Spoiled Batch (?) Please help diagnose.

Hello fellow beermakers!! I have been collecting great info from this site and finally have something worth posting. Perhaps your experience can help me.

I am working on an IPA that I think is beyond repair but I want to know your diagnosis on whether I should continue to rack, bottle, etc. or not bother.

I first knew that something was strange when the krausen in the primary was not normal; it was this nasty white frothy sputum, a true pure white color, like more white than the color of fat free milk. On close inspection, the foam bubbles are larger than normal, and further strange, if you looked closely at the krausen (or whatever culture it was), I noticed a steady flow of an eerie veil of liquid being released from the bubbles into the beer below (has anyone else noticed this??? Curious). If this is indeed normal, I had not noticed it on any of my other 7 or so batches so far.

And even on day 7 of primary, there is still an unusual layer of hundreds of tiny islands of scum on the surface. (Also not normal. Surface seems to be clear by then in my experience.)

TASTING NOTES: (day 7 of primary):
Color: golden pee.
Aroma: wine-like. Very much smells like a glass of Muscat Canelli wine. Spit cup smells yeasty.
Taste: Tastes sour, not extremely sour but sour enough that on first taste it dominates the bitterness of the hops. Medium-high astringency. Apple flavor? Yes. Drinkable? Sort of. Sweetness? Hard to say with the sourness, but tastes rather dry. Oxidation? A little but not bad.

Other notes: Probably fermented too hot. Was in the mid to high 70's and even 80 for the beginning.

Airlock is still bubbling probably more than it should, about once every 1.2 minutes.

I cordially welcome your diagnosis!

Thanks!!!!!

It sounds like it definitely fermented too hot. I don't know about contamination, as it's hard to believe that even lactobacillus would sour the beer in only a week.

If you fermented above 70 degrees, especially more than a couple of degrees above 72 degrees, that is probably the culprit.

Krausen looks different every brew, and sometimes in two identical brews side by side, so that's no indication of problems.

Your beer isn't done. Put the top back on and give it some privacy for at least another week. If it improves but isn't great, give it another week or 2. The sour taste should go away. The fruity tones may or may not depending on the yeast and how out of control that temp really got and how long it stayed that way. The dry feel probably won't go away or may take an extended aging.

Thanks for your help Yooper and Bill.

To Bill: So would you suggest leaving it in the primary? (Or rack to secondary as the recipe suggests?)

I'd leave it in primary for another two weeks around 65 degrees. Let it ferment out and settle down. Then u can transfer it.

where do you live in the city that the temps got into the 80's? that's what i want to know

"To Bill: So would you suggest leaving it in the primary? (Or rack to secondary as the recipe suggests?)"

Leave it in the primary. Fermenting for 1 week is certainly possible - IF you do everything perfectly. This batch clearly isn't off to a perfect start,so just give it some more time in the primary to see if the yeast can help clean up some of the mess.

Well, Maybe it wasn't quite into the 80's, but at least close for the first couple days with the still warm wort and metabolic activity of the yeast, plus we live upstairs (Inner Sunset - and it's been much more sunny than usual)

Thanks all, for the tips and encouragement to stick with it. Also, I took a sample down to the local brewstore for the master brewer to try and was further encouraged when he said it "Tastes fine, nothing wrong with it...actually tastes pretty good." So, lesson learned for me is to not judge a beer so critically when it's only a few days old. And don't be afraid of really sickly looking krausen.

it's called the sunset because the sun set back in 1875 and hasn't been seen since. lol.