(SIGH) My first infection

[torilen]

I made an extract about two months ago. I call it Christmas Eve Nightcap. It is a wheat beer with a little heavier hops than I usually like. Just did it for the fun of it...using up some leftovers from other beers.

It's been sitting in the secondary for almost a month and a week...maybe longer...I forget exactly when I brewed it, honestly. I had bottle some of it, but didn't have enough bottles, so I just left it in the secondary, thinking it would be safe.

Went to look in on it tonight after work, and found some tiny colonies of something floating on top. As i understand it, you can typically still save beer with an infection if it tastes okay. SO, I got as much out as I could without getting the mold into it and threw what I could salvage into the fridge.

It tastes funky. Quite different from the original flavor. And its not a mature flavor...it is funky...almost as if I had made a sour or something. It is still drinkable. Luckily, I was checking on it every few nights, so I caught it in time.

 

[RM-MN]

Now that you know you have an infection do you know why you do and how to avoid it for future batches?

I think you have been following kit instructions too closely. The kit instructions usually call for you to move your beer to secondary after a week. Thats wrong! Your beer doesn't need to be moved except for a few special cases including adding fruit, long term aging (more than 2 months), or aging on oak.

When you moved your beer from the primary to secondary your beer started out with a layer of CO2 on it that protected it from any bacteria that cannot start without the presence of oxygen. When you moved it to secondary that CO2 that was trapped in the primary between the beer and the lid was left behind. Your beer that you transferred did have CO2 in suspension that would have outgassed and returned the protection but it is a very limited amount. If you filled the carboy (not a bucket) until the beer reached the neck the tiny space between the beer and the stopper would have filled enough with CO2 to protect the beer.

For your next batches, forget the secondary unless you meet the special cases mentioned above. Your beer doesn't need to be moved, the kit instructions are wrong, and you have a funky tasting batch of beer from following them.

 

[torilen]

It wasn't a kit. I don't have time or room to do grain brewing, so I do small 1 gallon batches of stuff...usually wine or hard lemonade or ginger beer. Just started beer a couple of weeks ago. This one that got the infection was my fourth beer.

And yes, I know what happened to it. It's an easy fix to make sure it doesn't happen again. It was a mix of too much room in the carboy (after I bottled some of it) and not having a real airlock on it. hehehe. I know...you're asking, WHAT? I have three airlocks, and typically it is enough. But when this beer was done fermenting, I need the airlock. I wrapped a ziplock bag around the top and use a really strong rubber band wrapped around it to keep air out. I've done it a couple of times before, but just for a week or so while I was either waiting to free up some bottles or to get the airlock from something else.

Again...easy fix. Just don't do that again.

 

[Crohnnie]

It wasn't a kit. I don't have time or room to do grain brewing, so I do small 1 gallon batches of stuff...usually wine or hard lemonade or ginger beer. Just started beer a couple of weeks ago. This one that got the infection was my fourth beer.

And yes, I know what happened to it. It's an easy fix to make sure it doesn't happen again. It was a mix of too much room in the carboy (after I bottled some of it) and not having a real airlock on it. hehehe. I know...you're asking, WHAT? I have three airlocks, and typically it is enough. But when this beer was done fermenting, I need the airlock. I wrapped a ziplock bag around the top and use a really strong rubber band wrapped around it to keep air out. I've done it a couple of times before, but just for a week or so while I was either waiting to free up some bottles or to get the airlock from something else.

Again...easy fix. Just don't do that again.

Is homemade hard lemonade any good?

 

[torilen]

Very, and very easy to make. I'll see if I can find my recipe and paste it for you. But basically, four cups of water, 1-1/2 cup sugar, and fresh juice from two lemons. Cook it just so it starts to boil, let it cool, put in your yeast and nutrient (I actually just use bread yeast for nutrient). In three or four days, it is two cups of water, 1 cup of sugar, and 1 lemon...cook it just so it boils...let it cool...add it to the other. Do this until you have however much you want. If you have a way of tasting it after a week or so...after two or three additions, check to make sure it is lemony or sweet enough for you...I like mine very lemony. Then just let it finish fermenting out. It is great stuff. If you use EC-1118 or Premier Cuvee, you can get some ABV from it, too. This recipe should get you to around 9% or 10%, after the first couple of additions, you can increase the sugar a bit to up the ABV. Be careful with the first bit, and the first addition or two, though. Too much sugar and too much lemon can kill the yeast.

And be aware, this does NOT work the same with limes. You actually have to cut the sugar and lime with a LOT of water for the first bit and the first couple of additions. Limes seem to have a lot more sugar and/or acid in them.

And yes, hard limeade is good, too. It is a bit odd on its own, though. If you like mint juleps or mojitos, then make the limeade version, and just use that in place of any lime and water that is called for. You'll be starting with alcohol to add your whiskey, rum, or tequila to.

 

[torilen]

Oh, while I'm thinking of it. You can zest a few lemons and put the zest in for extra flavor, too. I would roll the lemons around in a sanitizer first. Even though your getting the mixture up to a boil, I would be safe...you never know what's crawling around on produce.