I am new to brewing and just started my third batch yesterday and tasted my first batch. The first batch was a pre-hopped LME porter that came out sour. I assume this was from bacteria that beat the yeast in the sugar eating battle. I suspect it was because of the water I used, or at least the containers that I neglected to sanitize before using to top off the wort. So now for this current batch, a Brewers Best Russian Imperial Stout, I used distilled water. I read that this will leave the beer tasting flat because of the lack of minerals. Is there any way to fix this at this point? Should I added anything when I rack to second stage fermentation?
Distilled water
- Thread starter nunnlife
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I think since you're using extract, it doesn't really matter that there are no minerals in the water because the malt extract has the needed minerals in it already.
Did you see anything funky growing on that 1st beer while in primary? How bout in the bottles? Could be a lacto infection,barring green beer.
Nothing visibly wrong but the sour taste was evident when we racked to second stage after a week of fermentation. So I'm thinking it wasn't the bottling but something I missed at the beginning. I was very careful with sanitation so I'm lost on what I may have missed.
If your secondary was too big,it could've introduced air into the large head space. Like if you put 5 gallons in a 6 or 6.5 gallon carboy/secondary.
After only 1 week? It should be in the primary at LEAST 2 weeks, I'm leaving my arrogant bastard clone in for 3 weeks, even though it's really ready now (after 2 weeks)
user 83772
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@nunnlife: Before you racked your first beer to secondary, did you take any hydrometer readings to make sure it was done fermenting?
Aboo
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My first batch has been in primary for a month now.
There is a great thread somewhere that talks about green beer, and patience being a virtue. It'll be fine! Let it sit in the bottle for a few more weeks. Hopefully it was done fermenting before you bottled it.
There is a great thread somewhere that talks about green beer, and patience being a virtue. It'll be fine! Let it sit in the bottle for a few more weeks. Hopefully it was done fermenting before you bottled it.
I only left it in the primary for one week. It looked like I was too impatient for my first beer. I didn't take a hydrometer reading when i racked to second but did do a reading midway and again before bottling to make sure fermentation was finished. I learned a lot from my first batch. Glad to hear that it could still mellow out in the bottles.
