Kolsch made me throw up

[edzell]

Made a 10 gal kolsch it has been fermenting for 4 days and has slowed down did a test only about a 1/2% off my final gravity had a drink some of my test sample it was Reilly bad, am I just trying it to early or is it ruined

 

[LovesIPA]

After four days you shouldn't even be looking at it. Leave it in primary for three weeks, then take a gravity sample.

 

[opus345]

LovesIPA

That is no way to treat a new member.

edzell,

Welcome to HBT.

Now that the welcome is over, listen to LovesIPA and don't go near it.

 

[Schol-R-LEA]

Could you describe the off-flavors you were getting?

Four days is extremely young; even if the fermentation seems mostly complete, there is still quite a ways to go in the beer's development. There's simply no way of knowing how the beer will change with time. I would add that four days seems terribly fast for a kolsch, which is usually fermented at the cooler end of the ale range and then lagered (when possible). What fermentation temperatures were you getting, and did you have any kind of temperature control? I for one would hesitate to brew a kolsch if I wasn't sure I could keep it below 65 degrees F (which I can't, generally speaking, with my current setup).

 

[edzell]

It had a sour taste I think it was so bad it made me throw up, it has be sitting at 72 to 68 degrees in my closet, I had it in a carboy with a blow off tube and it was very very active and it the yeast drop on day three

 

[iambeer]

It had a sour taste I think it was so bad it made me throw up, it has be sitting at 72 to 68 degrees in my closet, I had it in a carboy with a blow off tube and it was very very active and it the yeast drop on day three

Even though the temp isn't ideal for kolsch ale yeast, I wouldn't judge the beer for a couple more weeks. On the bright side you know what 4 day old beer tastes like, and you never have to go through that again (unless you really want to).

 

[edzell]

It had a sour taste I think it made me throw up as sone as it was in my mouth, it was at 68 to 72 in my closet, had it in a glass carboy With a blow off tube it very very active for two days then the yeast drop on day three

 

[edzell]

Should I move it to my basement where it is about 64 degrees now

 

[iambeer]

Should I move it to my basement where it is about 64 degrees now

Yes. Kolsch ale yeast likes it on the lower spectrum of ale yeast temperature and it comes out clean. You can also leave it down there during the active fermentation next time.

 

[Beernik]

Kolsch yeasts tend to be low-medium floculators. Could you be getting yeast bite?

 

[edzell]

I got my sample with a wine thift might of pick up some of the bottom

 

[Beernik]

From byo http://byo.com/american-pale-ale/item/182-beat-yeast-bite

Yeast bite is a term that describes a number of different undesirable flavor and aroma characteristics that are directly related to the type of yeast used and the manner in which it is used. The flavors and aromas associated with yeast bite have been described variously as smelling like rancid fats (cheesy, soapy, pukey) or beef or chicken soup or bullion, tasting of fatty acids, rotten, having a rubbery or sulfury stench, and imparting a sour, bitter taste to beer.

I ask because I tasted a sample off a mead that turned out to be still fermenting. It tasted horribly sour. Eventually I came to the conclusion that the sample I pulled was very yeasty.

 

[edzell]

I think your right I am just tasting all the yeast that has not fallin to the bottom