Fusel taste...should I give it time?

[thirstyutahn]

Hey I've got a question regarding fusel alcohol taste in my beer. Ultimately my question is should I let my beers sit for a few months or should I go ahead and toss them? If it was any other off flavor I would just let it sit as per Revys dumping your beer thread.

I've recently started homebrewing and I've made 4 5 gallon AG batches so far, two of which are still fermenting. The first two batches were brewed at the end of summer and in my n00bishness I was unaware of how huge fermentation temperature was. I nailed all my other temps and my OG and FG. I left my first beer(a stout) in the fermenter for 4 weeks, my second beer (a nut brown) for 3 weeks. I bottled for 3 weeks at 70 degrees.

I'm sipping on the nut brown now and also have had a few of my stouts. On both these beers there is a very clear "hot alcohol" taste which I think I've diagnosed(search feature is great ) as fusel alcohol from fermenting too high. On my stout it is way worse. It drowns out a good bit of the malt and hop flavor in my nut brown, but it pretty well kills the flavor in my stout.

I used s-04 in my stout and ambient temp was probably 75(I threw it under my stairs in the basement thinking it would be cool enough...negative!) and it had a very vigorous fermentation. When I first opened it there was an almost oil in water type look on top of the beer and it had an overwhelming alcohol smell. It was like I sniffed a big permanent marker or something similar. My nut brown I put in a cooler room and used nottingham but ambient temp was still probably around 70 and again it was a very vigorous fermentation.

So knowing all that should I hang onto them and just give them time or should I chalk it up to a good learning experience, commit sacrilege, dump them and have a good excuse to brew more beer? Thankfully I have two more beers on the way, both of which I controlled the temperature.

Thank you, this forum has been a killer resource thus far and I can already tell ive become addicted :rockin:

 

[janivar123]

Put them a dark place and try it again in a month
Then again after another month
If its still not good I would keep a few bottles to try every 6 months just to see what aging will do to it

 

[wolfman_48442]

It depends on how bad it is.
I've brewed beers that could have been better that after some aging were decent.
I've also brewed a few that sucked. I've saved a couple of these for as long as 6 months. They never became drinkable.

Clif notes: If it starts out reasonable, aging can save it. If it sucks out of the gate, it'll probably always suck, and I'll dump it.

 

[IffyG]

Fusels don't really age out, they might meld with the background of the beer a bit better as it gets older, but you are stuck with them.

 

[samc]

I agree with the thought that if a beer is truly bad, aging isn't going to help much. If you can drink it now but it isn't all that good aging might do the trick.

I had one case of extreme overwhelming alcohol taste & odor. Three weeks later it was gone. I can't explain why it went away so fast but I'd give it a few months and then make a dump decision.

 

[meat803]

I under pitched a couple tripels and they tasted like mineral spirits due to fusals. Tried one every month for about 7 months and it didnt help. Finally bit the bullet and poured it out.

I recommend stowing them away and trying one every month or two. Biggest thing is to learn from it. Cost of tuition.

 

[thirstyutahn]

Hmm ok well the nut brown is drinkable but I'm really picky on off flavors so I have a hard time with it. The stout I may save some just for educational purposes and open them over the next 6 months. From what you guys are saying it sounds like the stout is probably far beyond what even time can heal :/. Hey for 20 bucks that's a really cheap lesson.

 

[Rivenin]

Fusels don't really age out, they might meld with the background of the beer a bit better as it gets older, but you are stuck with them.

this

 

[thirstyutahn]

Well the fusel in the nut brown is fading ever so slowly and is becoming more and more drinkable. I'm guessing its just what you guys were saying, since it was drinkable its getting better and better...the stout is still real bad though haha. It's ok though I've learned from my mistakes and my fermentation temps are now under a very close watch. I've got 3 batches now that are really tasty and no sign whatsoever of off flavors. I'm still holding onto the stout and well see what happens in a few months.