Blundered big on bottling -- any ways to redeem it?

[ophillium]

I brewed a batch of BierMuncher's Black Pearl Porter on March 13th.

I went according to recipe on everything except that I used 1/2 the prescribed lactose & maltodextrine to compare against my first batch of the same recipe which used the full prescribed amounts.

The OG was 1.045 but with a ton of gunk in with the hydrometer. Comments in the recipe thread show off-readings are the norm with this one. Taste test was good -- nothing unexpected.

Fermentation with WY1084 Irish Ale Yeast lasted 3.5 weeks and then I bottled it with 1 tbps of maltodextrine. That is wayyy to much of an already unfermentable sugar - two f*** ups in one shot.

Fast forward to this week, which is 2.5 - 3 weeks after bottling, and the bottles are not only flat but carry a strong sent vaguely resembling feces.

My partner and I have wondered if the odour could be a brett infection, because our last batch was a saison with bugs. Since our epiphany that we had used maltodextrine instead of dextrose, it has been hard to believe other than that this was the cause.

Still, the question remains: is there anything we can do to rescue the batch? Right now we have two options on the table that we can think of:
1) let it sit for a month or so, then revisit
2) dump it

If you have option 3,4,5, n... in mind please share the wealth.

 

[hercher]

Go with option 1. In the meantime, if your last batch was a saison with bugs, and you suspect a possible infection in this batch, sanitize the crap out of all your equipment. I'd suggest bleach bombing your fermenting vessel. Use about a cup of bleach, then rinse really really well. Then rinse it some more. Then be sure to let it completely air dry before using again.

 

[ChelisHubby]

You don't lose anything by letting it sit. Revisit it in june then consider options!

 

[bolus14]

Agree with both posts. You dump it now you lose 5 gal of beer, you wait it might be really good. Taste them in a month if it hasn't changed dump it or throw them in a closet, dark room, basement, etc for 6 months and then revisit. Might end up being a really good dark Saison, sour, who know, if it's not drinkable at 6 months I would dump it, bit some would tell you to let it sit longer

 

[pdxal]

I brewed a batch of BierMuncher's Black Pearl Porter on March 13th.

I went according to recipe on everything except that I used 1/2 the prescribed lactose & maltodextrine to compare against my first batch of the same recipe which used the full prescribed amounts.

The OG was 1.045 but with a ton of gunk in with the hydrometer. Comments in the recipe thread show off-readings are the norm with this one. Taste test was good -- nothing unexpected.

Fermentation with WY1084 Irish Ale Yeast lasted 3.5 weeks and then I bottled it with 1 tbps of maltodextrine. That is wayyy to much of an already unfermentable sugar - two f*** ups in one shot.

Fast forward to this week, which is 2.5 - 3 weeks after bottling, and the bottles are not only flat but carry a strong sent vaguely resembling feces.

My partner and I have wondered if the odour could be a brett infection, because our last batch was a saison with bugs. Since our epiphany that we had used maltodextrine instead of dextrose, it has been hard to believe other than that this was the cause.

Still, the question remains: is there anything we can do to rescue the batch? Right now we have two options on the table that we can think of:
1) let it sit for a month or so, then revisit
2) dump it

If you have option 3,4,5, n... in mind please share the wealth.

Did you try to use maltodextrine as priming sugar? Not sure what you mean by the bold sentence, makes it sound like that is what you used for priming. If so, the beer won't carbonate, you need to use a fermentable/sugar to carbonate.
Uncarbonated beer can have a funky smell and taste/mouthfeel.
You can uncap and add sugar to each bottle (carbonation tablets are the easiest for this, rather than spoonfulls of sugar) to get carbonation.
Smell of feces is no Bueno, not likely to be Brett, though. More likely enteric bacteria.
Makes more sense to wait and see if it comes around, once you fix the carbonation. You can always dump later. I'd taste at 1 month and 3 months to see.

 

[ophillium]

Thanks to all the responses -- I carbonated two bottles and let them sit for several weeks. As far as I can tell they're good to go. I'm going to buy carbonate tablets as pdxal suggests and do the whole batch. Will report back for posterity

 

[ophillium]

You don't lose anything by letting it sit. Revisit it in june then consider options!

This is now my mantra. That was the first time I've considered dumping a batch, and yours was the voice of reason. Much appreciated.