bmason1623
Well-Known Member
Hello everyone. I am very new to home brewing but with a book and this great forum I am learning...and having a blast doing so.
Anyways, my first batch was generally successful. I brewed the Cincinnati Pale Ale (the classic newbie recipe) taken from John Palmer's book. The beer lacked body but I'm thinking that may be due to using all extracts. Anyway, it was drinkable and somewhat enjoyable.
my second batch has me a little worried. It's supposed to be a Blue Moon Clone. Again, I used all extract and quite a bit of orange blossom honey which was boiled for 30 minutes. When I pitched the Wyeast 1214 yeast I did not make a starter since the guy at the LHBS said it wasn't necessary. It took about 24 hours for fermentation to begin but once it did it had a wonderful banana smell from the esthers as a Belgian yeast should from what I have read on here. It fermented in the primary for about 10 days. At this point I racked it into a secondary for a week (today actually), then I bottled it with boiled corn sugar solution from a bottling bucket.
Both times that I racked it (from primary to secondary, and secondary to bottling bucket) it had a slight sour smell taste to it. When I first noticed it was when I racked to a secondary. I figured it just needed to clean up and it would be fine. When I racked to the bottling bucket, I noticed the slight sour smell again. And again, I'm hoping that bottle conditioning will solve my sour smell.
The sour fragrance isn't as strong as vinegar but it does smell off to me. I wish I could articulate the fragrance better but I am at a loss for a better description. Also, I should note that the yeast was old (manufacture date Dec. 2008) and I didn't notice that until I was well underway with brewing on a Friday night. I didn't notice anything unusual about the beer as it sat in the primary or secondary. No strands or mold of any kind. I'm 99.9% sure of my sanitation preparations. So I'm hoping that it's just the yeast giving off weird odors.
What do you guys think? Thank you so much in advance for all of your help.
Anyways, my first batch was generally successful. I brewed the Cincinnati Pale Ale (the classic newbie recipe) taken from John Palmer's book. The beer lacked body but I'm thinking that may be due to using all extracts. Anyway, it was drinkable and somewhat enjoyable.
my second batch has me a little worried. It's supposed to be a Blue Moon Clone. Again, I used all extract and quite a bit of orange blossom honey which was boiled for 30 minutes. When I pitched the Wyeast 1214 yeast I did not make a starter since the guy at the LHBS said it wasn't necessary. It took about 24 hours for fermentation to begin but once it did it had a wonderful banana smell from the esthers as a Belgian yeast should from what I have read on here. It fermented in the primary for about 10 days. At this point I racked it into a secondary for a week (today actually), then I bottled it with boiled corn sugar solution from a bottling bucket.
Both times that I racked it (from primary to secondary, and secondary to bottling bucket) it had a slight sour smell taste to it. When I first noticed it was when I racked to a secondary. I figured it just needed to clean up and it would be fine. When I racked to the bottling bucket, I noticed the slight sour smell again. And again, I'm hoping that bottle conditioning will solve my sour smell.
The sour fragrance isn't as strong as vinegar but it does smell off to me. I wish I could articulate the fragrance better but I am at a loss for a better description. Also, I should note that the yeast was old (manufacture date Dec. 2008) and I didn't notice that until I was well underway with brewing on a Friday night. I didn't notice anything unusual about the beer as it sat in the primary or secondary. No strands or mold of any kind. I'm 99.9% sure of my sanitation preparations. So I'm hoping that it's just the yeast giving off weird odors.
What do you guys think? Thank you so much in advance for all of your help.
