I'm getting a slight vinegar smell from my beer. It is in its secondary fermentation stage on day 12. I sanitized with sodium meta and rinsed with hot tap water. Not sure if this is a normal smell or if the batch is infected. Any advise ?
Vinegar Smell
- Thread starter CJB25
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NervousDad
BFM
Sounds like acetobacter infection.
ZmannR2
Well-Known Member
Man buy yourself some star San and never look back. It's a no rinse. Leave everything dripping wet n foamy n toss that beer in and you won't have any issues.
BlueHouseBrewhaus
Well-Known Member
Give it some time. Vinegar can be a similar aroma to green apple, which just means it hasn't fully fermented. If it is aceto it will get worse and will definitely taste like vinegar. Give it another week and then taste a sample. Aceto infected beer will taste strongly of vinegar and will pretty much be undrinkable.
BTW, a common cause of aceto infection is fruit flies. Once the wort is below 160F, you not only need to be sure anything that touches it is sanitized, but you also need to be sure no fruit flies get in it.
BTW, a common cause of aceto infection is fruit flies. Once the wort is below 160F, you not only need to be sure anything that touches it is sanitized, but you also need to be sure no fruit flies get in it.
The vinegar smell is likely enough evidence that it's infected. It won't get better, I'm afraid. Probably not worth the effort to bottle, and you might get gushers if you did. Make some beer battered fish with some of it and dump the rest. It sucks to pour out a whole batch of beer, but many of us have done it. I had two drain pours in a row a few years ago and it made me more careful about sanitation.
Ditto on the Starsan. It's no-rinse, so no worry about re-introducing germs from a tap water rinse.
Ditto on the Starsan. It's no-rinse, so no worry about re-introducing germs from a tap water rinse.
if you racked it to a secondary and left a large amount of space above the beer, it certainly could be infected and if it is you will know in another week or two when it gets stronger vinegar flavor. To avoid this in the future, don't secondary. You have to be very sloppy to get an infection in the primary and very careful to avoid one in secondary.
ZmannR2
Well-Known Member
Ditto. Don't secondary.
This!
Smelling something is not enough to know for sure.... it could be co2, it could be green apple, it could be vinegar...BUT you'll only know if you taste it.
You can't get sick from it, and if it IS malt venegar you can actually bottle it and give it away or actually legally sell it, so it's not a loss.
But brewing is ugly and stinky of good days.... and you CAN'T no matter what others who are so SURE that it's an infection tell you...the only way to actually know is with your taste buds.
ZmannR2
Well-Known Member
What's on the surface? Anything?
It's nice and clear, little bit of condensation before the neck of the corboy (which I assume is normal)nothing on the surface and it actually wasn't me that noticed the smell it was my girlfriend. I smelled around the airlock but didn't notice anything but there is little to no airlock activity so that could be why. I have to pull the bung and take a good wif for myself.
Take a hydrometer sample while you have it open and see what the beer is doing, then drink the sample. Those two things will tell you better than anything we can tell you.:rockin:
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