Beer has strange foam after dry hopping and tastes terrible

[Brewshna]

Hi all, I brewed this beer 12 days ago and it looks strange and tastes even stranger. The recipe is attached. It's still in the fermenter waiting to be bottled.
It tastes really bitter, unpleasant and muddy and I've never had foam like this after fermentation and dry hopping. The only thing that whent wrong is that it got about 4C too hot during fermentation and blew the airlock right off (sat without for a few hours).
Is it infected or damaged any other way?
Thanks
Matt

 

[MaxStout]

Might be polyphenols from the hops. That can give an unpleasant, astringent taste. The higher ferm temp may have added some fusel alcohols, but those tend to give it a hot, solventy flavor.

What variety of hops did you use and how long did you have them in for dry hopping?

 

[Brewshna]

Barbe Rouge 100g and for 4 days.

 

[hotbeer]

Fermentation changes a lot taste-wise during it's entire cycle. Or so I've read. I don't taste my beer during fermentation so I really don't know. But seems you might just need to wait till bottling or kegging time to make a judgement.

 

[Brewshna]

Bottling was supposed to be this weekend. I'm worried the beer is broken. I've never had a beer taste this bad before bottling.

 

[RM-MN]

It looks like you might have had a stalled fermentation that restarted when you added the dry hops. If so, wait another week to bottle. You could take a hydrometer sample now and then at the end of next week to see if it was a stalled fermentation.

 

[MaxStout]

Don't give up on the beer. Oftentimes, newly-fermented beer will taste a little rough. After you've determined that fermentation is complete, package it and give it a little time. If you bottle, 2 - 3 weeks is needed to condition.

 

[Brewshna]

The beer had reached my planned FG. Its weird, i guess ill transfer to secondary, wait a while longer and then bottle and pray. Does the pic look like anything anyone knows?

 

[hotbeer]

Unless your beer style requires a secondary, I wouldn't recommend it. You will only enhance your chances of all things bad happening. And then you might wrongly attribute something that infected it or oxidized it during the transfer to your dry-hopping instead of the actual cause.

 

[Brewshna]

I just dont want to leave it on the primary yeast longer than 2 weeks ±some days. Should i bottle on the weekend then?

 

[Dr_Jeff]

The beer had reached my planned FG. Its weird, i guess ill transfer to secondary, wait a while longer and then bottle and pray. Does the pic look like anything anyone knows?

It really looks normal seeing that it has been dry hopped.

 

[hotbeer]

I just dont want to leave it on the primary yeast longer than 2 weeks ±some days. Should i bottle on the weekend then?

I've left beer on very thick trub and yeast for over six weeks. Those were always some of the best tasting and cleanest beers I've bottled. Never did any have the remotest bad taste or aroma to them.

Your beer doesn't look abnormal from the picture. I too think maybe the fermentation wasn't quite complete and it took off again when you added the hops. I'd wait until all signs of activity cease and it looks very dead and clean. Then check your FG and bottle or keg.

It is possible you infected it, but if that's the case then moving it anywhere will do nothing to help it. And if it is infection, then you probably should see the SG going well below what your FG should have been.

My infected beers that I thought to check went from 1.010 to 1.001.

 

[Brewshna]

Ok, thanks a lot for the help. I'll leave it for a while longer and measure gravity. Maybe my recipe is just ****

 

[RM-MN]

The beer had reached my planned FG. Its weird, i guess ill transfer to secondary, wait a while longer and then bottle and pray. Does the pic look like anything anyone knows?

You can plan a FG but the yeast get to decide. I just checked a batch expecting to have a FG of 1.012 to 1.015. The yeast decided this beer should finish at 1.006.

 

[Brewshna]

I need my yeast to have some power left when bottling, as I bottle condition. I've had beers stay flat and that spoils a good ipa

 

[hotbeer]

I need my yeast to have some power left when bottling, as I bottle condition. I've had beers stay flat and that spoils a good ipa

Your yeast should have plenty of power to carbonate your bottles no matter how long you leave it in the FV, primary or secondary. And no matter how clear and clean the beer is you bottle.

If you've been having low carbonation issues when naturally carbonating, then those are probably not anything to do with what goes on in your FV.

Likely more how you go about the process of priming and bottling and figuring your priming sugar amounts.

 

[Brewshna]

We had a imp stout that was in a glass carboy for 3 months, that has hardly any CO2 (understandably) but we had a IPA we cold crashed and used gelatine, that had 0 carbonation. Next imperial stout, sat in my cellar aging, will be buffed with cbc yeast before bottling.

We make a simple sirup, add it to a second fermenter, rack across and then bottle. Flush the tubes and fermenter with CO2 before we transfer.

Mysteries remain.....

 

[Brewshna]

I checked the beer today and the gravity hasn't changed at all. The taste is disgusting and the foam on the top is slimy and creamy. So I can throw this batch into the toilet.

Can anyone try and guess what the problem is and how it could have happened? I'd at least like to learn something from it.

So sad

 

[Stormcrow]

I checked the beer today and the gravity hasn't changed at all. The taste is disgusting and the foam on the top is slimy and creamy. So I can throw this batch into the toilet.

Can anyone try and guess what the problem is and how it could have happened? I'd at least like to learn something from it.

So sad

Weird. The picture looks like it is just krausen and fermentation is happening, but I did read where you said the sg wasn't dropping anymore. I still think it's worth bottling and waiting. All my dry hop beers taste way different on bottling day than they do after some time in the bottle. I get a lot of imbalance and hop burn when I sample on bottling day.

