First brew failed?

[cdiede]

Hello!

Recently I have brewed my first beer (Pale Ale). Exactly I have filled the young beer in bottles yesterday to begin the second fermentation in the bottle with sugar. Before I filled the beer in bottles, I have tasted the young beer (room temperature, no CO2) and it tasted very bad. I cant describe the taste, but that was no beer. Is it normal?

Furthermore I have recognised pieces in the young beer that I also filled in bottles (see the photo). What is it?

I hope it isn't gone off.

In one week I want to cool down one bottle and taste it.

 

[dyqik]

That kind of thing floating on top is fairly typical (it's probably bits of yeast), so that in itself may not be the cause of bad tastes. There're plenty of invisible options though, and we'd need a recipe and procedure from you, plus a description of the taste to come up with some likely ones.

 

[Howhownow]

That looks like a very normal fermentation/finished beer. How long did it ferment before you bottled?
Beer can/does taste very different carbonated and chilled. Don't write it off until it has a chance to do its thing.
One week should be fine to give you an idea of the finished result, but really 2 weeks at room temp is what you need for beer to be 'finished'. Many I have made haven't hit their stride for an entire month in terms of flavor.

As long as you practiced good sanitation, you are very likely good to go!

 

[PADave]

I've had a beer taste awful at bottling time that I thought was going to be a dumper, and after two weeks in the bottle taste pretty good. Amazing what a little bottle time can do, give it a chance.

 

[cdiede]

The fermentation lasted 11 days. The first 1-3 days the fermentation bubbler was very active, then very inactive. The last 7 days it was bubbling only every 30-60 seconds until the day of filling. The last three days I have controlled the residual extract and it was constant at 2.5 °P. So i have filled the beer in bottles while it bubbling a little.

Maybe I have worked not clean enough.

This is the recipe: http://www.maischemalzundmehr.de/index.php?id=89&inhaltmitte=recipe&seite=$seite

 

[kev211]

I recently did a honey blonde ale, that at kegging tasted super bland with no honey flavor. Kegged it, carbed it, and when it was cold and ready it tasted so good! Dont write it off just yet. But the others are right, it may be of benefit to see your recipe, process, and flavors you can detect. I would recommend reading this page and seeing if any of the flavors of your beer match one given. One of the potential off flavors that my first guess would be is that it fermented too warm. Most beginners dont have a way of controlling ferm temps so it could have just fermented a little warm (thats how I ruined my first batch)

Like it was said, those pieces are yeast rafts, which are just floating bits of yeast. The ring of scuzz around the top is from the krausen which occurs during fermentation. All totally normal, which is good, cuz now you have beer :rockin:

 

[kev211]

The fermentation lasted 11 days. The first 1-3 days the fermentation bubbler was very active, then very inactive. The last 7 days it was bubbling only every 30-60 seconds until the day of filling. The last three days I have controlled the residual extract and it was constant at 2.5 °P. So i have filled the beer in bottles while it bubbling a little.

Maybe I have worked not clean enough.

This is the recipe: http://www.maischemalzundmehr.de/index.php?id=89&inhaltmitte=recipe&seite=$seite

I doubt its an infection. Nothing in or on that beer suggests an infection, so I doubt thats it. What do you mean when you said that you "controlled the residual extract"?

 

[nDub]

Did you control fermentation temperatures? If you're not in the ideal yeast temp zone you can get some funky tastes.

 

[Mainer]

The fermentation lasted 11 days. The first 1-3 days the fermentation bubbler was very active, then very inactive. The last 7 days it was bubbling only every 30-60 seconds until the day of filling. The last three days I have controlled the residual extract and it was constant at 2.5 °P. So i have filled the beer in bottles while it bubbling a little.

Maybe I have worked not clean enough.

This is the recipe: http://www.maischemalzundmehr.de/index.php?id=89&inhaltmitte=recipe&seite=$seite

It's probably just young. The weird off-tastes will probably mellow over time. The sediment will also fall to the bottom over time. With future batches, I'd consider giving your beer more time to ferment. If the airlock was still bubbling, even slowly, there's a good chance it wasn't completely finished fermenting yet. 11 days is a fairly short primary fermentation, especially if you're bottling right away instead of moving it to another carboy for secondary fermentation.

 

[brandonnys]

I think that a lot of pales taste gross when they're young, but they tend to taste much better after priming and conditioning.

Your recipe looks fairly straightforward. Not sure I would have used WLP039 for a pale, but I typically brew American styles, and looking at the yeast strain, it looks to be very in line with the style.

Have you tasted a young pale ale before, or is this your first time? Have you tasted another batch of THIS recipe before? It may just be that you're not used to the flavor of young beer.

