Scottish 80 Problem

[JJack887]

I brewed one last month and tried a bottle at 10 days in the bottle (early, I know.) But it has an unpleasant Hefeweizen character and isn't clear despite using whirlfloc. The gravity also dropped to 1.006 — way too low for what WLP002 advertised. It looked good and smells good when I opened the fermentor on bottling day, but it tastes not so good. This is my 8th batch and had high hopes for it. I fermented at 68. OG was 1.045. Very disappointed and I can't figure out what went wrong except if it got infected. Even then, I'm careful with sanitation. Should I just let it sit longer? It's also 2.3% peated malt if that makes a difference.

 

[JJack887]

I should also say that this is my third red colored beer, and the last two had the same unpalatable character. Different recipes, too. But my last beer ( a spruce ale) doesn't have this taste. Ugh.

 

[Mer-man]

Sounds like an infection to me. Is there more stuff at the bottom of your bottles than normal?

 

[JJack887]

Nope. No rings either, or tart taste.

 

[kh54s10]

It sounds more like an infection. But..... That is a LOT of peat smoked malt. I have only used up to .1 lb in a 5 gallon batch and it was quite noticeable......

 

[jjeffers09]

did you bottle a hefe in those bottles in the last batch? could be that you did not get rid of the yeast living in something somewhere equipment, bottles, bottler, bottling wand, tubing, fermenter etc... just a maybe. Or it could be some wild yeast that got in there to drop fg that low. Some brettanomyces will take a while to show up in obviously brett flavors. What is the texture like? and I agree that is a lot of peated malt...

 

[JJack887]

Never made a hefe. The gravity is suspicious, but I did mash lower with no mash-out (my mistake...) The beer is young still. I'm putting a six pack in the fridge for a few weeks, see how it goes. I think the flavor might be due to ester production as I have zero ways to control fermentation temperature. I really need a chest cooler or something.

 

[jjeffers09]

so 68 was ambient? because that could easily be +10-12F from ambient temps if not swamp cooled at the least. So 78F for 75%ish of the fermentation or first 72hrs after fermentation takes place will give you some phenolic flavors

 

[JJack887]

Bingo. Lesson learned: Brew Scottish in winter.

 

[jjeffers09]

You can brew some really good beers year round in just a large cooler filled with water and frozen water bottles. I used to do 2 cases of the Mini-waters and have 1 in the freezer and 1 in the cooler at all times swapping them back and forth every 12-15 hrs or so. Truth be told I made some pretty good beers that way. Just stick to temp tolerant strains, but keep them as cold as possible. You can keep a 6Gal fermenter with 5.5Gal of wort at 62F if you stay on top of it. As long as you get through the first 3-4 days of fermentation at the right temp you should not get the overwhelming bad off flavors. It is never going to be as good as having a fermentation chamber but it can be done. Wrap a beach towel around the fermenter, secure it onto the bucket/carboy with any means necessary, but leave a seem open to see the external adhesive thermometer, and get enough water and ice for it to go at least 1/2 the way up the fermenter... better than waiting to brew until the winter.

 

[Gameface]

What was your recipe?

Yeah, I saw that you used peated malt and it raised some red flags. Not that you can't use it in a Scottish ale, but it isn't really to style.

 

[JJack887]

Going to do the beach towel method for the rye ale I'm making soon. And it's mostly pale, a little dark crystal and the peat. I know two of those aren't traditional to the style. I also added some boiled table sugar (5oz.) to the fermentor after high krausen to boost what was supposed to be a low alcohol beer. I hope it's not infected because I harvested and washed the WLP002, but I'll toss it if need be.

 

[Gameface]

So how about just listing the recipe?

 

[FarmerTed]

Going to do the beach towel method for the rye ale I'm making soon. And it's mostly pale, a little dark crystal and the peat. I know two of those aren't traditional to the style. I also added some boiled table sugar (5oz.) to the fermentor after high krausen to boost what was supposed to be a low alcohol beer. I hope it's not infected because I harvested and washed the WLP002, but I'll toss it if need be.

So, did you use re-harvested yeast in the 80/- as well? And was it the same yeast used for the other batch of beer that tasted 'off'? I think I would get a fresh vial, and start over, and also be careful during starter preparation. This sounds like an infection problem more-so than a temperature problem to me.