Beer smells

[alexg]

What will contaminated beer smell like because I fear mine has become infected? Thanks

 

[Yooper]

Contaminated beer may smell and taste sour or really rotten.

 

[JetSmooth]

What does your beer smell like?

 

[alexg]

It's very overpowering. Very alcoholic and slightly sour an pungent. You don't want to smell it for long.

 

[Ooompa Loompa]

How long has it been fermenting? What yeast did you use? What temperature are you fermenting at?

 

[cvstrat]

How long did you condition it? If it's young it might smell funny until it mellows out. Sour doesn't sound good though. The alcohol thing can subside over time. What type of beer is it?

 

[stedtale]

I always use this as my test of "is it infected":

... would smell like 800 pound gorilla poop from an ape whose diet consists rotting/fermenting dirty baby diapers, on a hot summer day....

Just walk away from the bottles for a few weeks, and come back and re-evaluate them...

 

[alexg]

It's an ipa lager, has been fermenting for 2 and a bit weeks. Has been at 20 degrees and I used the yeast that came with the box.

 

[Ooompa Loompa]

Do you know the exact kind of yeast? If it's a lager and they included lager yeast you would want to ferment much cooler then 20. But i suspect it's actually an ale yeast, in which case 20 is perfect. 2 weeks is still pretty young though, so it may very well clean up with time. What were your sanitation methods?

 

[alexg]

I'm sorry I don't know. I sterilise everything in warm water with young steriliser for 10mins everytime I use something