I've finally come to terms with a bad beer I brewed. I allowed some notty to ferment too warm and I will be dumping it later today. For anybody who thinks they can age out fusels: be cautious. I sat on mine for 4 months before making this decision. Fermented too warm for about 12 hours and that was way too long. Too bad...it finished around 9.3%.
Sound the horns: Dumping a batch
- Thread starter SteveHeff
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That sucks. I've read that fusels cannot be aged out but I am dubious. I made an amber a few years back that got too hot also. It had this awful solvent like taste. Ive often described it as between nail polish remover and gasoline. It was by far the worst beer Id ever made. I sat on it for about 4 months like you and no improvement. Dumped all but a 12pk of it. I put the 12pk in the cellar an literally forgot about it. A year later I found it while rummaging around. To my surprised the gasoline taste had disappeared completely. Now, so had almost all the hoppy goodness but the beer was definitely drinkable. Certainly not what I had intended it to be but good in its own right.
I guess my suggestion would be to do the same as I did. Hold a 12pk back. Check it once a season. You might be surprised what you get and if it doesn't work out your not out anything more.
I guess my suggestion would be to do the same as I did. Hold a 12pk back. Check it once a season. You might be surprised what you get and if it doesn't work out your not out anything more.
I'm with ya Steve. At some point you just can't force yourself to drink sub-par beer when you can easily make more, much better beer.
You gotta watch that Notty. I've found it ferments with off-flavors at a lower temp than I expected. I've switched to other yeasts for the majority of American Pale Ales since they raised the price. Still keep a few on hand for emergency brews, but have to ferment quite low to get a clean flavor.
You gotta watch that Notty. I've found it ferments with off-flavors at a lower temp than I expected. I've switched to other yeasts for the majority of American Pale Ales since they raised the price. Still keep a few on hand for emergency brews, but have to ferment quite low to get a clean flavor.
Bummer, I think I may have to dump my Sublimely Self Righteous for the same reasons. Not really overwhelming, just not enjoyable. However, I'll sit on it for 30-45 days and see if I notice any difference though I had my doubts as well.
I still have close to a case of a botched IPA that I believe will meet the same fate sometime this week [sound of taps playing in the distance].
Beer_Eugenics
Well-Known Member
I am curious as well, I had a pale ale using Notty climb to 76 and I could not detect any off flavors.
Darwin18
Well-Known Member
No point in suffering through terrible beer. I've dumped a couple batches when I first started out. That whole "time heals everything including beer" line gets thrown around but it's not really all that true. Yes, time helps reduce some off-flavors but stuff like fusels isn't going away. I'd chalk it up as a learning experience and try to apply that to future brews.
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SteveHeff
Well-Known Member
So the beer fermented 80-82 for about 12 hours. As soon as I realized it was rocking and rollin' I ran to Lowe's for a giant plastic tub. I pitched my yeast around 8 pm the night prior and awoke at 7am to find it a hot mess. I got it into a cooler around 9 ish and got the temps down to around 68 over the course of the next 6 hours. But it was WAY too late at that point. Sucks. I was really hopeful. This was my first BIG beer and I really wanted it to work out. But alas, it was the first bad batch of beer I have brewed in almost 3 years.
TheSmithsEra
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I've made 5 Beers with nottingham and had sub-par results almost every time.
1. Special bitter- Came out great
2. Simcoe IPA- Delicious
3. APA- Sub- par
4. APA- sub-par
5. APA- Sub-par
Beer_Eugenics
Well-Known Member
I have never had detectable off flavors from Notty, I also had a Irish Red get to 76 with no off flavors. Before I bought a chest freezer most of my beers were fermented between 70 to 74 and I was always happy with the results from Notty. Even till today if my chest freezer is tied up with Lagers I will either brew a saison or an ale using Notty.
cheezydemon3
Well-Known Member
PRE CHILLING is KEY
Start your beer at 55F and it will start slowly and cooly and won't need much help to stay cool.
Start it at 75F and you are fighting an uphill battle all of the way.
Long and slow is ALWAYS preferable to "vigorous fermentation"
I NEVER need a blowoff, but I take temp control VERY seriously.
Start your beer at 55F and it will start slowly and cooly and won't need much help to stay cool.
Start it at 75F and you are fighting an uphill battle all of the way.
Long and slow is ALWAYS preferable to "vigorous fermentation"
I NEVER need a blowoff, but I take temp control VERY seriously.
