first brew, IPA went sour

[HophungryMaine]

I hate to start a whole new thread on this subject, but I'm not sure what happened. I brewed a Brewers Best IPA for my first go at it. A couple of mistakes include a little less water in the brew pail after I pitched the yeast, I ended up with about 4 gallons. At that point it read 1.065. I racked to secondary in a week. THe fermentation went fast. It was down to 1.015 at that point. When went to bottle, the FG was 1.014. Not much more fermentation in the secondary.

The beer was very sour! It did not have anything growing on the top when I opened it up. And it didn't smell or taste at all like hops. Just pretty sour. Any idea if it'll mellow out in the bottles, or is it most likely infected and garbage?

 

[masonsjax]

Sounds like infection, but sours are all the rage now, unless it's vinegar, I'd probably drink it anyway.

 

[seckert]

I agree that it is probably infection. Where did your top up water come from? Bottled? Tap? RO? boiled and chilled?

 

[Gameface]

I hate to start a whole new thread on this subject, but I'm not sure what happened. I brewed a Brewers Best IPA for my first go at it. A couple of mistakes include a little less water in the brew pail after I pitched the yeast, I ended up with about 4 gallons. At that point it read 1.065. I racked to secondary in a week. THe fermentation went fast. It was down to 1.015 at that point. When went to bottle, the FG was 1.014. Not much more fermentation in the secondary.

The beer was very sour! It did not have anything growing on the top when I opened it up. And it didn't smell or taste at all like hops. Just pretty sour. Any idea if it'll mellow out in the bottles, or is it most likely infected and garbage?

Describe the sour taste a little more. Like vinegar sour or like green apples?

Despite what your kit instructions may have said you didn't need to transfer to secondary after a week. In fact, you don't need to transfer to a secondary at all and your beer would probably have been better off staying in the primary for 3-4 weeks and then bottling.

You may just have what's called "green" beer on your hands. It very well might improve as it bottle conditions. How long has it been in bottles? You should really give them 21 days in the bottle at 70F before you start judging them. If they're colder than 70F you should give them a little longer than that.

 

[HophungryMaine]

I should have been more specific. I just put it in bottles yesterday. I tasted it before priming sugar was added and it was sour. Not vinegar, more green apples (which gives me hope). I'll be sure not to touch it for three weeks. I'm still concerned that it had no hop flavor at all.

 

[billl]

My bet would be that you followed the kit directions completely - oops - kit directions stink.

Yeast produce Acetaldehyde during fermentation. It tastes like sour/sour apple. The less optimal the fermenting conditions are, the more they produce. For most new brewers, your fementation conditions aren't optimal (pitch rates, temps, O2 levels) and they produce a lot of that "green" flavor. If you just let the beer sit on the yeast cake awhile, the yeast "clean up" those byproducts. That will happen in the bottle too, but will take much longer since you don't have much yeast left there.

So, just set those aside for a month and then chill and taste one.

For the next batch, do a little reading on yeast pitching rates, temperature control, and aeration and try to get those down pat. Then, leave the beer in the fermenter for 2 weeks and don't touch it. Before you transfer or bottle, give it a taste test. If it doesn't taste good, leave it another week and try again. You just have to be patient and let the beer tell you when it is ready.

 

[cjgenever]

If it is infected and you keep it, you will need to monitor for over carbonation. Bottle bombs suck!

Sent from my SCH-R970 using Home Brew mobile app

 

[seckert]

I should have been more specific. I just put it in bottles yesterday. I tasted it before priming sugar was added and it was sour. Not vinegar, more green apples (which gives me hope). I'll be sure not to touch it for three weeks. I'm still concerned that it had no hop flavor at all.

Green apples is just an off flavor from your yeast. you might have underpitched your yeast, fermented a bit too warm, or didnt have enough airation prior to pitching. A lot of that flavor will mellow with age though. the reason you had no hop flavor might have just been that it was overpowered.

 

[flars]

Green apples is just an off flavor from your yeast. you might have underpitched your yeast, fermented a bit too warm, or didnt have enough airation prior to pitching. A lot of that flavor will mellow with age though. the reason you had no hop flavor might have just been that it was overpowered.

A five galllon recipe being accidentally scaled down to 4 gallons probably did result in an under pitch situation. The yeast included in the kit may have only been a 5 gram to 7 gram sachet which would exacerbate the under pitch conditions.

 

[seckert]

thats right! i forgot about that aspect. since the OG was higher the pitch rate would have been changed. I would suspect then that underpitching is almost certainly the cause, along with temps not being on, as this is the OPs first brew.

 

[billl]

eh - not sure it will matter much. 5 gallons vs 4 gallons still has the same sugar content. If you pitch so many cells per degree plato per gallon, its pretty much identical at average gravities. eg Mr Malty has it 180 vs 182

 

[monkeymootj]

Describe the sour taste a little more. Like vinegar sour or like green apples?

Despite what your kit instructions may have said you didn't need to transfer to secondary after a week. In fact, you don't need to transfer to a secondary at all and your beer would probably have been better off staying in the primary for 3-4 weeks and then bottling.

You may just have what's called "green" beer on your hands. It very well might improve as it bottle conditions. How long has it been in bottles? You should really give them 21 days in the bottle at 70F before you start judging them. If they're colder than 70F you should give them a little longer than that.

From "How To Brew":

Acetaldehyde
A flavor of green apples or freshly cut pumpkin; it is an intermediate compound in the formation of alcohol. Some yeast strains produce more than others, but generally it's presence indicates that the beer is too young and needs more time to condition.

Give it time

 

[HophungryMaine]

thanks for the help here folks. So, is it consensus that if I let it sit in bottles for a few months it should get better?

 

[jekeane]

thanks for the help here folks. So, is it consensus that if I let it sit in bottles for a few months it should get better?

Its a consensus that it is certainly a possibility!

 

[HophungryMaine]

despite being pretty bitter, this beer turned out pretty good! It does have a really bitter after taste, but I'll tolerate it. Thanks for the encouragement folks!