Any hope for a botched batch?

[stuknkrvl]

Hey all,

I'm fairly certain something has gone wrong, but I'm inexperienced and thought I'd seek a little advice. Apologies in advance for the long post...

Brewed a fifteen gallon batch of what I hoped would be an IPA (recipe to follow) back on June 6th. Used three Wyeast smack packs (no starter - lesson learned though, building a stir plate before brewing my next batch). Strong fermentation kicked off in about three days, temp held very nicely at 66 to 68 degrees (thermometer on the outside of my demijon, which I know is not entirely accurate, but temps were steady none the less). I haven't messed with it before now because my air lock was still bubbling fairly regularly, but I got impatient and pulled a sample today.

In a word - yikes. It had over attenuated (expected FG 1.015 - 1.018, gravity today 1.010) and it tasted like sour wet cardboard and cigarette tobacco. I've done a couple five gallon batches of this same recipe and they've all come out pretty tasty (which is why I got ballsy and scaled up to 15 gallons), so this sucks.

So... should I dump it or is there anything that can be done to salvage this beast?

Thanks!

Here's the recipe -

Target OG - 1.065
Actual OG - 1.063
Target IBU - 91

Maris otter (85%)
Crystal 10 (12%)
Flaked Barley (3%)

Northern Brewer (UK) - 3 oz
Cascade - 3 oz
Ahtanum - 3 oz
Citra - 3 oz
Amarillo - 2.5oz
(*Was planning to dry hop this with another three ounces of Willamette, but not gonna waste the hops at this point)

Wyeast 1272

 

[Calypso]

So, you've done this recipe before, so we can rule out bad recipe.

Wet cardboard immediately makes me think oxidation. Overattenuated and sour makes me think infection. Tobacco as an off flavor is a new one to me, though. I'm not sure what to make of that.

You'll probably want to give us a breakdown of your process.

 

[Calypso]

Also, as to your question... I suppose you could let it mature and see if it improves. But right now it sounds entirely undrinkable and destined for the drain.

 

[antony]

not that I'm sure, but I think the 3 days to fermentation starting might allow for something else to take hold. Especially if you're sold on a solid recipe. That sucks, I feel your pain...I still have 2 cases of a failed ipa from 2 years ago in bottles (the labels were sweet though).

 

[BigPerm]

That high of IBU makes it unlikely that any souring bacteria would take hold and be noticible at this point. I'm betting that most of what you're getting are green beer flavors. Give it a week or so and report back.

 

[Cyclman]

Plenty of healthy yeast, airlock bubbling for months, likely infection, likely it won't be worth saving.

 

[stuknkrvl]

I've been thinking about this and I just can't bring myself to toss it yet. Gonna give it a few more weeks in the demijon and taste it again. Hopefully it'll be better, but if it's still crap, then down the sink it goes.

Thanks all!

 

[Hello]

I would not say 1.010 is over attenuation. A sour can go pretty dry. However, my thought on this is since it may already be ruined, why not rack it off the yeast and then give it a couple of week? See what happens.
Tobacco can actually be a taste you're getting from a hop. Lemon Drop hops actually say that there is a tobacco flavor. No one I know picked it up, but I believe I did. Either way, it could be the hops that you're tasting. Sour and wet cardboard though, that's a problem.

 

[MadHomebrewer]

Yeah, 1.010 looks good to me for an IPA. I would bottle or keg and just let it sit a bit. Check it every week or so and see if it improves. I also found the below link very informative for building my IPA recipes.

http://www.bertusbrewery.com/2012/08/how-to-brew-better-ipas.html?m=1

 

[stuknkrvl]

I can't really rack it because it's a fifteen gallon batch and I don't have enough carboys to rack it all and still be able to brew (doing an RIS this Sunday).

The other thing I'm wondering about is whether or not I should dry hop it. I had always planned to, but I don't know if I should waste the hops if it's possibly a ruined batch.

The struggle is real...

 

[chickypad]

If you've got the patience and don't need the fermenter then I suppose you could try giving it more time (it's in one big demijon?). If there's a lot of headspace leaving it may just make it worse though. Honestly if it's undrinkable at 8 wks I'd be getting ready to dump - and an IPA to boot, mine are usually about gone by then. Sure beers can improve with age but it sounds pretty gross, and in my experience the truly awful don't get better with age. Not sure you're going to want to choke down 15 gals. I suppose you could always move 5 to an extra carboy and dump the rest. I wouldn't waste dry hops on it until I was sure I was going to drink it.

 

[stuknkrvl]

Tasted it again today and it had only gotten worse. Down the drain with this one. Somebody play Taps...