italarican
Well-Known Member
I brewed a beginner's berliner weisse-type knockoff (recipe below). Everything was going fine until about Day 17. The airlock suddenly had a nail polish aroma coming from it. It was only then I realized the window in my fermenting room (aka guest room) had been shut (presumably by a friend that stayed the night) for about 3-4 days. I believe I most likely got an acetone infection due to warm temps; the fermenter was at about 76 degrees after staying at around 66 the first 2 weeks.
I decided to bottle half immediately and add blueberries to the rest of the batch, let it sit for a week, and hope for the best (expecting the worst). At this point, the bucket smelled strongly of nail polish, but it wasn't noticeable in the flavor.
A week later, the blueberry batch was disgusting: nail polish and almost meaty in quality. I've bottled a bit of it but think this will be a drain pour.
I opened a bottle of the original (no blueberries) batch two weeks after bottling: decent beer with no nail polish in the aroma or flavor (at least not noticeable to me).
I would presume once I smelled nail polish the infection was in the beer, so I guess I'm hoping people could offer insight into why bottling seemed to stunt the infection's progression (or is it probably going to come out eventually)? Is it something about the sugar added during bottling? I'm just pleasantly surprised the first half of this batch isn't a complete waste at the moment.
RECIPE (5 gallons) OG 1.037/ FG 1.009
3.3 lbs Bavarian Wheat LME
1 lb Pilsner DME
1 lb acidulated malt
Boil 15 min 0.75 oz Hellertau
Wyeast Bavarian Wheat
Steep acidulated malt at 155 for 45 minutes
Add malt extract
Boil for 15 minutes w/ Hellertau
Pitch yeast at 68 degrees
Added 1 tbsp lactic acid/gallon at bottling
BLUEBERRIES (to remaining 2.5 gallons)
3.0 lbs frozen blueberries
On stove w/ bit of water (forget how much), heat to 150 for 5 minutes
Mash with sanitized potato masher
I decided to bottle half immediately and add blueberries to the rest of the batch, let it sit for a week, and hope for the best (expecting the worst). At this point, the bucket smelled strongly of nail polish, but it wasn't noticeable in the flavor.
A week later, the blueberry batch was disgusting: nail polish and almost meaty in quality. I've bottled a bit of it but think this will be a drain pour.
I opened a bottle of the original (no blueberries) batch two weeks after bottling: decent beer with no nail polish in the aroma or flavor (at least not noticeable to me).
I would presume once I smelled nail polish the infection was in the beer, so I guess I'm hoping people could offer insight into why bottling seemed to stunt the infection's progression (or is it probably going to come out eventually)? Is it something about the sugar added during bottling? I'm just pleasantly surprised the first half of this batch isn't a complete waste at the moment.
RECIPE (5 gallons) OG 1.037/ FG 1.009
3.3 lbs Bavarian Wheat LME
1 lb Pilsner DME
1 lb acidulated malt
Boil 15 min 0.75 oz Hellertau
Wyeast Bavarian Wheat
Steep acidulated malt at 155 for 45 minutes
Add malt extract
Boil for 15 minutes w/ Hellertau
Pitch yeast at 68 degrees
Added 1 tbsp lactic acid/gallon at bottling
BLUEBERRIES (to remaining 2.5 gallons)
3.0 lbs frozen blueberries
On stove w/ bit of water (forget how much), heat to 150 for 5 minutes
Mash with sanitized potato masher