Sour taste on my last bottled beers.

[jsaxon90]

Hey guys. I bottled my beer today, and noticed something. I tasted the beer at the beginning, and tasted great. However, when I got to the bottom of my bottling bucket, I noticed a sour aroma and taste in it that wasn't there at the beginning. Is there a certain reason why? Only my second brew, so I'm trying to get everything under wraps. Thanks!

 

[Elkobrewer]

Hi jsaxon90 that sounds odd. But look at it this way if something did go wrong there nothing that can be done about it So just let the bottles condition for a few weeks then put one in the fridge for a day or two and give it a try. Might be Awsome might not. RDWHAHB

 

[Brew_Meister_General]

Hey guys. I bottled my beer today, and noticed something. I tasted the beer at the beginning, and tasted great. However, when I got to the bottom of my bottling bucket, I noticed a sour aroma and taste in it that wasn't there at the beginning. Is there a certain reason why? Only my second brew, so I'm trying to get everything under wraps. Thanks!

That does sound odd, I haven't read anything like that before. One outlandish idea would be that the beer became infected with a wild bacteria which then died as a result of the alcohol, flocculated to the bottom and thats what you tasted. Of course I don't have anything to certify that, that would just be an initial impression.

 

[histo320]

Sound very odd. Could possibly be StarSan (if you used that to sanitize). StarSan has a bit of a sour flavor.

Did you take a hydrometer sample? How did that taste?

 

[jsaxon90]

I'm not entirely sure what it was. It could be the Star San, as I was soaking the bottles in Star San while bottling. I would get one out, drain it, and then fill it with beer. So idk? The hydrometer sample tasted normal as well. The alcohol is a bit above expected (supposed to be 6.0%, but it ended at 7.4%). But that is because I brewed 7 gal worth of malt and hops in a 5 gal brew. So it doesn't surprise me.

 

[flyfishnevada]

Could be the extra malt and hops. I'm totally new at this but my first batch tasted sour when I sampled it after taking a SG reading. The first bottle we opened at two weeks to check carbonation had that same taste but much less. After three weeks, it was gone. If it's still there after sitting in the bottles, you might have an issue. But maybe it's just off flavors that will fade as the beer conditions.

 

[EmpiricalBrewer]

I preface by saying I am by no means and expert or even have as much experience as many of the other brewers/posters here. I also haven't brewed in a number of years until recently, so I may not be up to date. That being said how much DME/LME did you use in said batch? Sometimes (at least it used to be true) that some "off-flavors" (or a twang) can be present because of the extract. From my experience you can generally tell the difference between the exact same beer, extract vs. AG. Perhaps this could be coming from the extract? I agree with a previous post that, possibly, if you let the beer condition in the bottle for several weeks (maybe more than you were hoping) that flavor could diminish.

 

[Brew_Meister_General]

Hey guys. I bottled my beer today, and noticed something. I tasted the beer at the beginning, and tasted great. However, when I got to the bottom of my bottling bucket, I noticed a sour aroma and taste

I'm totally new at this but my first batch tasted sour when I sampled it after taking a SG reading. The first bottle we opened at two weeks to check carbonation had that same taste but much less. After three weeks, it was gone . . . maybe it's just off flavors that will fade as the beer conditions.

Thats also a sound theory! So I guess the answer is wait a week or two and see if it fades, after that you might have to get creative by presumably adding alkalinity to the brew using baking soda, of course that would mean opening each bottle and adding a tiny amount of a sanitised water solution which has a bit of sugar mixed in for re-carbonation.

Sounds like the perfect awkward home brew challenge!

 

[jsaxon90]

Yup, we will see what the end result is! I bottled the beer exactly a week ago, so I will test one out in another week and a half or so