So i decided to brew while intoxicated.....

[anonymouslyyours]

ok.... i think i screwed up....

I made a wort with mainly DME, LME, and some hops (pretty ordinary). I then proceeded to add a lager yeast, and an ale yeast. In my drunken stupor, i failed to think about how dry and bitter this could end up being.

Primary went for about 10 days, then into secondary, where it has been for about 5 days. I drew a little out to taste last night, and displayed a prominent "bitter beer face", followed by surprise, followed by shock, followed by guilt.

Primary Fermentation was around 68 degrees f (I know... too cool for ale, and too warm for lager)

It is lagering in my basement right now at approx 57 degrees f.

The beer is still very cloudy...... will the bitterness subside when it clears? Should i add some gelatin to aid in the process?

Did i just majorly screw my brew or what? Will conditioning relieve some of that bitterness? Or did i just fail miserably?

 

[Jayhem]

LOL. Do you have any idea what recipe specifics you used?

How much water in the boil? How much DME, how much LME? What hops and weights and when did you add them.

Hard to tell much without specifics of your recipe which it sounds like you don't know due to intoxication haha.

68F is just the right temp for Ale Yeast.

 

[Stauffbier]

68 isn't too cool for ale. I ferment all of my ales between 61 to 64F... It's hard to say what the two different yeasts did. One may have dominated over the other, and/or they may have worked just fine side by side. Give it time to finish fermenting and plenty of conditioning time (if bottling) and it may turn out just fine!

 

[TopherM]

There are several yeasts that are a blend of ale and lager yeasts, so nothing crazy going on here, you just have to know what you're going to end up with. Ideally you would have ferment at the lower part of the ale yeast range, which was probably around 59F.

You are going to end up with a tinge of the intended off flavors of the steam beer style from the presence of the lager yeast....just a touch of buttery esters. These off flavors are encouraged in the steam beer style and many belgian styles. You can always condition these flavors out with some extra conditioning time if you don't care for them.

 

[anonymouslyyours]

Here are my notes: even while drunk, i still keep fairly good notes. =)

* i added about 1-1.5 gallons to pot before adding extracts. Ended up with a 5 gallon batch. Pitching temps were within recommended temps.

1 can 3.3 Lbs Muntons Amber Hopped Liquid Malt Extract

2 Lbs Corn Sugar

1 lb Dried Amber Malt Extract

1lb Dried Briess Light Malt Extract

1 Package Lager Yeast and 2 tablespoons of yeast slurry from finished “spring Amber”, added to “starter" at approx. 90 degrees F for the 20 mins approx. before adding to wort. O.G 1.060 Approx 6.5%

½ oz hallatau pellets 10 min boil

1 oz glacier leaf hops alpha acid 5.9% 10 min boil to be removed

 

[Jayhem]

27% corn sugar is going to be one dry beer. I've never messed with hopped extracts, not sure what kind of IBU's that might provide but it can't be that much.

I'm curious how this turns out. Let us know when you try it.

 

[emccarthy25]

With that much sugar, I'd be concerned about a cidery taste

 

[anonymouslyyours]

Ok, i just pulled a little from the secondary (still has krausen in secondary @ 5 days, primary @ 10 days)

To my surprise, the bitterness has subsided slightly (even since last night) ..... it is fairly dry, no cidery taste. (maybe the lower temps for secondary?) When you first taste it, it is actually ok, but then about 10 seconds after a sip i get a strong bitterness aftertaste on the back of my tongue, and throat that is somewhat shocking.

This is my first lager, and i noticed a strong sulfur smell while fermenting.. is some of the remnants of the sulfur causing the bitterness? If they are relieved over time, this could end up being ok after all.

 

[anonymouslyyours]

Either way, i am starting an advocacy group to prevent this from happening again.... we'll call it "Friends don't let friends brew drunk".

 

[BrewinHooligan]

The guy I chat with at my LHBS gave me a wise peice of wisdome one day, "never start drinking till the boil starts". I have heard lager yeast gives a lot of sulfur smell but I have not lagered yet. The last wheat beer I brewed had a strong sulfur smell during active fermentation, but once finished there was no sulfur flavor in the beer.

 

[Jayhem]

Yea, sulfur compounds will fade away over time, I'd leave this in secondary another week and then bottle.

 

[ScoRas]

I think you made budlight platinum!

 

[scottedk]

I got a good laugh out of this. I have no idea what you would need to do but it is a good story nonetheless.

I think you made budlight platinum!

XD!

 

[anonymouslyyours]

Update: I ended up kegging this brew, and let is age some more...... i tasted about 3 beers a week to track the progress. The bitterness subsided a bit, but it was basically undrinkable. The flavor wasn't bad, and wasn't cidery at all, but the bitterness was unbearable, and you could taste it 30 minutes later still lingering in your mouth. It really never cleared, and kind of looked like a foamy glass of mud.... This was the ONLY time i have ever dumped homebrew, and hopefully the last. I ended up drinking 2 gallons, and dumped 3