Drinking a beer I bottled.. infected or not?

[Jako]

I bottled a English brown I made about 2 months ago. While checking my bottles I noticed this beer had a big a$$ floatie. I bottled 4 bottled for a brew off the first of September. I need 3 one was to test just in case. Well not even chilling the beer I decided to open it up and check for infection.

Smells different... I thought it was a California common I made and mixed it up(I dry hopped with northern brewer) . Smells extremely clean,Carmel, sweet and a nice fruity kick to round it off. It's not flat and carb seems decent. body is thin with no head and very clear.

Did this beer just need time to become it's own or did I manage to pick up some interesting bug that didn't ruin the beer yet?

The true question should I toss this beer into a different category. It taste like a California common with a heavy carmal flavor and this bitterness as you would find in a common. The more I drink it the more I like it.

https://brewgr.com/recipe/68623/english-brown-british-brown-ale-recipe?public=true

 

[RPh_Guy]

Do you have a photo of the anomaly?
Is it in all the bottles?

I'm pretty sure there's no microbe that would make an English brown ale taste like a Cali common.
Generally you want to choose the category based on the beer's taste. Those styles taste completely different to me...

 

[chumpsteak]

When you say it has a caramel flavor that you don't expect, especially at room temp, I think of diacetyl. No idea on the floaty except that you may have picked up some pedio or wild yeast and that's just a mini pellicle. Pedio would also explain the diacetyl if the fresh beer didn't have any.

 

[Jako]

Do you have a photo of the anomaly?
Is it in all the bottles?

I'm pretty sure there's no microbe that would make an English brown ale taste like a Cali common.
Generally you want to choose the category based on the beer's taste. Those styles taste completely different to me...

Yeah exactly. I dont think all the bottles are bad just the one. No picture it was just reflecting or wouldn't focus. As soon as I moved the bottle it sank into the bottle it looked like a yeast raft. Min I could enter with two beers and open another to see if if the others are the same story.

 

[Jako]

When you say it has a caramel flavor that you don't expect, especially at room temp, I think of diacetyl. No idea on the floaty except that you may have picked up some pedio or wild yeast and that's just a mini pellicle. Pedio would also explain the diacetyl if the fresh beer didn't have any.

Didn't think of that. I will need to read up some more on pedio. I used imperial dry hop recently and maybe my cleaning process wasn't the best and some bugs from that blend got into the brown ale l.

 

[Cavpilot2000]

Oxidation? Did you say you left it to sit in a fermenter for 2 months before bottling?

Are they extract or all grain?
When I used to do extract brewing, I noticed that once the beers oxidized (usually about 6 months in the bottle, but could be faster if you left it in a fermenter for 2 months), they would taste remarkably similar, to a point where I couldn't reliably tell an IPA from a brown ale. It's just the nature of extract beer and oxidation.

If it's grain, you probably have an infection. Or severe oxidation.

 

[Jako]

Oxidation? Did you say you left it to sit in a fermenter for 2 months before bottling?

Are they extract or all grain?
When I used to do extract brewing, I noticed that once the beers oxidized (usually about 6 months in the bottle, but could be faster if you left it in a fermenter for 2 months), they would taste remarkably similar, to a point where I couldn't reliably tell an IPA from a brown ale. It's just the nature of extract beer and oxidation.

If it's grain, you probably have an infection. Or severe oxidation.

It was pressure transferred to a keg from the fermenter then bottled. I use a beer gun to bottle. It didn't taste stale. The thin body and head remind me of a infection I had over a year ago. But I was strictly bottling then.

 

[Jako]

I took a picture of It in the glass if you guys are interested cant see anything.

 

[RPh_Guy]

Pediococcus is a genus of lactic acid bacteria. You would notice sourness if you had a significant Pedio contamination.
Also, it would take several months to see any effect from Pedio with that much hops, even from a highly hop-tolerant strain.

 

[Jako]

https://photos.app.goo.gl/nLQWWxEPPRFNCZpGA

 

[Jako]

Pediococcus is a genus of lactic acid bacteria. You would notice sourness if you had a significant Pedio contamination.
Also, it would take several months to see any effect from Pedio with that much hops, even from a highly hop-tolerant strain.

It did have a sour twang but It hasn't been that long so maybe its just doing its thing. I will test another bottle tonight and see if its infected. If it is I am going to enter as a sour haha.

 

[Jako]

That bottle was a fluke beer taste amazing! Going to trash every old bottle soon. I spent the last 24 hours thinking I suck at brewing and my sanitation process is junk..... i thin the other bottle had pedio or some wild yeast that wasn't so bad I liked it a lot for a sour beer.