I know you said it tastes terrible, but is there anymore description you could give? Sorry if I just missed it.

 

[wepeeler]

Weird. The picture looks like it is just krausen and fermentation is happening, but I did read where you said the sg wasn't dropping anymore. I still think it's worth bottling and waiting. All my dry hop beers taste way different on bottling day than they do after some time in the bottle. I get a lot of imbalance and hop burn when I sample on bottling day.

I know you said it tastes terrible, but is there anymore description you could give? Sorry if I just missed it.

Looks like a kettle about to boil!

Put the top back on, and let it sit. It might get better, it might not, but let it ride. I never try my beer during active primary fermentation, so not sure if it tastes nasty then. A month for primary is short for some brewers. I'm routinely 3 weeks plus. Fingers crossed for you.

 

[Brewshna]

It's been in a the fermenter for 3 weeks now. I've tried nearly every beer when I take a gravity reading and this one taste wrong, spoilt and broken. The krausen and foam on the sample normally isn't so slimey and gooey. There's definitely something wrong.

The flavour, the bitterness isn't tipical hops bitternes, and there's this horrible earthy taste I've never encountered before.

I did blow CO2 up through the outlet valve to purge while dropping my dry hop bag in. Also during whirlpool I tried a chromed paint mixer (new, cleaned and sanitized) to try it as an whirlpool arm on my power tool. That had some chipped off bits. (sent it back) don't think that should cause anything.

Apart from that I don't have a clue what went wrong. Fermentation set off within 4 hours and went fast but too hot, my thermometer calibration was off by 3C.
I tried new hops, Topaz and Barbe Rouge (incredible dry hop smell) and lallemand Verdant yeast.

Well in 20 months it would be the first batch I threw out but still very sad.

 

[Miraculix]

It's been in a the fermenter for 3 weeks now. I've tried nearly every beer when I take a gravity reading and this one taste wrong, spoilt and broken. The krausen and foam on the sample normally isn't so slimey and gooey. There's definitely something wrong.

The flavour, the bitterness isn't tipical hops bitternes, and there's this horrible earthy taste I've never encountered before.

I did blow CO2 up through the outlet valve to purge while dropping my dry hop bag in. Also during whirlpool I tried a chromed paint mixer (new, cleaned and sanitized) to try it as an whirlpool arm on my power tool. That had some chipped off bits. (sent it back) don't think that should cause anything.

Apart from that I don't have a clue what went wrong. Fermentation set off within 4 hours and went fast but too hot, my thermometer calibration was off by 3C.
I tried new hops, Topaz and Barbe Rouge (incredible dry hop smell) and lallemand Verdant yeast.

Well in 20 months it would be the first batch I threw out but still very sad.

Verdant is different, it stays in top for ages, even if nothing is actively fermenting anymore. Your slimy stuff on top is most likely just yeast.

The taste could be hops in suspension, oxidation, or infection. Who knows.... I've had infections that resulted in weird and unpleasant bitterness, so that would be a possibility.

But the look of it seems normal to me. I would bottle it anyway and see what's happening.

 

[Brewshna]

I've used Verdant about 5 times, it does stay afloat long, but this is different and tastes great.
Thanks a lot everyone for helping, again I really appreciate it.

 

[tld6008]

Looks normal but every time you remove the top to check something you risk infection and or oxidation

 

[Brewshna]

But why is there flavour so awful? As I've said, I have tried most beers and this one tastes rank.

 

[TLaffey]

It's been in a the fermenter for 3 weeks now. I've tried nearly every beer when I take a gravity reading and this one taste wrong, spoilt and broken. The krausen and foam on the sample normally isn't so slimey and gooey. There's definitely something wrong.

The flavour, the bitterness isn't tipical hops bitternes, and there's this horrible earthy taste I've never encountered before.

I did blow CO2 up through the outlet valve to purge while dropping my dry hop bag in. Also during whirlpool I tried a chromed paint mixer (new, cleaned and sanitized) to try it as an whirlpool arm on my power tool. That had some chipped off bits. (sent it back) don't think that should cause anything.

Apart from that I don't have a clue what went wrong. Fermentation set off within 4 hours and went fast but too hot, my thermometer calibration was off by 3C.
I tried new hops, Topaz and Barbe Rouge (incredible dry hop smell) and lallemand Verdant yeast.

Well in 20 months it would be the first batch I threw out but still very sad.

Since you have experience tasting your beers at this point in the process, I‘d say if it tastes broken ,then it probably is. If it were my batch, I’d assume contamination, clean everything with PBW and starsan and then look for how to avoid the issue in the future.

So, the two other issues you mention: Aside from better control of ferment temp, I would definitely not use the paint mixer. Beer is acidic. There’s really no telling what the flavor effect could be from the mixer, but it’s not intended for food so I’d still recommend not doing that again.

 

[Brewshna]

Thanks for the answer. The mixer is already out. I think I'll fill a few bottles and dump the rest. No big hope they will be OK but I've come this far.

 

[Gilbert Spinning Horse]

Assuming it's infected: Do you have a pump in your set up? If you do then take it apart and check the inside. Taps/spigots are another hard to clean part that can harbor infections. Thirdly, I replace my pipes regularly.

 

[Brewshna]

Thanks. I'll check. Spigot on fermenter could be the culprit.