Killing the yeast

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

gator777

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 13, 2013
Messages
61
Reaction score
0
Hey, I was wanting some input. I brewed an American pale ale and I have it in the second fermentor for one week after the primary of one week. A total of two weeks. I tasted it, and it has a bitter kinda vinegar taste. I'm wondering if this is a contaminated batch and if so my next batch should I kill the yeast right after the primary fermentation and move it to the secondary. To ensure not to pick up any unwanted wild yeast or off flavors.
 
Yeast don't create sour flavors- bacteria do. Normally, it's aceterobacter that cause vinegar and lactobacillus that cause a different sour flavor.

If the beer is sour, it's not because of the yeast.
 
Should I just leave it in the primary fermenter the whole then to ensure no bacteria gets into the beer?
 
I use the heck out of star san. And hand sanitizer when dealing with objects going into the beer.
 
Well thank you for your input. Again could it be wild yeast creating this taste and by killing all yeast that would mean killing the wild yeast too?
 
Hand sanitizer would be suspect to me. Not for the flavor you are experiencing, but what is in it. Often they have oils/moisturizers in them.

I don't know any way you could kill the yeast without ruining the beer. Plus you need the yeast to carbonate the bottled beer. Even then there are viable yeast cells in the bottles.

You are also tasting beer that is not finished. The taste can change dramatically between the time of bottling and when it if fully bottle conditioned.
 
Correct about the beer not finishing but I'm kegging so no need to keep the yeast around for bottling.
 
Correct about the beer not finishing but I'm kegging so no need to keep the yeast around for bottling.

Unless you have a .5 micron filter, you won't remove the yeast anyway, and aside from pasteurizing I don't really know of any method to kill yeast anyway.

In any case, this is not a yeast issue. It's a bacterial contamination issue.
 
+1. Trying to kill/remove your yeast won't help you at all.

There's a subtle difference between a beer tasting "cidery" and one tasting like vinegar. If it's really vinegar-tasting, it's likely acetobacteria like Yooper said.

There are other off-flavors (like the cidery) which may make you think it's infected when it's not. Can you tell us at what temps you pitched? Fermented?

For hand sanitization, I wash my hands if needed with regular hand soap, rinse well and then dip/spray them in StarSan before touching items that will be touching the beer.
 
Ok ty enough said i got to figure out where the heck I'm getting these off flavors from. I mean in my object to wort or object to beer cross contamination.
 
Yes i pitched at 68 f degrees and fermented about 66 degress but that's only the reading I got from the sticker on the outside my fermentor.
 
Also keep in mind you're talking a 1 week primary and 1 week secondary, right? What you may be tasting is still partially fermented wort. Did you rack to secondary because you had reached FG, or simply because 1 week had gone by?
 
Back
Top