First batch - Weeks 3-4 in primary goes from awesome to bad

[VampireSix]

This is my first batch, an English IPA kit from a LHBS. I did a lot of research here before brewing and decided to go with a four week primary, no secondary.

I waited three weeks before opening up the fermentation bucket to take a sample for a gravity reading. It hit the target FG reading (1.016, IIRC), and I tasted the sample, which was fantastic. It did have a very alcoholic smell to it, which my first thought was similar to a strong red wine. I decided to let it sit for another week to see if it would clear out.

A week later, the gravity reading had dropped to 1.015, and the sample was almost undrinkable. I don't yet have the experience for quickly identifying off-flavors, but it was... cidery/vinegary... just harsh. None of the flavor of a week ago was present. Two days later, I bottled, with a gravity reading that may have dropped another half-point... but I may have been trying to find that drop. The sample still tasted bad.

If I'm just diagnosing 'green beer', let me know and I'll wait my three weeks post-bottling at 70 degrees F before posting about this again. I'm just wanting to know if my observations are normal, or if I should look at adjusting my process. The change between week three and four just seemed very dramatic.

 

[dickproenneke]

I can't offer any diagnosis, but the mention of cloudy beer at 4 weeks and a "vinegar" taste makes me think that you ought to keep those bottles boxed up and bagged just in case your beers picked up any wild bacteria.

 

[VampireSix]

Thanks for the reply.

It wasn't cloudy at the three or four week mark.

Your advice to put the bottles in a container is probably a very good one.

 

[dickproenneke]

Thanks for the reply.

It wasn't cloudy at the three or four week mark.

Sorry I missed that... Your first post mentioned something about "clearing out" but on second read you were obviously referring to the hot alcohol taste.

 

[unionrdr]

It could be green hop bitterness you're confusing with acetobacter.

 

[dannylerch]

Let the bottles condition for a few weeks. 3 to 4 weeks ought to do it. Taste should mellow beer just needs time.

 

[homebrewdad]

This is why I'm a huge advocate for newbies to not do much sampling of fermenting beer, and to definitely not try to diagnose it.

My money is on flat green beer, which carbonation and a little age will transform into magic.

 

[VampireSix]

Sorry I missed that... Your first post mentioned something about "clearing out" but on second read you were obviously referring to the hot alcohol taste.

Opps, sorry, bad word choice on my part. Yes, I meant let the flavor clear out.

It could be green hop bitterness you're confusing with acetobacter.

Interesting, this isn't something I've read about on here before. Would you mind explaining a bit more please, Unionrdr?

This is why I'm a huge advocate for newbies to not do much sampling of fermenting beer, and to definitely not try to diagnose it.

My money is on flat green beer, which carbonation and a little age will transform into magic.

So, you are saying it is normal for the flavor to change drastically like that between 3 and 4 weeks? And it was only sampled during the recommended three different gravity readings.

The main reason for the original question is not really to diagnose this batch, but rather, if something is wrong, not to mess up the other three batches I'll have made by the time this one is finished carbing up.

 

[unionrdr]

Acetobacter makes vinegar,long story short. "Green hop bitterness" is simply imature flavors of the malt profile mixing too evenly with the hop flavors in a young beer. The result is you don't get a good tast of the malt or hops. but rather this tart,sharp non-descript flavored muddling of both. As if neither one had an absolute identity of there own.