My first bad batch, and it's BAD

[jdp]

so I made a partial mash wheat beer just before chistmas. I had some friends coming up so I pulled it out after only a week in primary (airlock was done bubbling, and that has been typical of my other batches.) Normally, I keep at least two weeks in primary, but I didn't want to run out of beer while they were up.

After force carbing, for three days, I tried it and it tasted thick and rancid. I figured it needed to condition a while and just drank from the other keg I had until it went dead a couple nights ago. I tried it again and still no improvement. that totals two weeks conditioning in the keg.

I believe I pulled it out of primary before fermentation was complete and have since removed the corny from the fridge and am allowing it to start fermenting again. With any luck, it will become drinkable.

I came to the diagnosis from searching the threads, but is there anything that I may have missed? Any input would be great.

 

[skyzo]

Yeah, that was way too short of time in the primary. Even though, my first ever beer I only left in the primary for a week, and was drinking it after only 2 weeks in the bottle, and it was very drinkable, not very good but drinkable.

 

[jppostKW]

I would say you caused a apocalypse in the yeasties world. What with temp changes force carbing etc. it may take a while for the yeast to clean up after their primary ferm orgy after you dropped most outta suspension.

 

[jdp]

Well, I will give it a try anyway. I think I can just get by with "burping" the relief valve on the keg a couple times a day. If I don't notice any buildup, it wouldn't hurt too much to drop in some trub from another batch I have fermenting would it? the one that is currently in primary is a blonde ale, not a wheat, so it is a different strain of yeast. I would just not suffer a complete loss if I don't have to. Even if the yeast varieties aren't comletely true to style.

 

[jdp]

Well, Its been a few days now, and the gass I am letting out of the relief valve doens't smell like death anymore, so this batch might not be a complete loss!

 

[Quietandsimple]

From what I understand Yeastie bastards are some hardy little things. They kind of remind me of the Dutch, in a way. Need more land? Just build a dyke and drain the ocean out of it! Never give up.

If it was my brew and it stopped smelling like death I'd suspect that it was correcting itself.

 

[jdp]

Okay, so far it has fermented for 7 days, then lived in the keg in the freezer for a couple weeks, now warmed up and relocated to the fermenting cellar (bedroom closet) again. Should I pull it out on my normal schedule time of two weeks total time? that would make it thursday. OR.. just keep it in the closet for maybe another week or two, just to be sure.

The problem I have is that because of this fiasco, I have nothing on tap and am forced to drink bud light. If all else fails, I have a blonde ale I can hook up next monday, and then a common next thursday, but thats a long time to wait and I am not feeling very patient.

 

[mojotele]

Just taste a bit and see! Sure, it won't be cold or very carbonated, but you should be able to taste any nastiness.

 

[HomerJR]

The problem I have is that because of this fiasco, I have nothing on tap and am forced to drink bud light.

You're not seriously suggesting that your only options are terrific homebrew or Bud Light???? You can't pick up something a little bit better than that? You must have better choices than that! Almost every liquor store on the planet carries AT LEAST Sierra Nevada or Sam Adams! Don't do it!

 

[jdp]

You're not seriously suggesting that your only options are terrific homebrew or Bud Light???? You can't pick up something a little bit better than that? You must have better choices than that! Almost every liquor store on the planet carries AT LEAST Sierra Nevada or Sam Adams! Don't do it!

Can't stand sierra nevada, Sam Adams is alright. I prefer Anchor porter, but at 10 bucks a six pack, I will wait until I have good beer in the keg. Thats why I started homebrewing. I am too cheap to buy good beer. Besides, It's in the fridge

 

[steinsato]

what exactly does your beer taste like when you say it tasted like death? in Nov 2009 I brewed a Big IPA, with around 12 lbs of DME. I did my usual primary fermentation for a week, then racked it to secondary for another week. I then kegged it. Waited 2 weeks, and tried it. It was extremely sweet, I guess I would call it malty tasting. I decided to let it stay in the keg and condition longer. It has now been in the keg conditioning at 62 degrees for 7 weeks total and still tastes the same. Sweet, Malty and not really drinkable. I'm guessing I should have let this beer ferment longer before kegging, is there anything else I can do or just keep conditioning with my fingers crossed?

 

[jdp]

what exactly does your beer taste like when you say it tasted like death? ............ is there anything else I can do or just keep conditioning with my fingers crossed?

It had a smell/taste similar to rotten meat or roadkill. Underneath that there was still the taste of beer, but it still was not drinkable. I brought the keg back up to the fermentation temperature range, and it seems the smell is gone now, so I might try some tonight.

You might try pulling the keg from the fridge and let it start fermenting again. just give the pressure relief valve once or twice a day to keep the pressure down. It wouldn't hurt after keg conditioning that long.

 

[steinsato]

That keg had never actually been refrigerated, I just hooked it up to my kegerator to taste it. It has been conditioning in the keg at 62 degrees for 7 weeks. I have not been releasing the pressure valve which probably explains why it was foamy as heck last night when I tasted it. But as I said before, there doesn't seem to be a difference in taste from the 2 week test to the 7 week test last night. I'm wondering if I should rack it from the keg back to a carboy and maybe add yeast to restart the fermentation? Or do you all think there is enough yeast still working in the keg?

 

[slomo]

Stein what was your OG? I brewed a belgian strong on 9/11 that had an OG of 1.090, and it is just now strating to become drinkable. Your IPA might need more time. I would say brew another batch of beer or RDWHAHB.

 

[jdp]

I wouldn't transfer it, it will do the same thing in the keg as it will in the carbouy. you would only increase the risk of infection or aeration. Besides, the keg is better at protecting against skunking. Maybe someone with more knowledge than I will have some input as well.

 

[steinsato]

My OG for this Big IPA was a whopping 1.101 I got home just now and released the pressure valve, some air came out so I can only assume the yeast is still doing its thing. I used Safale S-04 and brewed the beer on 11-08-09. I racked it on the 21st which is 13 day after pitching the yeast. I then kegged it 16 days later. And it has been in the keg for 7 weeks. I just checked the specific gravity and it is sitting at 1.03 right now.

 

[jdp]

Well, letting the batch go back into fermentation reduced the smell of death, but now it tastes like chloraseptic. This one is a dumper. On top of that, I went to rack a blonde ale to secondary, and it didn't look right at all. it smelled alright, but the beer was incredibly cloudy and thick. Hopefully it clears up in secondary and ends up drinkable.

 

[goose1873]

agreed........

 

[vgoreham]

You're not seriously suggesting that your only options are terrific homebrew or Bud Light???? You can't pick up something a little bit better than that? You must have better choices than that! Almost every liquor store on the planet carries AT LEAST Sierra Nevada or Sam Adams! Don't do it!

On the planetd? No. We can barely get either of those most places in Canada.

I'm just bitter, that's all.