To prime, are you using cane sugar or corn sugar? Just curious on that one.

 

[brandonnys]

11 days is a fairly short primary fermentation, especially if you're bottling right away instead of moving it to another carboy for secondary fermentation.

I would agree. I think if I were fermenting in a single stage, I'd let it go 14 days.

BUT, my process is to ferment in primary for 4 days, and then move it to secondary for another 10 days. That's just my process. You can do it however you want.

 

[cdiede]

I would recommend reading this page and seeing if any of the flavors of your beer match one given.

Unfortunately all beer is bottled and I cant remember the taste

What do you mean when you said that you "controlled the residual extract"?

I measured the beer with the beer spindle to ensure that the main fermentation is complete.

Did you control fermentation temperatures? If you're not in the ideal yeast temp zone you can get some funky tastes.

The temperature was around 22 °C the whole time except the last three days at 20 °C.

 

[cdiede]

Have you tasted a young pale ale before, or is this your first time? Have you tasted another batch of THIS recipe before? It may just be that you're not used to the flavor of young beer.

To prime, are you using cane sugar or corn sugar? Just curious on that one.

I have tasted two kinds of commercial Pale Ales before. That is not so much, I know. Maybe it should taste like it tastes

I used sucrose sugar.

 

[kev211]

Unfortunately all beer is bottled and I cant remember the taste


I measured the beer with the beer spindle to ensure that the main fermentation is complete.

The temperature was around 22 °C the whole time except the last three days at 20 °C.

1. Well read it anyways, cuz its a good read
2. A beer spindle? Like a hydrometer? (Im gonna assume theres a slight language barrier, seeing your website ended in .de and you use Celsius haha )
3. Dont know what yeast you used, but 22 deg C is a little warm for most yeasts. And, your temp process was backwards. When yeast ferment, they produce Diacetyl. So what is typically done in fermentation is, the temps are kept in the optimal range for that yeast during the first few days so the yeast stay happy and healthy. Then towards the end of fermentation, the temp is raised to allow yeast to go back and clean up the diacetyl. So, you should go from 20 to 22 deg C, not the other way. But lesson learned for next time!

I still think though, that your beer will turn out just fine.

 

[brandonnys]

I have tasted two kinds of commercial Pale Ales before.

Did you taste these commercial beers right out of primary, or just from the store out of the bottle?

It sounds like you just might not be used to the flavor of young beer. Give it time to condition, throw it in the fridge until it's cold, and they try it out and let us know how it tastes then.

 

[Anyhowe]

This will be interesting to follow. +1 on the high temps being an issue.

In my experience the beer never tastes bad at any stage from wort to finished product unless something went wrong. It may not taste like beer early on but it never tastes bad.

 

[Mainer]

I would agree. I think if I were fermenting in a single stage, I'd let it go 14 days.

BUT, my process is to ferment in primary for 4 days, and then move it to secondary for another 10 days. That's just my process. You can do it however you want.

Whatever works works.
My process varies from yeast to yeast and beer to beer, but in general I end up in primary for anywhere from 10 days to 3 weeks, and secondary anywhere from 2 to 6 weeks.
Nothing wrong with short fermentation periods, as long as you're sure fermentation is done. The short fermentation combined with airlock activity and suspended sediment just make me suspicious in this case that the beer might not have been finished.

 

[cdiede]

Thanks for the great discussion!

Yesterday I was at a beer festival and I have tasted some Pale Ales. I was wondered about the different and (for me) unknown tastes. Maybe my beer is actually fine

Now my bottled beer is in my bathroom with a temperature of 22 °C (71,6 °F ). When the bottles explodes due to the early filling, the beer makes not a lot of mess

1. Well read it anyways, cuz its a good read
2. A beer spindle? Like a hydrometer? (Im gonna assume theres a slight language barrier, seeing your website ended in .de and you use Celsius haha )
3. Dont know what yeast you used, but 22 deg C is a little warm for most yeasts. And, your temp process was backwards. When yeast ferment, they produce Diacetyl. So what is typically done in fermentation is, the temps are kept in the optimal range for that yeast during the first few days so the yeast stay happy and healthy. Then towards the end of fermentation, the temp is raised to allow yeast to go back and clean up the diacetyl. So, you should go from 20 to 22 deg C, not the other way. But lesson learned for next time!

I still think though, that your beer will turn out just fine.

1) Yes it seems so I mean the thing to measures the wort / the concentration: http://www.gruentlich.de/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Bierspindel.jpg The last three days of main fermentation the value of concentration did not change.

2) Now I am up to 22 °C because of my bathroom. Maybe the diacetyl will be clean up now?!