I have a few questions regarding use of honey and also the strong alcohol smell/taste + very dry tasting. I got this strong alcohol smell/taste while sipping a sample from a gravity check when thinking its time to bottle. I only assume its the honey that ruined the batch? This was my first batch, so maybe its just a sloppy beginners batch. I was very careful with my sanitation, star-san used in correct concentration on all equipment, NO rinsing of carboy, etc. Also, I did make a mistake on OG gravity, only came out at 1.034, but I do now realized I did not mix it well after adding top up water and likely got a bad reading. It was mixed very well before pitching yeast and had a vigorous fermentation with some even escaping thru the airlock for mmm maybe a couple hours before I saw that bugger and re-sanitized the airlock and re-bunged. After that OK with no more krausen trying to escape. Blow off tube from the start next time. Leason learned.
Details: NB carribou slobber (brown ale). Wyeast 1332 NW ale (activated/inflated). followed directions per NB, except I decided to experiment with adding honey... 18 days primary, 36 days so far in secondary. Yikes, still trying to ferment in secondary because of honey? Yes, Im blaming the honey again. House at 63-66 degrees, Id say mostly constant around 64 degrees. I did not see bubbles in the airlock for nearly a week, so I decided its gravity check/bottle time! I moved the carboy to my bottling area and that bugger started bubbling again after the move and now seems to be trying to ferment again! I assume the movement gave the yeast a little kick and that is why. I decided to take a final gravity reading and NOT bottle. reads FG1.010 and will check in 2-3 days to see if I can bottle. Anyway, that sample I sipped from the gravity check was simply put. TERRIBLE. Smells of alcohol, tastes of alcohol and is VERY dry. I got some hints if hops, but the taste was just to say, dissapointing.
Any thoughts on what happened?
BTW my second batch of a pilsner was bottled before this one a few weeks ago. This one turned out great!
Story short on the honey, many people suggest these times as options: during boil, at flame out, at high krausen, secondary, bottle priming, etc. Simply put, I chose to add in secondary to try and retain honeys delicate flavors/aromas and went with the theory its naturally anti-bacterial, but knowing some yeast can be found in honey if not boiled or pasturized.
Details: NB carribou slobber (brown ale). Wyeast 1332 NW ale (activated/inflated). followed directions per NB, except I decided to experiment with adding honey... 18 days primary, 36 days so far in secondary. Yikes, still trying to ferment in secondary because of honey? Yes, Im blaming the honey again. House at 63-66 degrees, Id say mostly constant around 64 degrees. I did not see bubbles in the airlock for nearly a week, so I decided its gravity check/bottle time! I moved the carboy to my bottling area and that bugger started bubbling again after the move and now seems to be trying to ferment again! I assume the movement gave the yeast a little kick and that is why. I decided to take a final gravity reading and NOT bottle. reads FG1.010 and will check in 2-3 days to see if I can bottle. Anyway, that sample I sipped from the gravity check was simply put. TERRIBLE. Smells of alcohol, tastes of alcohol and is VERY dry. I got some hints if hops, but the taste was just to say, dissapointing.
Any thoughts on what happened?
BTW my second batch of a pilsner was bottled before this one a few weeks ago. This one turned out great!
Story short on the honey, many people suggest these times as options: during boil, at flame out, at high krausen, secondary, bottle priming, etc. Simply put, I chose to add in secondary to try and retain honeys delicate flavors/aromas and went with the theory its naturally anti-bacterial, but knowing some yeast can be found in honey if not boiled or pasturized.