Is my beer shot. Infection?

Hey guys,

This is my 3rd extract brew w/specialty grains. Its a porterish stout that has been in primary since 12/5. So this is day 17 and this was the first time I opened the fermenter to take a peak and have a gravity reading, plus take a taste and this is what I saw. Something is definitely wrong, right?


It smells sour. Like sour apple jolly rancher. I know this is not right. But what is it??

 

If it taste sour its probably some sort of infection... Definately not normal. Maybe lacto? Might still taste good enough time.

 

I think that looks like little rafts of yeast and krausen. The smell you mention could be from one of the byproducts of fermentation. I'd take a taste of it to see if it tastes sour.

Tell us a bit about the fermentation. What temperature did you start it and what temperature was it when you opened it. Did you do a hydrometer test?

 

What your pic show is drop out after fermentation . Your still about 1-2 weeks away from being finished. Porters and stouts take time to mellow and condition. What your tasting is green beer.

 

The fermentation temps were between 66-70F for 17 days.

I did take a gravity reading and it was at about 1.020 Which is weird cause this should have finished fermenting by now don't you think?

Every time I take a reading its always high. For whatever reason I have never seen it read a number it "should". My OG's and FG's are always way higher than what seems possible.

It definitely smells of sour apple, but the taste was that of beer. Nothing actually tasted bad about it, so there may be a chance this beer will be ok. I'll wait untill wednesday which will be day 21, and take another gravity reading and proceed with bottling if everything is the same.

 

Lots of people have reported trouble getting their extract brews to ferment out to less than 1.020. If your beer tastes like beer, I'd bottle it. In a week I'd open one to check how carbonation is coming along and I might open another one at week 2 to see that it hadn't overcarbonated which would be a sign of infection but I think your beer is fine. I looked hard at the "film" that Yooper mentioned and think it is a reflection in the picture rather than a film.

 

Its not going to hurt it to leave it for a couple more weeks. Porters and stouts are not "fast turn around" brews. For porters and stouts the minimum i go by is 6 weeks. 4 weeks in the fermenter and 2 weeks in the bottle " minimum ". let your hydrometer tell you when its ready.

 

Yooper, on the topic of amount of time to age certain styles of beer, I just read a post of yours where you said you are drinking your IPA's 2 weeks after brewing them. Would this be the same with a double IPA? With, say, a 1.080 OG? Does a high ABV necessitate aging it a bit longer despite the fact that you want the fresh hop flavors and aroma?

 

I have been troubleshooting the issue here and had spoke with someone who knows his brewing science, and suggested this is possibly due to pediococcus damnosus infection. Any thoughts?

Trash the batch?

 

Well, I have a beer that was brewed on 10/27 and it JUST finished fermenting in the past few days. Temperature is finally at ambient and it's not venting any more CO2. Granted, this is a 15%+ English barleywine using WLP099 fermenting in the 58-62F range.

I've had other moderate (for me, that's 7-9% ABV) brews take 2-4 weeks before fermentation was actually complete. I've also had lower ABV/OG (in the 5.5-6.5 range) finish fermenting in under a week. Of course, I'm pitching starter slurry's, using nutrients, oxygenating with pure O2, etc...