So what happened?

[wotkuni]

I brewed a batch of beer that went wrong somewhere, and I am trying to figure out where. It was the Autumn Amber Ale kit from Midwest. After fermenting for two weeks, when I went to bottle the beer had an powerful rubber/plastic, almost rubbing alcohol smell. I bottled anyway. After three weeks in the bottle the beer is very carbonated(not gushing), thin feeling, and has an odd not quite sour taste.

So should I dump it or wait? Where did I go wrong? I was thorough with sanitizing, was it possible that dust falling in during transferring could have contaminated the beer? That is the only thing I can think of. Thanks guys!

 

[WickedLB]

What was your fermentation temperature? At what temperature did you pitch your yeast?

These off flavors sound more like flavors from hot fermentation (fusels and esters) than from an infection. They may mellow a bit with conditioning, but it will depend on how strong they are.

 

[doctorRobert]

I brewed a batch of beer that went wrong somewhere, and I am trying to figure out where. It was the Autumn Amber Ale kit from Midwest. After fermenting for two weeks, when I went to bottle the beer had an powerful rubber/plastic, almost rubbing alcohol smell. I bottled anyway. After three weeks in the bottle the beer is very carbonated(not gushing), thin feeling, and has an odd not quite sour taste.

So should I dump it or wait? Where did I go wrong? I was thorough with sanitizing, was it possible that dust falling in during transferring could have contaminated the beer? That is the only thing I can think of. Thanks guys!

Temps too high? What kind of sanitizer maybe it needed to be rinsed off better.

 

[wotkuni]

I used Star-San, rinsed it fairly well. I think it may have gotten too warm, maybe up to like 75-80F. If it does get warm, is there any way to recover? My house has pretty variable temperatures.

 

[WickedLB]

Temp is way too high and even a Belgian needs some temp control. You may need a fridge and fermwrap if you can't keep your ales in the 60s.

 

[Reelale]

Star-san is a no rinse sanitizer. 80 degrees is too hot for normal fermentation. I think you're tasting phenols. They can be attributed to either chlorine or wild yeasts. If it was wild yeast, you'll know soon enough, gusher. The only thing you can do, IMO, is wait. You already have them bottled. Let them set and taste at a future date.

 

[wotkuni]

Yeah, it was definitely too hot. Probably not chlorine, but maybe the wild yeast? It's not gushing after three weeks. I might just dump half of it, so I have some bottles for other beer! We shall see what happens with the rest.