Should my wort taste sour?

[TheOrient]

I'm a little worried about how my wort tastes. I've had this (my first batch) in my primary for two weeks. I was planning on bottling it soon but when I tasted the wort, it was pretty sour and I'm worried this batch is ruined. The krausen has completely disappeared from the carboy, and the bubbles coming through the airlock are a couple minutes in between, so I think it's almost ready to be bottled. Should my wort be a little sour?

 

[mountainbrewdude]

What kind of beer is it? Taste will greatly improve over time, by the way.

 

[brewit2it]

It's not wort, it's beer. Wort is the sweet liquor before it's fermented. Sour tastes seem to be one of the most common questions. There have been several of them lately in this forum so you will prbably find some if you read some other threads of folks asking if their beer is ruined. But basically you can go a full 3 weeks in primary then bottle, wait 2 more weeks in the bottle, and try it out and see what you think then.

Good luck and relax, it will probably turn out fine.

 

[rycov]

its really hard to tell what your beer will taste like untill its done. carbed and everything. as this is your first batch you don't really have any experience with how fermented but uncarbonated beer tastes. everyone tastes their samples (at least they should. come on. aren't you anxious to know how it tastes?!) some times its good before its carbonated sometimes not so much. if you followed your recipe, sanitized, blah blah, etc. then you should be fine. don't be dissapointed if it isn't good yet. nothing you can do but bottle and carb. then see how it is. me thinks it will be good.

also do you have a hydrometer? when i said bottle i didn't necessarily mean right now. once its done, then bottle. just because it stopped bubbling doesn't always mean its done fermenting.

 

[wyzazz]

Leave it sit for another 2 weeks in the primary then give it a taste, it'll taste much more like beer then. After that, if your gravity readings are stable and within the proper range for that beer you can bottle or keg.

Your beer is likely fine, it's just still got a lot of yeast in suspension.

 

[Frank99]

I would take a gravity reading to see if it has completed fermentation. Once you get to your final gravity leave it in there for another week or two. Don't be in such a rush to bottle it. It takes time, and it will be ready when it's ready, not by some artificial deadline. Give the yeast some time to clean up their mess, otherwise you'll wind up with off flavors.

 

[TheOrient]

Wow, I didn't expect such quick responses, thanks guys. I'm going to let it sit for at least another week before bottling I think. Thanks for all the advice!

 

[ACbrewer]

Gravity is a good thing to check. If you look up your yeast, you can find out it's 'typical' attenuation, meaning how much it can convert before it stops. My rule of thumb is about 75%

Of course having a starting gravity at this point is good also. If you don't have that, you can get your 'theroretical' gravity by putting your start ingredients into some of the internet beer calculators.

So basically if my SG was 1.040 and my current gravity is 1.020 then I figure I have more ferment (20/40 =50%) but if it is about 1.012 or 1.008 then I figure I'm done (because 10/40 is 25% or 100-25=75% consumed by the yeast). That 75% is a rough value, and verys a lot from yeast to yeast. I think Wyeast lists varrious strains from as low as 60% to others as high as 80% attenuation. I use a SG of1.040 because most starter kits for first time brewers have a target gravity around that.

Now as to the sour, if your at your true end, then it is either 1) do you like the flavor, or 2) is it really too sour? Sour is caused by acid and as a last resort you could try what wine makers do to modify that, but that is a 'hmm I'll give this a try before I pour it down the drain' type resort. Like everyone else here I recommend more time and a hydrometer.

 

[bgrayson726]

Patience is key. I brewed an IPA once that (according to an online calculator) had 124 IBUs. It was my first IPA and I got a little hop-happy. I had the first beer and it was very bitter, but I like that so I kept drinking it. As always, I put a six pack right next to my fermenters and basically forget about it. When I got around to drinking those 6 (a few months later), they were AMAZING. If you don't like the beer and if it has too strong of flavors (in your case sourness), let them sit in the bottles for a few months and re-try them.

Sourness could be caused by many things, not just the ingredients you used. Bacteria can cause sourness, but if you are certain that you were sanitary, I wouldn't worry about it too much.

RDWHAHB (in a few weeks)

Cheers!

 

[mhenry41h]

What style is it? It likely shouldn't be sour unless you are brewing a style that you know should be so...

 

[sockmerchant]

Man... I did a westmalle clone recently that i was SUUURE was ruined. Tasted quite sour (in the fermenter for 2.5 weeks at that point) I was a sad panda. I had every intention of dumping it. The only thing that stopped me was laziness. It took another week till I got around to it. Luckily, I tasted it again. Lo and behold it was awesome. Over-attenuated sure, but awesome. Added some maltodextrin to get the FG up a bit and bottled a day later. An early sample bottle was had yesterday. Easily the best beer I have made... by quite a margin in fact. Guessing it was mostly suspended yeast that caused the sourness (Wyeast 1214).

Hang in there, it should be fine

 

[zickefoose]

I'm doing a Belgian Strong and it tastes really sour, the flavor has changed dramatically between my post boil and post fermentation, I can still taste the doughy-ness I'm supposed to be getting out of it, it just needs to sit for another 2 - 3 weeks before I even think about bottling.

No brew is bad brew... just less or more drink-able