Infected - Help Me Diagnose!

[TheEndlessObsession]

Grrr...

So I check the milk stout that I had brewed about a month or so ago and realize that I have a definite infection. It's swimming the drain right now, so I have no pictures, but it tasted/smelled like rot/nail polish.

What I'm trying to figure out is how/why it happened. Last I checked (which was about a week ago) it was smelling and tasting great, no issues whatsoever.

I really have no clue as to where I picked up a bug, considering I always thoroughly clean and sanitize my equipment every time it touches beer. Any guesses as to what happened, or the infection that I'm talking about?

 

[Bithead]

Could you post the recipe and your processes. Tough to guess otherwise.

 

[XXguy]

My diagnosis is that you dumped too soon.

 

[AmandaK]

My diagnosis is that you dumped too soon.

This +1000.

We don't even know if you packaged it before you dumped it down the drain... and what is "rot/nail polish"? I paint my nails all the time and they don't smell like "rot".

If you did dump it before packaging, well, fermentation is nasty. Sometimes it smells gross.

Overall though, we have no information to go off of. Basically you said, "I dumped a smelly beer. Why was it smelly?" We need to know process, recipe, yeasts, sanitation practices, etc.

 

[CBelli]

I had a batch turn to sh++t in 2 days once I transferred it to a secondary....and I was sure I was sanitized too. I don't 'secondary' any more and I'm convinced glass carboys are better (although I don't want to stir up that debate). Point is beer can turn fast!!

 

[TopherM]

Point is beer can turn fast!!

It really CAN'T! Like one of the previous posters said, for every 100 people who come on here stating that they have an infection, only a small % actual do, and even some of those that do have an infection would have been able to still manage drinkable beer if they knew what they were doing.

Fermentation is smelly, ugly, nasty enterprise. CO2 smells like sulfer and will burn your nose, eyes, and throat. Krausen comes in many forms, but they all resemble and sometimes smell like throw up, mold, poop, mildew, bacteria, and chunky death.

Infections are HARD to get if you are even half-azzing sanitation, and beer does NOT turn quickly. The #1 infection is definitely the "brewer got scared of a little nastiness and didn't finish the brew" infection.

Next time, if you fear an infection, take a sample of the brew from UNDER the infection. Put that sample in a glass and put it in the freezer for about 5 minutes to let the CO2 layer dissipate. THEN taste it. If that sample doesn't taste absolutely NASTY (typically SOUR), then you DON'T have an infection. Even if you do get an infection and can catch it in the early stages, you can rack most of your beer from underneath the infection and get the beer cold and carbed (if you keg) quickly and often still end up with good beer.

Anyway, no telling what happened with your batch without a bit mroe information, but next time post a few pics here before you dump anything!!

 

[cheezydemon3]

CLEARLY.....

An AILIEN ejaculated in your fermenter.

Honestly can't believe you dumped before posting.

Patience is a brewers most important skill.

Sorry.

Beer does NOT turn fast. If it does, it happens BEFORE fermentation.

 

[TheEndlessObsession]

Info!

Recipe is as follows:

8 pounds Marris Otter
1 pound Crystal 80
.75 pound Carafa III
6 oz. lactose
1 oz. EKG
1056

Single Infusion Mash at 152. Immersion Chiller for 20 minutes, pitched at 70 degrees. Primary fermentation at 64 degrees for two weeks. Racked to secondary for two weeks.

The beer smelled and tasted off ONLY after primary fermentation was completely finished. I checked gravity readings for three days after two weeks and had no change in gravity. It was only AFTER racking to secondary (for need of the extra carboy) that the beer went south.

Thanks!

 

[TheEndlessObsession]

To further elaborate, all equipment was sanitized with a proper dilution of Star-San in hot water. Every piece of equipment was then sprayed with Star-San before being used as an extra-cautious step. Transfer was completed with an air-tight siphon. All fermentation vessels are glass carboys. No plastic.

 

[cheezydemon3]

To further elaborate, I have had beers that tasted HORRIBLE at bottling that turned out fantastic.

STOP TASTING YOUR UNCARBONATED BEER.

 

[Pilgarlic]

A beer can turn VERY quickly. Last Thursday I popped the cap on a bottle of one of my best APAs ever. It had been in the bottle nine days and it was absolutely clean and delicious. I opened one the following night and found that it had become distastefully, undrinkably apparent that the beer was infected with a wild yeast. I sampled several more bottles. Last night, I dumped them all. Several of them gushed. This beer turned, in a 24 hour period, from sweet, clean, crisp and hoppy to a phenolic, plastic catastrophe.

 

[XXguy]

IF the beer was fine at the end of primary fermentation, and you fully sanitized everything that touched an alcohol laden, maltose deficient, very young, green beer.......... then I'm still going with the "you dumped too soon" diagnosis.

