beersydoesit
Well-Known Member
I brewed a "Holiday Cheer" ale from the LHBS. I brewed a batch of this last fall and it was so good.
Everything went fine on brew day. Except when I was transferring to the fermenter, I found a willow leaf. I thought, "It's probably okay."
Also a lot of fruit flies... still, last year I actually had a fruit fly in the stainer just before transfer, "so it's probably okay."
I had a good fermentation and after about 10 days I racked it to secondary, to dry hop it.
Of course I tasted it... It seemed sour. Yikes!
Smelled the trub and yes that smelled a little sour too.
So I started thinking. "It has bitter orange in it... but bitter isn't sour. Right?"
I checked my notes from last brew... no mention of sourness. No mention of much at all. I was even noobier then.
So I go ahead and obsess while it is dry hopping. "It was the fruit flies, it is acetobacter for sure".... "The flapping willow leaf got me".... "I knew I shouldn't have tried for one more batch from that hose".
On bottling day it tasted pretty good! But was there still a hint of sourness at the end? Hmmmm.
Yooper says if it is a little sour, drink it fast before it gets nasty but this beer really benefits from time in the bottle. (No irony, It still hadn't sunken in that this was just green beer.)
My daughter told me "it's fine, chill out". We compromise and agree that I will try just a few to see if it is getting sour. If it is, I'll release the batch for drinking before it gets nasty.
Two weeks in the bottle, I can't take it. And if it gets worse with age, how fast?
I try it.... Wow! That is good beer!
My first real failure of RDWHAHB.
Worry wasted. As it always is.
Everything went fine on brew day. Except when I was transferring to the fermenter, I found a willow leaf. I thought, "It's probably okay."
Also a lot of fruit flies... still, last year I actually had a fruit fly in the stainer just before transfer, "so it's probably okay."
I had a good fermentation and after about 10 days I racked it to secondary, to dry hop it.
Of course I tasted it... It seemed sour. Yikes!
Smelled the trub and yes that smelled a little sour too.
So I started thinking. "It has bitter orange in it... but bitter isn't sour. Right?"
I checked my notes from last brew... no mention of sourness. No mention of much at all. I was even noobier then.
So I go ahead and obsess while it is dry hopping. "It was the fruit flies, it is acetobacter for sure".... "The flapping willow leaf got me".... "I knew I shouldn't have tried for one more batch from that hose".
On bottling day it tasted pretty good! But was there still a hint of sourness at the end? Hmmmm.
Yooper says if it is a little sour, drink it fast before it gets nasty but this beer really benefits from time in the bottle. (No irony, It still hadn't sunken in that this was just green beer.)
My daughter told me "it's fine, chill out". We compromise and agree that I will try just a few to see if it is getting sour. If it is, I'll release the batch for drinking before it gets nasty.
Two weeks in the bottle, I can't take it. And if it gets worse with age, how fast?
I try it.... Wow! That is good beer!
My first real failure of RDWHAHB.
Worry wasted. As it always is.
