I know never give up, but......

[Chaostar]

I might have to toss this batch.

Brewed a RIS beginning of October and had OG of 1.076. great fermentation for about a week but after 2 weeks it was at 1.030. Stirred it up and left it alone for about a week. Checked it and it hadn't gone down any. Pitched some yeast with some nutrients and checked it a week later.....nothing. At this point I racked it to get it off the cake and added some AE. I also tasted a bit of it and it was very off. A hint of the stout but very, very sour.

Now its been in the secondary for a month. While the gravity is good (1.018), it still has a very off taste. I have other batches going which are coming out great, but I dont know what to do with this one.

I dont know if this beer is just too green. I dont know if I should just bottle it up and let it condition for a few months, but im afraid that it would be a waste. This was my first batch ever. The two since then were tasting pretty good at this point, and they were high gravity brews as well.

Any recommendations from prior experience is very much appreciated. Thanks in advace.

 

[Legin]

Don't toss. Is the off flavor that same sourness as described when racking? Has the sourness mellowed?

 

[JonK331]

Generally, sourness is from a bacterial infection. That would also explain the drop in gravity.

 

[Chaostar]

Don't toss. Is the off flavor that same sourness as described when racking? Has the sourness mellowed?

Yeah, still tastes the same. I can taste the flavor of the stout, but it is overwhelmed by this sour, bitter taste. It hasnt mellowd at all. Granted, it is a heavy beer and may need more time to condition.....but, like with my other batches they taste good, just green, like fruit thats not quite ripe yet. Could it be that it just needs that much more conditioning?

 

[Chaostar]

Generally, sourness is from a bacterial infection. That would also explain the drop in gravity.

Pretty sure the drop came from the AE, as visible signs of fermentation were evident, as well as my hydrometer backing it up.

It may be contaminated, as this has crossed my mind before.....I dont think it is much but if it did skunk up this batch, thats why i may just chalk it to experience and start another......I could use the bottles for a batch I'm about to bottle (Strawberry Strong Blonde.....7.35% and DELICIOUS!)

 

[Legin]

Hard to say what to do if there are no visible signs of contamination. Sour seems like a tough off-flavor to rid from beer as it is most often contamination or (in a few of my cases) oxidization. I'd wait 3 days and see if the F.G. drops. If it's the same, bottle. Part of the experience in brewing is watching the gradual change in taste/aroma of beer with age. If not a contamination, it should get better.

But personally, If a beer has a strong off-flavor upon bottling, I'm usually too impatient to wait the many months it might take for the off-flavor to disappear. And in the few situations where I have had a noticeable off-flavor, the off-flavor has always become more mild but has never truly gone away. Pretty much do what you want at this point.

Edit: Can't answer (with certainty) your question about it needing more time to condition. I've done several high-gravity beers and aging has mostly just toned down the strong "fusel" alcohol taste or made the overall taste slightly more rounded.

 

[Calder]

Some stouts have a hint of sour as part of their profile.

If it's undrinkable, bite the bullet and toss it. It's not going to improve. Chalk it up to experience.

Waht is AE?

 

[RIT_Warrior]

Sounds like it might be Lacto; I have an IIPA that I think has the same thing. The "off look" for my IIPA is a very cloudy color, but you probably wouldn't notice that in an RIS because it is incredibly dark.

 

[jescholler]

This won't help your batch in question, but it may help you in the future. Can you explain what kind of yeast you are using and the steps you do to get it from the package into your wort? The manufacture date and environmental conditions while packaged are also important, so try to give as much detail as you can there. What I'm getting at is figuring out if you pitched enough yeast.

 

[Chaostar]

This won't help your batch in question, but it may help you in the future. Can you explain what kind of yeast you are using and the steps you do to get it from the package into your wort? The manufacture date and environmental conditions while packaged are also important, so try to give as much detail as you can there. What I'm getting at is figuring out if you pitched enough yeast.

I used dry yeast. S-04 and then ended up pitching an additional 05 with nutrients. Still nothing happened, thats when i added the amylase enzyme, which brought the FG down to a good range.

Im still very new at this. This was a kit and I used what came with it. I haven't learned much about the diferent types of yeasts yet, but I look forward too. I made a blonde that came out really, really good.

 

[rjwhite41]

I vote age for a long while. It doesn't sound like an infection since the gravity was steady until the ae was added. Worst case scenario you will dumping the batch in a year. Best case scenario the flavor mellows and you enjoy an awesome RIS.

 

[jescholler]

I used dry yeast. S-04 and then ended up pitching an additional 05 with nutrients. Still nothing happened, thats when i added the amylase enzyme, which brought the FG down to a good range.

Im still very new at this. This was a kit and I used what came with it. I haven't learned much about the diferent types of yeasts yet, but I look forward too. I made a blonde that came out really, really good.

No worries. Everyone is new at some point. Here are the instructions for S-04:
Re-hydrate the dry yeast into yeast cream in a stirred vessel prior to pitching. Sprinkle the dry yeast in 10 times its own weight of sterile water or wort at 27C ± 3C. Once the expected weight of dry yeast is reconstituted into cream by this method (this takes about 15 to 30 minutes), maintain a gentle stirring for another 30 minutes. Then pitch the resultant cream into
the fermentation vessel. Alternatively, pitch dry yeast directly in the fermentation vessel providing the temperature of the wort is above 20C. Progressively sprinkle the dry yeast into the wort ensuring the yeast
covers all the surface of wort available in order to avoid clumps. Leave for 30 minutes and then mix the wort e.g. using aeration.

According to the pitching rate calculator at http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html (assuming 5 gallons, and the yeast was manufactured very recently), you should have used 1.3 packets of yeast (assuming a 11.5g packet). I'm pretty sure the calculator also assumes that you follow the manufacturer's instructions.

I'm guessing you only used a single packet, which could be the reason the beer didn't fully attenuate. It could also explain the sour taste (an infection due to yeast that wasn't able to out-compete the infection).

One of the biggest lessons that I've learned is to pitch the proper amount of healthy yeast.

 

[2wide]

Just wondering--did you sterilize the AE before adding? Just a thought. I have never used AE.

1.076 is a pretty big beer. I would be in favor of re-hydrating dry yeasts before pitching into wort that heavy.