May have ruined first batch?

[newfiebrew]

Good morning guys....I have good and bad news.I decided to take my first gravity today after 10 days fermenting and It was about 1.010 which is where it should be but after removing the airlock (hard to get off) I could smell alcohol and it tasted really harsh and alcoholic??? Will this mellow or is this because I screwed up at the beginning where I fermented at 75-80 deg of so for the first 12 hrs (nottingham yeast)??? I Guess this is a dumper or will it mellow?

It was edworts bee cave pale ale.I just tasted again and realized some of the harshness could be from some sediment (trub/hops) I accidentally got into my sample.

My wife who has a very keen sense of smell said it didnt smell bad to her so Im a little torn on what to do?

Jamie.

 

[zoonose]

Keep it, bottle/keg it, see how it is in a few weeks.

 

[newfiebrew]

Keep it, bottle/keg it, see how it is in a few weeks.

Yeah... I'm pretty sure I will bottle it.I just wish the first sample would have been a awesome one!!

 

[Clarke]

never dump your beer, how will you learn the cause and effect for off flavors, even mistakes lead to better beer.
There is book knowledge then there is experience, which do you want?

 

[kh54s10]

It will probably be a bit "off" due to the high fermentation temperature at the start. It may mellow out with some age. I too suggest bottling it and bottle condition for at least 3 weeks, try one, if it is still harsh wait longer.

I find that sometimes the samples before bottling don't taste too good. Then after proper bottle conditioning they are very different. In my case, the one that I started hot turned out quite good. One that I did, with no real errors, tasted pretty bad at bottling time and was very good when conditioned.

 

[newfiebrew]

Thanks for the feedback guys!! I will bottle and while thats conditioning I have a nut brown ale and all the ingredients to do this one over again and compare but this time it wont be fermenting at 75!!

 

[WileECoyote]

Thanks for the feedback guys!! I will bottle and while thats conditioning I have a nut brown ale and all the ingredients to do this one over again and compare but this time it wont be fermenting at 75!!

Hello, your first batch might always have some alcohol bite to it from fermenting so high, leave it in the bottles for a few months and it should become better.

On your nut brown I would highly recommend you use a swamp cooler to keep the temps down to 62 to 65 ish depending on the yeast you are using.

Just incase you don't know what a swamp cooler is, its a tub with water in it , put your fermenter in that tub with water and use frozen water bottles to cool the water.

$6 rope handle tub from Walmart works great for a 5 gal fermenting bucket, frozen 32 oz Gatorade bottles work great to keep temps down during active fermentation = first 3 to 5 days most of the time, after that you can let the fermenter sit at 70 deg to finish out.

Hope this helps !

Cheers