help, my first all grain came out really bad

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brewmatersmike

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I took the leap and did my first all grain about 3 weeks ago. I followed the Beer Cave recipe for his Hefeweizen. It's below.

Recipe Type: All Grain
Yeast: Wyeast 3068 Weihenstephan
Yeast Starter: Yes
Batch Size (Gallons): 5.5
Original Gravity: 1.052
Final Gravity: 1.009
IBU: 10-13
Boiling Time (Minutes): 60
Color: 3-4 SRM
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 10 days at 68 degrees
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): None


3rd Place winner of the 2007 Alamo Cerveza Fest

Bavarian Hefeweizen 5.5 Gallon

7# German Wheat
4# German Pils
.5# Rice Hulls (if needed to prevent stuck mash)

Mash for 90 minutes at 153 degrees.

.75 Hallertau @ 45
.25 Hallertau @ 15

Wyeast Weihenstephan 3068 with starter.

Ferment 10 days at 68 degrees then crash cool & keg.

I mashed for 60 min and boiled for 60 min.
I hit the OG at 1.054 and an FG of 1.012 after 7 days. I put it into a keg and forced carbed 2 days at 20psi and then 5 days at 10 psi.


I noticed durring fermentation that the smell from the fermenter was awefull.
I mean REALLY bad like a sewer. I tasted the beer when I racked it into the keg and it tasted fine. After I carbed it I drew off a few glases and tasted a sip and got a nasty headache right away. If fact I tasted it again tonight, which is 5 days later and I got a headache right away. In fact I still have it 3 hours later. The beer does smell bad, like it did fermenting but not as strong.

I thought I was vigillant about cleaning and sanitizing everything. I used a wort chiller to bring it down to 70 which took about 20 min.

I brewed it outside.

I'm thinking it is probably an infection or stray yeast.
I brewed a second all grain, this time an American wheat, and so far it smells good. nothing like the other at all.

Does anyone have an idea what it can be?
It is strange that the headache happens so quick and lasts so long.
I read about Pilsner malt and that for some reson can produce DME if it isn't boiled for 90 minutes. Can this be it?

Thanks
 
I have heard of infections in a beer, (though Ive never experieced one myself) but the headache thing is a new one on me, I have no idea about that one, looks like you followed all the procedures as directed, maybe someone with more experience with the hefe's will chime in, good luck:mug:
 
I also noticed when I did a wheat beer the smell during fermentation was not very pleasant, but the beer turned out great! I wouldn't worry about it. I bet it has something to do with the yeast strain used for wheat beers?
 
Take the Wheat out of the keezer and let it sit for 2 weeks. It's really green if you kegged after a week. The smell is the yeasties still working...
 
Only batch I've made so far that turned out horribly was a wheat beer. Had a REALLY gross smell that I couldn't categorize. Not a single visible sign of infection. My brother said the finished, bottled beer smelled like weed that had gone stale/moldy/musty. (lol not that I have any experiences to corroborate that.)

Smell during fermenter was pretty close, only less strong when bottled...sounds a little like what you described. Aging this beer did not help. Sorry no help, only commiserating with you on the nasty wheat beer.
 
Never heard of green beer giving you a headache.
Headache can also come from fusel alcohols, which is a result from a higher than optimum ferm temp. Sure your fermentation temp was 68F??
 
So green beer is one thing, but I have never smelled green beer that smelled like a sewer. I have had different smells from a fermenter also, but again, none like feces and urine. If you are truly serious that it smells like feces and urine decomposing in a sewer, I think you have a pretty strong case to toss it and assume you had an infection during fermentation. I know people here say never toss a beer, but then again...they probably wouldn't drink human waste product either. :)
 
I had a hot fermented wit cause instant headaches like he's talking about.Unbelievably it aged out of it after about a month in the fridge.I agree,let it warm up for a week and then cool for 2 & see if it improves-it may suprise you.
 
That's odd RCCOLA - because fusel alcohol does not age out of a beer from what I know. I aged a hot fermented dunkleweizen for 6 months and never got any better - ended up tossing it.
 
...After I carbed it I drew off a few glases and tasted a sip and got a nasty headache right away. If fact I tasted it again tonight, which is 5 days later and I got a headache right away. In fact I still have it 3 hours later. The beer does smell bad, like it did fermenting but not as strong....

Two questions:

1) What specifically did it taste like?
B) What were you expecting a Bavarian hefe to taste like?

I only ask because a lot of people are shocked at the flavor of a properly brewed hefe if they've never had it before.
 
That's odd RCCOLA - because fusel alcohol does not age out of a beer from what I know. I aged a hot fermented dunkleweizen for 6 months and never got any better - ended up tossing it.
I fully agree that it was odd.I had just resigned to myself that it was gonna be that way and work it out of my inventory as painlessly as possible and surprise-it got better.I don't know if this is related but this beer also became crystal clear about the time the headsplitting stopped.I almost think the protein in the wheat absorbed the toxin and sedimentated out.:confused:
 
I guess the best way to describe the smell and taste as rotting black bananas. Not a sweet smell at all. It was kind of tart. :drunk:This is the way it smelled during fermentation. It was so bad the when I went into the basement where i keep the fermenters, I thought my waste pipe busted.
THe temp was around 65 deg.

I had a friend over the other day and made him smell it and he said there was definitley something wrong with the smell.

I wound up tossing the keg. I cleaned the heck out of it and it is now soaking in oxyclean.

Maybe my thermometer was off and it mashed at a too high of a temperature.
Would this cause it?

How about pilsen grain? I heard that this need to be boiled for 90 min instead of 60.
 
Whatever you do, please don't dump it out. Bottle it up and give it three more weeks to condition. I did a Rye IPA weeks ago and my fermentation smelled like butt. I just got done dry hopping it and gave it a taste, and much to my surprise it is absolutely wonderful. Turned out a bit on the dry side, but that was to be expected because of my first stuck sparge. I can't wait to get it carbed and chilled! Give the beer a chance, man!
 
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