What does infected beer taste like?

[toasted]

Specifically....What does it taste like?

 

[Birchgrove77]

The one batch that I've had which has been infected, infamous ring around the neck, had a very tart sour taste. The batch was intended to be an oatmeal stout and contained a reasonable portion of roasted grain, but the dominant flavor was reminiscent of a bitter, sour lemon pithyness. Probably not the best description. From everything I've read my infection was caused by a Lactobacillus species probably due to some poor racking methods. Other infections can take on a vinegar, acetic acid flavor, or even sour milk.

 

[WBC]

Read through this and maybe you will find out what it is.

 

[Revvy]

What makes you think you have infected beer? How long has it been in the bottle? A lot of people new to brewing think that their beer is infected becasue it tastes "funny" when really it is green and young and simply needs more time to mellow. SO before you jump to that conclusion, tell us a little more about YOUR beer in particular.

A LOT of beiginning brewers start "is my beer infected" threads because they are nervous noobs, NOt because their beer is truly infected. It is really rare.

Give us some details, before you go down that route. Infections truly are a rarity. It is really hard to infect a btach of beer, ESPECIALLY by a new brewer on their first few batches with brand new equipment....It's more likely for me to get an infection as my equipment gets old and banged up, than a new brewer to get on.

 

[toasted]

I was just curious, so I can know what to watch out for, when it comes out of the bottle.

I just bottled yesterday, and realize I have a few weeks (at least) to go. I took a taste of the un-carbonated beverage after I had moved all but a couple ounces into my bottles, and was not suprised, but just wanted to cover bases for the future.

 

[WBC]

Revvy,

It's more likely for me to get an infection as my equipment gets old and banged up, than a new brewer to get on.

I don't think that is quite the case. New brewers will do bad things without thinking as this is all new to them. New brewers will forget to sanitize or ferment too high temperature or not make a starter when it is necessary etc. This gives bugs a head start.

 

[Revvy]

Revvy,


I don't think that is quite the case. New brewers will do bad things without thinking as this is all new to them. New brewers will forget to sanitize or ferment too high temperature or not make a starter when it is necessary etc. This gives bugs a head start.

I don't buy your argument it by the stats on here alone......How Many Noob "is my beer infected" threads on here by new brewers were truly infected and how many were simply noob paranoia? And how many new brewers on here do YOU recall forgetting to sanitize (most of them are so hyper paranoid by the fear of infection that they OVER sanitize) In the year i've been on here "putting out fires" I have come upon very true infected beers by first time or new brewers.

I'd say one in 50 were actually infected beers, if not less.

Now how many true infection threads have you've come upon on here? The ones that were truly infected brews WERE by experienced brewers, and usually an indication that they had scratched gear, a build up of crud someplace, worn out hoses, or connectors. Or by some slippage in their process.

 

[starrfish]

The one batch that I've had which has been infected, infamous ring around the neck, had a very tart sour taste. The batch was intended to be an oatmeal stout and contained a reasonable portion of roasted grain, but the dominant flavor was reminiscent of a bitter, sour lemon pithyness. Probably not the best description. From everything I've read my infection was caused by a Lactobacillus species probably due to some poor racking methods. Other infections can take on a vinegar, acetic acid flavor, or even sour milk.

Similar experience here, had an Oatmeal stout go bad. Scum ring around neck of bottle. Dead give away for infection. I too can trace mine back to racking, (dirty spigot). Definite sour taste/smell. Ever forget to wash out a home brew bottle after pouring? Gets that sour smell... that's it. I'm sure it would taste the same way! Real shame because it tasted great green!

Only happened once.

 

[Revvy]

Similar experience here, had an Oatmeal stout go bad. Scum ring around neck of bottle. Dead give away for infection.
Only happened once.

Not quite a dead giveaway...Sometimes bottle krauzens form on top of the bottle and fall like they would in a fermenter, after all that's what is happening inside your bottle during carbonation, the TOP CROPPING yeast krauzens and falls because it's fermenting the priming sugar(if it's ale yeast) this especially happens if DME was used to prime the bottles. BUT it happens pretty rapidly and is evidenced by the number of first time bottlers that start panic threads about it, because they check their bottles a lot more than we do and notice things like that.

The only dead give away would be gushers, but even gushers are iffy judgement become some bottles gush if over primed and/or opened before the co2 has reabsorbed back into solution. There is also of course taste, but if this is someones first batch of beer, how accurate is their judgement about differentiating between green beer and an infection....SOme flavors like vinegar or sour like you guys mention are pretty obvious.. BUT remember the new brewer doesn't necessarily have the refrence points we do AND are uber afraid.

AND that's why I am always hesitant with threads like this to just JUMP into the infection pool...We need to first know some particulars about the beer, and the brewer, ESPECIALLY if this is the brewer's first batch of beer...One of my first blogs was about jumping too soon into the infection bandwagon with a new brewer....http://blogs.homebrewtalk.com/Revvy/The_quotIquot_wordand_other_brewing_words_Im_tired_ofa_Rant/

The majority of infection scares on here are false alarms, based on my experience.

 

[Revvy]

I was just listening to Crafbrewer radio, a homebrew podcast out of Australia on the drive in, and heard exactly what I've been saying about the "timeframe" of infections, and how it is less liekly for a first batch to be infected...it tends to occur around the 10th batch and the 50th...When the equipment gets more used up, and "house germs" start to build up. They used the term "house mouth" in the discussion, how we may not even notice, because we're sort of used to the taste of our beers, it's usually NOT a regular drinker of our beers that notices it.

December#2,2006

“What is sour mashing?” I hear you ask. So said our brewmaster as he guides you thru this most interesting of ways of making a beer. In a nice compact show, we also cover feedback, Kit and Kilo infections, our beer superhero turns “gay”, and a faviourite beer song is requested yet again. Not enough, well also hear about WHO stuffed up his brew day.

http://radio.craftbrewer.org/shows/December2-06.mp3

I was also listening to a basic brewing podcast with Dan Carey, Brewmaster of New Glarus Brewery and he mentioned that they average commercial brewery has about a 3-4 year grace period before infection issues occur...but infected batches DO happen in comercial breweries, so why should we not believe it's possible in our home breweries...

It's just a problem to be solved...you replace hoses, and anything scratched, and you switch sanitizers. It's inevitable that as our equipment gets used the potential for an infected batch increases. It's not the end of the world.

But I maintain, that the LIKELY HOOD that the first few batches by a new brewer are really really low, and one here it is important to to discern between the rare TRUE infection posts and the panic n00b posts...