 

[TopherM]

+1 to the cheesy demon. Of the 3-4 beers I would have sworn were infected during fermentation, 3 turned out great and one I chilled soon enough to limit the infection and end up with a so-so beer. You can't judge the final product on a fermented wort sample.

 

[TopherM]

Pilgarlic, howdy from St. Pete! Are you in one of the brew guilds? P.U.B. Guild here.

 

[BrewChem]

+1 on what cheese said...

My second AG batch was a wit that made the whole laundry room smell like a sweaty, rotten egg fart during fermentation... at bottling, it tasted the way a wet dog smells... after 3 weeks bottle carbing, it was awesome beer that my friends and I made disappear in no time..!

Thought about bailing out and dumping but am glad I stuck it out..!

 

[Pilgarlic]

Hey, Topher! I'm in Brandon Bootleggers. We've gone from about ten members to about 70 in the last eight months!

 

[TheEndlessObsession]

Hmmm...

Perhaps I may have been hasty in the pour. Fortunately, the grains were mostly left-overs from previous batches, so I'm not too sour about it. I'm just not so sure about how it could have possibly started tasting/smelling better later on. It actually made my mouth burn, very solvent-like, something I did not notice earlier. After 6-8 weeks total time, I just feel like the flavors had nowhere else to go but down.

Does carbing/cooling actually reduce the perception of off flavors?

 

[Bithead]

Usually the nail polish, solvent like flavors & aromas are due to esters produced during high temperature fermentation. Maybe your temp control and/or thermometer is not accurate enough. I would have let it ride and checked it in a couple weeks.

 

[leolee86]

Yes....you really can't get final perception on a beer until its cold and carbed..the temp will alter taste perception and the carb will alter the taste and nose

 

[Pilgarlic]

I have had several hot, solventy beers. They have been bigger (8+ abv) beers and, believe it or not, they DO mellow in the bottle. It can take over a year, but fusel (higher) alcohols do resolve themselves. A solventy beer is one I would not give up on. I have two batches right now that are at about eight months. I sampled them last week and they taste like they have about another ninety days to go. I'll leave them alone until then.

 

[TheEndlessObsession]

Interesting. Next time, if things seem to be going south, I'll just keg and carb and hope for the best. Thanks, all!

 

[lowtones84]

To further elaborate, I have had beers that tasted HORRIBLE at bottling that turned out fantastic.

STOP TASTING YOUR UNCARBONATED BEER.

Dang, go easy on the guy Yeah it sounds like he dumped too soon, but I love tasting my unfinished/uncarbonated beer. You just have to understand that it's not finished, and what the taste means at that point in the process.

But to the OP, I don't really feel like we can diagnose a problem, if there was a problem, now that you've already dumped it and we don't have any pictures or anything but the recipe and the fact that you racked to secondary. This one may continue to be a mystery!

 

[Proboscidea]

Krausen comes in many forms, but they all resemble and sometimes smell like throw up, mold, poop, mildew, bacteria, and chunky death.

I want this on a T-shirt.

 

[two_one_seven]

Never ever throw it out. Worst case you tie up some bottles or a keg for a couple of months and then you throw it out. Best case.......you get BEER!!!! I had a cream ale at bottling time taste like nasty old buttered popcorn (Diacytel). A week later it is getting quite tasty. Let it ride let it ride.

 

[dgez]

Fermentation is like sex... When done properly it's dirty, nasty, and smelly.

 

[motlekj06]

Fermentation is like sex... When done properly it's dirty, nasty, and smelly.

Its amazing how something so enjoyable can sometimes be so stanky....

 

[cheezydemon3]

Sorry if I sounded harsh!

It could have been fracked. There is no way to know, but yes, so many of us have said "this tastes horrible, what have I done????" only to end up with great beer.

The rule? It is worth bottling or kegging. The payoff outweighs having some crappy beer.

I had a stout with visible mold once. Bottled it and it was quite good!

 

[TheEndlessObsession]

No problem! HBT sees countless "Oh no infection!" threads and I know that the regulars get tired of it. Maybe next time I'll have the space to actually hang on to it.

 

[cheezydemon3]

No problem! HBT sees countless "Oh no infection!" threads and I know that the regulars get tired of it. Maybe next time I'll have the space to actually hang on to it.

I hope so.

 

[crushingblackdoom]

I want this on a T-shirt.

Hell Yeah. I'd buy one and wear it till it fell off.

 

[crushingblackdoom]

I want this on a T-shirt.

What is this? Lacto? No infection in the brew. Quite a nice ferment, actually. This pic is after racking to keg and not getting to harvest/cleanup for a day or so. Opened the bucket and saw this awesome cateye moonscape natural reaction. The yeast beneath is US05. I really just opened the spigot (love it!), racked to keg, then put the lid back on the bucket, crashed the beer, and got busy with stupid crap. Decided to toss the yeast. I'm not too super worried about infections, but if anyone can ID this, I'd like to know.