a simple brown ale or esb.

The apfelwein and peach were made with idophor.

I think the notty is the problem, it is the only common link between these bad beers. My beers made with Muntons are much better even.

I blame myself, I got on a big Nottingham kick since I thought it was a great yeast for english styles, maybe it creates some overtones that I don't like. I have to wonder, at the time the notty was hard to find, I bet they were having problems.

I had a similar off flavor when I first started brewing it was in every batch. I stopped using 2 products which was dry yeast and idophor. White labs and Star San and I never had that problem again. I am not sure which one caused my problem and I really don't care now. Liquid yeasty's for me and don't fear the foam.

I live on a mountain at 7300 feet in the middle of a thick pine forest. There are mushrooms, mold, moss, birds, deer, etc within feet of my brewing area.

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God I miss Durango!

Interesting thread!
I had the unfortunate opportunity to taste someones autolysed beer once, and it was easily the worst I have ever tasted. It had a rotten rubber taste that I can still taste in my mouth as I am thinking about it. It had little flakes floating around in it. I also had a saved yeast cake (not washed) in a 22oz bottle turn bad after several months, and it was really bad. I was gagging while pouring it out in the sink. I think that, unless your autolysis was very minor, it is not the problem.

I think you mentioned that you had the beers sitting for over a month in a plastic bucket? I also use a bucket for primary, but only for a few days. Plastic buckets scratch easily inside and can harbor infections that sanitizers can't touch. That, or your Nottingham theory is where my money is. Iodophor is tried and true and should not get those results.