Added Extract to Hot Priming Solution. Serious mistake?

[pentachris]

I bottled a witbier (basic traditional ingredients with the exception of US-05 yeast) this past Saturday. I added 2 oz of blackberry extract, trying for something along the lines of Sam Adams Blackberry Witbier. I added it to the priming solution, figuring I'd just add it all together. As soon as I did that, I wondered if I'd made a mistake - the solution was still quite hot. I'm guessing 180+. But, I pressed on. When I took a sample right before I filled my first bottle, it had a strong fusel/medicinal flavor. At that point, it was too late.

Anybody got an ideas as to what's in store for me with this batch?

 

[cheezydemon3]

Well....the problem is that you won't know what the problem was.

Medicinal can mean sanitizer left in the fermenter. Hot extract was probably not harmed, but who is to say? More than a few variables here.

 

[pentachris]

No, I'm pretty sure it's from the extract getting broken down by the high temperature...

Okay! I'll admit it! I noticed the smell right after I added the extract to the hot solution, and I was too lazy to redo that process. I really didn't think it would be quite as bad as it was once I got it into the beer. I'm hoping someone will say that it's normal, you always get that flavor at first from extracts (this is my first time using one), and that it mellows during bottle conditioning. Maybe?

 

[cheezydemon3]

Hope so.

 

[Getzinator]

Would you be able to clarify what type of extract you're talking about?
Any normal extract that you brew with is fine to boil, and many kits suggest you do.

 

[dcp27]

No, I'm pretty sure it's from the extract getting broken down by the high temperature...

im fairly sure extract is just macerated/dried fruit, water, alcohol, and glycol. the alcohol would evaporate, but the rest should be unchanged. some extracts are kinda medicinal tasting

 

[iambeer]

In baked goods extracts work but no one makes tea with extract.

 

[pentachris]

Thanks for the responses so far. This is the stuff. I smelled it from the bottle, and it didn't have this smell. Whatever the aroma is, I've smelled it before, and I wish I could adequately describe it. I just found the flavor wheel on the Internet to try to help me out, and maybe "solvent-like" is more accurate than medicinal.

It really seems to me like some compound(s) broke down with the heat into something undesirable. But, what I'm hearing so far is encouraging. Maybe in 3 weeks or so, this will all mellow out.

By the way...

Is upper 70s to warm to carb beer? How much in the way of off-flavors are likely to be introduced during the carbing phase? We don't mind warm weather, so we don't keep the air blowing in our house. I've got a fermentation chamber, but not a "bottling chamber."

 

[Revvy]

You have noob nerves. Relax. You're doing the typical new brewer hypochondria, jumping at ghosts.

You beer is green....it doesn't matter that you "heated the extract" it didn't "break down or de-nature" in the heat. People cook with extracts all the time, some recipes call for THAT VERY TYPE OF FLAVORING EXTRACT in the boil....so if that's the case why would it be a problem because it touched your hot priming sugar?

As to the bottling temperature, we want above 70 for three weeks at least.

Just walk ways and leave everything alone. Your beer is NOT as week as you think it is.

 

[Revvy]

 

[cheezydemon3]

.

 

[Revvy]

Posting images aren't working.

 

[cheezydemon3]

 

[pentachris]

Okay, I'll chill out. For now. Until the next batch...

It actually tasted pretty decent before I added the extract, so I'm sure it will be decent in a few weeks. (By the way, the other batch I bottled that day is going to taste great in a few weeks. )

That's kind of what I thought on bottling temp (*at least* 70F), but I wasn't sure.

I'll try to remember to update here in a few weeks when it's aged a bit.

 

[pentachris]

Update: 16 days after bottling, I put a bottle in the fridge and opened it 48 hours later. No off flavors. It's over-carbonated, the blackberry flavoring tastes like it came from a bottle, and it needs a little more body. But those are all ingredient problems, not technique problems. It's still very drinkable. Cheers!