Sour Sunset Wheat Clone

[MARSBrew]

I have read all the threads regarding "did I ruin this" and did not find the answer I want. Here is the question...Brewed an extract Sunset Wheat Clone using the recipie I found here. And after kegging and force carbonating the beer is very sour. I understand waiting, but can I take it off the gas and out of the refrigerator to let it sit for awhile? This is my third brew, with my second resulting in a beeracide. I dont want to kill another beer.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
TanK

 

[MARSBrew]

Here is the extract I used.

6 lb wheat DME (55% wheat, 45 %barley)
2 oz cluster hops
Wyeast Labs #3944 (Belgian Witbier)
1 oz coriander (toasted and crushed)
1 ounce blueberry extract added to keg

Bring 5 gallons water to boil, remove from heat. Add DME and 1 oz hops. Return to boil. After 45 minutes add 1 oz toasted, crushed coriander and remainder of hops - boil for 10 more minutes. Top-off fermenter to achieve Original gravity 1.051. Ferment to final gravity 1.010 - 1.012 (10 - 14 days at 70F). Add 1 ounce blueberry extract to keg when transferring from fermenter. Serve at 9 psig and 40 F.

The blueberry will seem too strong at first but will fade over the course of the first few weeks in the keg/bottle

 

[kpr121]

bump. I also have the exact same issue. Sour wheat and it's already carbed and kegged. Leave in kegerator or take out? Depressurize?

 

[wonderbread23]

I say drink it or dump it. If it is soured (ie, contaminated with acid producing bugs) it is not gonna get any less sour.

 

[MARSBrew]

Ok...so how is it getting sour. This makes two bad batches. My sanitation tech. is spot on (I believe). Talked to the local home brew shop owner and he doesnt know either. I cant continue to ruin these wonderful beers.

Im using Starsan... can you go directly from sanitation bucket (wet) into the wort?
Thanks,
TanK

 

[HokieBrewer]

Fermenting in plastic or glass? What water are you using for top offs?

 

[MARSBrew]

Plastic primary and glass secondary. I did not top this beer off. What I had left from the boil went straight into the bucket.

I am new to brewing and starting to get discouraged by two sour batches. My Strawberry Blonde was my fault...It blew up in my basement due to an air lock instead of a blowoff tube. I thought I could salvage it but was wrong.

This Sunset is not overly sour but does over power any wheat flavor.

 

[wonderbread23]

You sanitize with Starsan, but what do you clean with? If there is any matter at all left it the vessel, racking tube, spigots, etc. it can harbor microbes. Also, a scratched bucket can harbor bad things. Starsan will only be effect if there is no leftover debris in the item you're sanitizing. Also, how are you cleaning the kegs?

 

[MARSBrew]

Cleaning the kegs with dishwashing detergent then sanitizing with the StarSan. Can you recommend a better cleaner or is Dawn ok to use. The buckets are all new Ale Pails that I just purchased. I assumed a quick dousing of the sanitizer would kill anything in them and anything else that may be left over on my equipment.

 

[MARSBrew]

Just did some more reading on bacterial infections and it sounds like I have a lacto or pedio infection in some of my plastics. Can I use bleach in my buckets since they are almost new and replace everything else.
Thanks
TanK

 

[wonderbread23]

I'd use PBW to clean the equipment. Dish detergent is less than optimal. Was it sour before you kegged? If not, I'd start there by completely disassembling the kegs, soaking long and hot in PBW and then sanitizing with Starsan. Infections tend to hide in tough to clean areas, like the spigots on buckets, racking canes, etc... these are usually considerably cheaper than the actual beer, so I'd lean towards replacing them.

 

[uwjester]

It might not be an infection. When I first got into kegging, I was way overcarbonating my beer and the resulting carbonic acid can taste pretty sour. Can you describe your carbonating process? If you are force carbonating at high pressure and then backing it off for serving, you could be getting too much CO2 disolved in the beer. Or you might have an infection.

 

[MARSBrew]

I am force carbonating...2 days at 30psi than 5 days at 10-12 psi or serving pressure. th problem with this batch is that I did not taste prior to kegging. i was a little skeptical of this clone because it actually smelled citrus (sour) when kegged, but i figured the blueberry extract would help.
If it is over carbonated is it salvageable. Right now it is unhooked from the gas, sitting in my basement but still pressurized in the corny.

Again, thanks everyone for the great info.
I really want to make this brewing adventure work for me!!!!
TanK

 

[uwjester]

You might want to bleed off pressure every now and then, just to make sure. You can always re-carbonate it if it turns out to be infection-free.

Personally, I carbonate for 2 weeks or so at 10psi. I figure it will take that long for the beer to finish aging. By the time the beer is ready to drink, it is carb'd up just right. But, then again, lots of people do the high pressure method.