Yet another: should I dump my batch thread...

Hey everyone -

So I browsed through the stickies and looked for a previous answer, but as they say there is more than one way to skin a cat... Well there is more than one way to screw up a homebrew...

I bought a starter kit from a local brewmart and it came with an extract kit... Northwestern gold. About 6# LME, 2oz pellet hops, and a packet of dry yeast.

Here's the list of my known screw ups during the process...

• Yeast was a dry yeast, I decided to rehydrate. I inadvertantly rehydrated in water that was about 110 degrees
• There was no activity in the fermenter for about 3 days, after that I was like "ok time to buy some more yeast cause I killed that last packet," I bought more yeast only to come home and VIOLA the fermentation process had begun and I did not add any yeast.
• Brew day +14 I decided it was time to bottle. I had quite a bit of trouble with the siphoning process, and finally resulted in the "swig 'o vodka and suck it" method. This took me several attempts because I was laughing and my swigs were about 6oz swigs and and comments by on lookers were not helping. I may or may not have expelled some vodka from my mouth into the bottling bucket.

The "beer" spent a week in the bottle (along w 4oz of corn sugar for the 4.5G batch) and I decided to give it a try so that I could understand the changes that occur during that maturation process.

The taste was horrendous. VERY chemically... over carbonated (i realize now I should have used less sugar)... Has a semi-metallic taste... I used bottled water, so I'm not worried about that. When looking at the beer in the bottle it is a bit cloudy from the shoulders of the bottle down and crystal clear from that point up... Is this normal? Is it possible that when I was rehydrating the yeast that I somehow mutated the yeast such that it made a foul tasting beer or killed all but some wild yeast?
Also, during the siphoning process I inadvertantly took a good swig of the product and it actually tasted half-way decent, so I'm pretty sureI screwed up in the bottling process. I've already invested in some improved siphoning aids to prevent future issues. Is it safe to say that this was all caused by bottling contamination?

Thanks for your help.
Jeff

This beer was 18 days old if you account for an extended lag that may or may not have happened. It's nowhere near ready yet. If it's still bad in a month, then come back and ask. Until then, just relax and wait it out.

Should've probably let it sit longer in primary and you should definitely give it way longer in the bottle.

If nothing else you at least learned early what not to do. Don't dump the batch, let it sit awhile.

Dude, a week isn't enough time. The reason it was cloudy was because the yeast haven't finished settling in the bottle yet. You drank green beer with suspended, and probably actively conditioning, yeast. Let it sit for a couple more weeks and it'll be drinkable. The reason it tasted better before bottling is because the yeast were inactive and settled out. You gave the yeast more food at bottling, which caused them to begin fermenting again to produce carbonation which doesn't taste very good while that's happening. More time and it'll taste okay.

Yeah, to echo what slowbie said, it is way too early to try to judge the beer. Give it a month and then put a few bottles in the refrigerator for a few days and then try it.

You said you thought that wou used too much priming sugar, how much did you use?

Sorry, I did try it after 2 weeks in the bottle and 3 weeks into the bottle... The taste has not changed, and certainly not for the better...

I've got another batch that has been in the fermenter for about 18 days and believe it is done... The kareutsen (spelling) is gone and everything is settling back in to the beer and there is no activity in the airlock (for about 4 days)... I would like to bottle but I just wanted to get some more input before I dump batch #1.

If you are in San Diego and can finish a bottle of batch #1 brew... I will give you $10. I can drink alot of weird things and I can't handle it...

Read this;

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/wh...where-your-beer-still-turned-out-great-96780/

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/ne...virtue-time-heals-all-things-even-beer-73254/

And this,

Of Patience and Bottle Conditioning.

And leave your beer alone for at least a month...and when you brew again, leave your beer alone in primary for at least 14 days before you do anything else, or do what many of us do and leave it alone for a month before you bottle, and you will find your beers will be just fine.

But no, don't dump, your beer is waaaaaaaayyyyyyyy too young to know if anything is really wrong yet, or is just green.

Challenger440 said:

You said you thought that wou used too much priming sugar, how much did you use?

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I used about 4oz for 4.5 Gallons of beer.

The "mouth siphon" is probably a really bad idea though.

I would still give it a bit longer. Buy more bottles or a keg system. This won't be the last time that you need to make room for your next brew.

Revvy said:

Read this;

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/wh...where-your-beer-still-turned-out-great-96780/

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/ne...virtue-time-heals-all-things-even-beer-73254/

And this,

Of Patience and Bottle Conditioning.

And leave your beer alone for at least a month...and when you brew again, leave your beer alone in primary for at least 14 days before you do anything else, or do what many of us do and leave it alone for a month before you bottle, and you will find your beers will be just fine.

But no, don't dump, your beer is waaaaaaaayyyyyyyy too young to know if anything is really wrong yet, or is just green.

Click to expand...

So it's still too soon to tell if spewing vodka from my mouth into my bottling bucket ruined my beer? It was good vodka (Ocean Vodka from Maui)

mouth siphoning is certainly a bad idea. Practice siphoning with a bucket of water.

