Help needed with Belgian ale

[sabianmonk]

Hey everybody,

I am new to homebrewtalk but I have read many a post here and they have helped me tremendously since I have started brewing in the last few months. Now I have run into my first real problem (on my fourth batch).

Here's the breakdown:

I have a 5 gallon batch of a Belgian wheat beer in which I added lemongrass. Unfortunately, I ran out dried lemongrass and added some fresh sprigs from my garden, not even considering how much more potent they would be fresh! Now my beer is very sour and I want to know if there is anyway I can salvage it.

The brew is currently in the secondary fermenter and I have added a little corriander and cumin to try and balance out the sourness but to no avail. I just added some more (I am now paranoid about overspicing my beer).

I do not currently know the pH of the beer but it is not so low as to prevent the yeast from propagating (a second krausen formed after I racked yesterday, so my White Labs 400 is alive and well).

Does anyone have any suggestions? Should I cut my losses and turn this into a marinade for my steaks?

The only options I have thought of is to brew a second batch of Belgian ale with no lemongrass and then to just mix the two together. My other idea is to try and add a base to neutralize the citric acid in the brew. Any thoughts on these ideas would be appreciated!

 

[marubozo]

When you say sour, are you talking about simply too much lemongrass flavor, or like a sour vinegar or otherwise just tastes "off"?

Sour beer is often a sign of a bacterial infection so there's a good chance that you may have introduced some bacteria by dropping in fresh lemongrass.

 

[McGarnigle]

Is fresh lemongrass actually stronger than dried? It's often the opposite: dried is more condensed. Maybe marubozo is right about bacteria.

 

[sabianmonk]

The lemongrass was put into the mash at 10 minutes before flame out... So unless there was something that was mighty resistant to boiling temperatures, I do not think it is an infection but I guess it is always possible. The beer tastes extremely lemony, as if I had poured citric acid right into the wort.

 

[sabianmonk]

McGarnigle-- I thought the same thing about dried vs. fresh herbs. But I used the exact same amount of lemongrass in a previous batch (but it was all dry) and the taste came out subtle. Here, the only difference was that I did not remove all the lemongrass sprigs from the wort and let them stay in the primary. I have a feeling this is what is primarily responsible for the strong taste.