Caught a high primary temp and lowered it, am I ok?

rodwha · Feb 25, 2014

I don't have the means to do lagers, and so I've not really looked into them.

For some of my light ales I have placed them in the fridge long term, which sort of lagers them. These were a sort of hybrid beer.

Some kits come with or have the option of choosing the yeast. I know MoreBeer's kits allow you to choose your own. But they also give you 4 oz of corn sugar in every kit without explaining that you'll need to check and see how much is actually needed. I get the ease of prepackaged amounts, but many new people don't know it needs to be measured by style, and so can create a highly carbonated beer.

Head space is the problem with long term. If you could infuse it with carbon dioxide it would fix that I believe. Not recommended from what I can tell, but one could add a small bit of sugar to create a small fermentation to create a new layer of CO2. Best to just do it right though. It could be the difference between a good beer and a great beer.

RJam204 · Mar 13, 2014

checked in on my beer today, planning to bottle tomorrow. And there is something growing on top of it that wasnt there last week... Can anyone identify the infection and let me know if I should even bother bottling. It doesnt smell rotten or sour, more like apple juice with a little beer. I pulled a sample and tasted it...it tastes like sweet, apple'y beer.

Should I even bother bottling now? After the high primary temp, and now this infection. I have heard people say never throw it away because you never know...but I am sure there are situations where a dump is warranted haha.

(Edit: And no, those are not bubbles. I have stared at them for long enough to know and when I took the sample they stayed in tact on the side of the wine thief)

Thanks

rodwha · Mar 13, 2014

Bottle it! You can always dump it later if it's not good.

MindenMan · Mar 13, 2014

Get out your siphon, avoid the top, and avoid the bottom dregs too. There are many who have racked their beer out of a funky looking carboy, and had good beer anyway. I would use a calculator to determine how much priming sugar you should use for the style you are brewing. For my Browns, Porters, and Stouts, I use 0.70 oz priming sugar per gallon, and for my ESB's, Ambers, and the like I use 0.85 oz per gallon. I like the lighter ales to have a bit more carbonation to create a better mouth feel. You wouldn't think a half ounce of sugar plus or minus in 5 gallons would affect the carbonation, but it will, and it does. I have had a batch go funky on me, when I let the temperatures cycle too high between fermentation and bottling. The yeast wasn't growing at that point, and an infection started due to no competition.
I start all my fermentations at the bottom range of the yeast I use, I only use ESB 1968, and ferment for two or so weeks at 64* F, and let the temperature gradually rise to 70* F over the next couple of weeks. I don't let the temperature get any higher than 70* F before bottling anymore. Depending on my schedule, sometimes my beers will primary over six weeks. I have a Brown Porter I brewed on 1/10/2014, and today is it's 14th day in the bottle. This beer tasted AMAZING going into the bottling bucket, so I just can't wait to crack one open. The carbonation may still be a little light as of today. We cracked one open tonight, just to see what we had. The carbonation was a little light, and the malt hadn't come to the front yet, but the Samuel Smith's Taddy Porter we opened afterwards let me know a couple more months and mine will taste very close to it. That was the plan, actually...

RJam204 · Mar 15, 2014

well...I bottled her tonight. I ended up leaving a good few inches of beer in the carboy because once i saw the little baddies from the top start to get sucked into the wand I stopped.

It didnt smell or taste any different. It was still sweet, but definitely had a beer flavor to it.

Well it is bottled and stored away, I will make sure to check back in a month to report how it turned out.

I am going to the LHBS tomorrow afternoon to grab my next kit. I am gonna do a modified HomeBrew Pilsner. Using a Wyeast pilsner urquel and slightly less water. It will be my first lager so I am excited for that.

RJam204 · Apr 15, 2014

Well it has been a few weeks. I have opened and tried a few along the way and have not even gotten past a couple tastes each. At first it was horrid. Taste, smell, everything about it was just baaaaad.

The second one was better...but still bad. Carbonated perfectly. Great mouth feel. It was clear as glass before I chilled it then it got cloudy after it was cold.

The last one I tried was this weekend and it was better... I could taste what it should have tasted like. It still got cloudy when chilled though for whatever reason.

They all have a distinct buttery taste. Like a buttery after taste. Not so much a buttery feel, but like there was melted butter in the last sip. Any idea what that could be or if that is a normal problem? I cant think of a better way to describe it...maybe butterscotchy but without the scotchiness? which i guess is just buttery hahahah.