I'd still give it a couple more weeks. My first batch I bottled after two weeks and it didn't start to taste okay until a month and a half in the bottles. Since then I haven't tried a bottle until after at least four weeks primary plus two weeks in bottles. IIRC bulk aging works faster and is more consistent from bottle to bottle than bottle aging, so you may have to wait longer than usual since you bottled early.

The other question I have though is how long do you refrigerate before opening?

Like Revvy said: patience.

BigJefe said:

So it's still too soon to tell if spewing vodka from my mouth into my bottling bucket ruined my beer? It was good vodka (Ocean Vodka from Maui)

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The alcohol content of vodka would most likely kill contaminants. If there actually is an infection issue here I would guess it came from putting your mouth on the siphon tube or the long lag time you had.

But again, wait it out. Drink some different beer to have bottles for your next batch, and give your next batch at least another week. I usually go for at least two weeks without airlock activity before bottling. Revvy has tons of posts explaining why that's a good idea.

Vodka won't hurt your beer in the quantity you may have introduced into it. How long are you leaving the bottles in the fridge before drink them? They need 4-5 days to properly settle out in the fridge, and should have been aged 2-3 weeks in the bottle before going to the fridge.

Also we have chloramines in our water here, so the metallic taste could be from that. You can either used campden tablets or charcoal filter your brew water to help in that regard.

jmo88 said:

mouth siphoning is certainly a bad idea. Practice siphoning with a bucket of water.

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Or get yourself an auto-siphon. One came with the equipment I got and I find it to be a fantastic piece of kit!

Alright, you guys convinced me... This batch is going in storage in my closet... I'll bring it out maybe for 4th of July....

Thats the way to fly! Let it sit till the 4th of july!! My first batch took 5 months before I found it to be decent drinkable beer!

I want 10 dollars.

i would also suggest you pick up a hydrometer so you can know for sure when the fermentation is done. the bubbling stopping is not a good sign to look for in terms of when fermentation is done. the only way you can be sure is if the hydrometer reading doesnt change over the period of several days.

nootay said:

i would also suggest you pick up a hydrometer so you can know for sure when the fermentation is done. the bubbling stopping is not a good sign to look for in terms of when fermentation is done. the only way you can be sure is if the hydrometer reading doesnt change over the period of several days.

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I have a hydrometer, but I need a (easy) way of getting a sample out of the carboy... Plus, do I just ditch the beer I pull out after reading it? Do I drink it? Can I just drop a sanitized hydrometer into the carboy? I don't really want to waste beer....

BigJefe said:

I have a hydrometer, but I need a (easy) way of getting a sample out of the carboy... Plus, do I just ditch the beer I pull out after reading it? Do I drink it? Can I just drop a sanitized hydrometer into the carboy? I don't really want to waste beer....

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Get a wine thief to get the sample out of the carboy. Put the sanitized hydrometer in it, measure your gravity, then push the valve on the thief against the inside of the carboy to return the beer.

Or drink it. That's what I do. It'll taste like beer, I promise.

Do NOT put the hydrometer in the carboy. You'll have a heck of a time getting it out.

And for Christ's sake, get yourself an auto siphon.

I always drink the sample of beer I pull out with my beer thief. This way I dont worry about sanitizing the inside of my beer thief or the hydrometer and get to taste how the beer is progressing. Its nice to see know how beer tastes as it goes through the brewing stages.

But if there is active suspended yeast, don't drink too much or it can cause GI problems...

BigJefe said:

I have a hydrometer, but I need a (easy) way of getting a sample out of the carboy... Plus, do I just ditch the beer I pull out after reading it? Do I drink it? Can I just drop a sanitized hydrometer into the carboy? I don't really want to waste beer....

Click to expand...

This is what I use, and it works with both buckets and carboys



And



Here's what I do....

1) With a spray bottle filled with starsan I spray the lid of my bucket, or the mouth of the carboy, including the bung. Then I spray my turkey baster inside and out with sanitize (or dunking it in a container of sanitizer).

2) Open fermenter.

3) Draw Sample

4) fill sample jar (usualy 2-3 turky baster draws

5)Spray bung or lid with sanitizer again

6) Close lid or bung

7) take reading

8) Drink sample



It is less than 30 seconds from the time the lid is removed until it is closed again.

Probably less if you have help.

And unless a bird swoops down and poops in your fermenter, you wont have any trouble.

So I was talking with a neighbor about this beer and how funky it tastes and he said he wanted to try it... I've had the bottles sitting in the fridge for a few days now and served him up a small glass... Still awful...

However, the next day while watching UFC 113 I was drinking an Avery White Rascal and it tasted like a mild version of the beer I made. My neighbor confirmed... In conclusion, batch #1 is like a very nose-crinkling-yeasty version of White Rascal...

Will the yeasty taste mellow as it sits? Should I take it out of the fridge and back into the closet to age?