I have been home brewing for about 4 years. I have done cider, wine, mead, and beer successfully many times. My attempt at making a sweet fruity wheat beer would combine these techniques but I executed the fermentation poorly. The idea is to make a something close to a Lindemans Framboise or a raspberry flavored malt beverage.
Unconventional Wort:
I first created a wheat beer base 50/50, malted wheat/2-row, 1.05 OG, <10 ABU, 1lb of crystal, WLP500. I was looking for sweet and fruity.
Possible Mistake #1; fermented from previous yeast cake in the upper 80F. 1.01 FG, hydro sample tasted great, no jet fuel, no sulfur, very fruity.
Major Mistake #2; racked on top of raspberry puree intentionally dosed with potassium sorbate without cold crashing. The idea here was to use the fruit to back sweet the beer. I mixed in the fruit, chemical, and wort together at the same time and set it at 65F. Forgot about it for 2 weeks.
Mistake #3; observed rotten fruit smell. Very strong sulfur smell and after taste. Initial taste is pretty good but without the sweetness that I was looking for. Hydro sample showed that the fruit addition dried it out some, FG 1.006. Decided that I should get it off of the leas and into the keg, hoping aging will knock out the sulfur. Cold crashed, racked, force carbonation.
Mistake #4; not consulting HBT until 3 weeks after mistake 3. Since this occurred late in fermentation from the result of stressed yeast I fear that this is the dreaded H2S. I am planning a funeral for this brew unless someone on here would think that if I rack again the escaping CO2 will carry off the smell. This will be my first homebrew funeral if I have to go through with it, I will probably cry.
Unconventional Wort:
I first created a wheat beer base 50/50, malted wheat/2-row, 1.05 OG, <10 ABU, 1lb of crystal, WLP500. I was looking for sweet and fruity.
Possible Mistake #1; fermented from previous yeast cake in the upper 80F. 1.01 FG, hydro sample tasted great, no jet fuel, no sulfur, very fruity.
Major Mistake #2; racked on top of raspberry puree intentionally dosed with potassium sorbate without cold crashing. The idea here was to use the fruit to back sweet the beer. I mixed in the fruit, chemical, and wort together at the same time and set it at 65F. Forgot about it for 2 weeks.
Mistake #3; observed rotten fruit smell. Very strong sulfur smell and after taste. Initial taste is pretty good but without the sweetness that I was looking for. Hydro sample showed that the fruit addition dried it out some, FG 1.006. Decided that I should get it off of the leas and into the keg, hoping aging will knock out the sulfur. Cold crashed, racked, force carbonation.
Mistake #4; not consulting HBT until 3 weeks after mistake 3. Since this occurred late in fermentation from the result of stressed yeast I fear that this is the dreaded H2S. I am planning a funeral for this brew unless someone on here would think that if I rack again the escaping CO2 will carry off the smell. This will be my first homebrew funeral if I have to go through with it, I will probably cry.