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SteveHeff
Well-Known Member
This is important info for EVERY homebrew person to read. I now know this, after this botched batch, and I feel it is an easily correctable issue. Long and slow...I'm going to put that on a bumper sticker.
For what it's worth, the house I lived in previous to my home in NJ, had a HUGE unfinished basement, with 2 corners that would regularly stay between 58-65 degrees. Even during the summer. It made my fermentation control easy peasy(?). It wasn't until I moved to NJ that I found fermentation temps an issue. Hence the crappy beer.
Now, 4 months later, I have a spare beer fridge for fermenting and storage. And the swamp cooler is helpful as well. Key items for good fermentation control.
Beer_Eugenics
Well-Known Member
A saison, or a saison using Notty?
No, a saison with a saison yeast i.e. WLP565, or an ale in an ice bath using Notty.
TheSmithsEra
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well when i've used notty warm for the special bitter and even (on accident) for the IPA, the beer tasted good. When I fermented cold for the pale ales...eh not so good
Wow, i've been thinking the opposite about a slow long fermentation . .but what you say about chilling it to where its cold is easier to maintain cold temps and the uphill battle when starting around 75. .ive experienced. So I will try and chill to 60 and see if my beer improves.
i do the same after a month or so with hoppy beer since the hop flavor will either diminish or change into something less than what i was after. i couldn't imagine drinking a hoppy beer after it sat for a year.
Rideandbrew
Well-Known Member
RIS can take a year to taste good.I brewed one that tasted like a penny in my
mouth until about month 8.Best beer I've done.You have a big beer that needs time.
In regards to the long and slow...
I've found that my chiller will only get my wort to about 84F or around 24-25C. I like to set my fermentation fridge at about 17-18C and tape the probe to the warm(er) bucket. In the morning I will pitch the yeast once the wort has cooled and "leveled out". Start cool and get good beer... Start warm... Well... Eww.
I've found that my chiller will only get my wort to about 84F or around 24-25C. I like to set my fermentation fridge at about 17-18C and tape the probe to the warm(er) bucket. In the morning I will pitch the yeast once the wort has cooled and "leveled out". Start cool and get good beer... Start warm... Well... Eww.
cheezydemon3
Well-Known Member
Incorporate some ice.
Boil down to 4.5 gallons, chill as low as your chiller goes, dump on 1 lb or so of ice. (I am not 100% of the measurements there). You will get there with a little tinkering. Too cold is better than too warm.
TheSmithsEra
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I'd love to incorporate some ice to get me below 80 as well. I always thought there was a sanitation issue?
??
You could always build a small pre-chiller to put in a bucket of ice water before it goes into your larger IC in the kettle.
cheezydemon3
Well-Known Member
There I am amazingly careless...(ice) I have used it straight from ice trays, ice makers, and storebought ice. Never an issue.
Kroger around here claims that their ice is cleaner than the tap water (which is pretty high quality around here) so that is the way I go now.
Kroger around here claims that their ice is cleaner than the tap water (which is pretty high quality around here) so that is the way I go now.
user 157712
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Not to highjack or change the subject, but I've been wanting to make a confession. On Saturday I dumped an entire batch of oktoberfest that turned out to be peach bomb. I really knew better but did it anyway...I fermented with US-05. I even told my wife and she told me not to short-cut it. I fermented in the upper 50's and found out after the fact that these temps can throw a peach off flavor...and in an Oktoberfest it is just plain horrible. I thought the lower temps would produce a cleaner flavor. I'll redo from scratch with 34/70 at the very least...
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SteveHeff
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Holy crap. Did you read my mind? Wow. I'm so happy I read this. I'm brewing an Oktoberfest this weekend and I was lined up to go with S-05, along the same lines as you. I guess I'll just grab some bohemian lager yeast instead. Thanks for the heads-up. This OP has no issue with the topic change.
user 157712
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I'd say I've brewed at least 15-20 beers with that yeast and never really noticed except for the last blonde ale I made which was also fermented at the lower range. At the time I really just thought it was the late hops as I had never used Willamette before. Now I think it makes more sense. All my other brews with it were of the hoppier variety and fermented warmer. That, and I guess it would be harder to notice that peach flavor in those type of brews. Just my experience...maybe others can chime in.
sliprose
Member
I love S05 for most beers but i've found that peach flavor can be quite overpowering in light beers fermented on the cold side (low 60s). For some reason this yeast seems cleaner in the high 60s. Behaves the opposite of Notty which is really clean cold but gets unpleasant when it hits the 70s.
