acetaldehyde, The Root of Evil

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RICLARK

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I just kegged my wee heavy after it was in the secondary for three monthes. I noticed it has the dreadful sour appleish smell and taste. I sanatize very well and I feremented with Edinburgh at 62 degrees so thats within range. The only think I can trace back is I used 1.5# Light Brown Sugar. If it is the BS that is causing the acetaldehyde Can I lager it out?
 
My bet is lacto not acetaldehyde. Three months should have been plenty enough conditioning to lose any acetaldehyde if it was there. It is a good amount of time, however, for the sourness of lactobacillus to take hold and develop.
 
I wouldn't give up on it just yet... I'd move it to a fermenter, add a crushed Campden tablet per gallon, let it sit 24 hours, and then add a gallon starter of fresh wort at high krausen. The yeast in the fresh wort should clean up the undesired stuff and the Campden will kill any lactobacillus. If after that it's still off, you could add some Brett which will almost certainly clean it up though it'll take a year to do so. :eek:
 
Is it possible there is a bacteria in there? I made BM's cream of three crops. 10 gallons in one conical. Split into two cornies. One was fine, the other slowly developed this green apple action and as it warmed would go away slightly. I am still scratching my head on this one, but have chalked it up to bacteria infection. The reason for this is the second corny of APA was put into this same keg and low and behold..............green apple exstravaganza! This is a keg I have used numerous times and I figure my sanitation is always good too.
 
Im just don't understand how I could of got bacteria in there because I sanatize everything with star san. I go nuts sanitizing everything.
 
Do you grind your grains in the same area that you brew? If so, I would like to know because there have been many posts on here about possible lacto infections lately and I have read that this may be the cause. I have been guilty of grinding in the same place, but haven't had an infection yet (cross fingers). I'm just too lazy to haul all my equipment to another part of the house.
 
Do you grind your grains in the same area that you brew? If so, I would like to know because there have been many posts on here about possible lacto infections lately and I have read that this may be the cause. I have been guilty of grinding in the same place, but haven't had an infection yet (cross fingers). I'm just too lazy to haul all my equipment to another part of the house.

My Lhbs grinds my grain for me, and this is the first "infection" I have ever had.
 
It could also be ethyl hexanoate, which is the "apple ester".

How well oxygenated was your wort? What was your pitching rate?

How long was it in the primary? To short a primary can be a problem with acetaldehyde.

Here's a good pdf article on Acetaldehyde: http://beerdiva.com/pdf/Acetaldehyde.pdf

I pitched a 1500 ML Starter of Edinburgh at 65 degrees Fermented 14 days at 60-62 degrees. I dumped the wort from the kettle straight into bucket So I think I got sufficient oxygen.
 
I pitched a 1500 ML Starter of Edinburgh at 65 degrees Fermented 14 days at 60-62 degrees. I dumped the wort from the kettle straight into bucket So I think I got sufficient oxygen.

The dumping method provides less O2 than you think, but if that seems to work for your other brews...

Was this from a slurry? Was it liquid yeast? Could be a mistreated (shipping etc) pack of yeast. Either that or your imagining it all. I hear the latest Bud adds contain anti-Homebrewing programing in the sound track.
 
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