Sour taste and smell

[ibanezgfx]

Hi all, I'm new to brewing and have done a few small 1 gallon batches.
My first was the Brooklyn Brew Shop Everyday IPA kit. Turned out well, slightly overcarbed, kind of gave me plastic tasting burps (tap water).

My second kit was Northern Brewer Smashing Pumpkin where I used real pumpkin per their suggestion. Turned out tastey but had a sour off smell. Very under carbonated and took a while to get carbed.

Next was Northern Brewers Brickwarmer Red. I messed something up and got a Banana flavor/smell.

Finally, just finished the Northern Brewer Dead Ringer IPA and it came out with the same off sour (?) smell and taste to it. Also undercarbed.

The common factors of the pumpkin and dead ringer are
1) Fermenters Favorite Fizz Drops (will never use again)
2) Cold Crashed 1 gal carboy in fridge taking airlock out and covering with aluminum foil
3) Rehydrated yeast prior to pitching

Sour is the best way I can describe the taste and smell. Just want to know what it could be that I'm doing wrong to try and avoid in the future. I just did my first 5 gallon that is currently fermenting and going to avoid the cold crash and fizz drops. Any advise?

Thanks!
Adam

 

[bbohanon]

You did not mention your sanitation conditions/habits or your fermentation temps during active fermentation..Both of these could contribute to the problems you mention.

Another one is water..are you just using your tap water? If so, try using store bought spring water or distilled water next time around. Tap water in alot of places can cause the off flavors if not conditioned prior to brewing with it.

Just some initial thoughts as I read this and I am sure others will chime in.

 

[ryantollefson]

I agree with bbohanon that we need more info, but my first thought is sanitation. How are you cleaning bottles? How are you filling bottles - Siphon, auto-siphon, starting siphon by mouth, etc.?

Also, distilled water should work fine for extract, but probably need to modify it if doing all-grain.

 

[flars]

I'll add, what is the length of bottle conditioning time before tasting?

 

[compumasta]

Howdy,

Being that I recently did both the Brickwarmer Holiday Red, and NB Smashing Pumpkin Extract kits, I feel like I might be able to lend a hand. The banana-ish flavor and smell sounds a lot like a fermentation temp issue. I have had that in some beers using S-04 yeast and warmer temps. The sour taste, is it tart, bitter, or some funky fruit taste? As a new brewer, it can be hard to best represent these flavors, but please do your best.

It is possible, if sanitation was not perfect, that there may have been an underlying infection causing the sour taste. If that was the case, you may not have gotten the vessel clean enough to rid the infection before making a new brew, thereby transferring the same flavor to the next batch.

Also, like has been said here, what water conditions you have may make a huge difference as well.

Hope this helps, and don't give up, you will get the hang of this.

 

[ibanezgfx]

Thanks for the replies.

I've been using Starsan for sanitation.
Fermentation temps for the sour batches were mid-upper 60's in a dark basement.
I'll clean the bottles and fill with Starsan, shake for a bit and empty, there is still a decent amount of suds from the sanitizer in the bottles prior to filling.

The Dead Ringer has been in bottles for ~4 weeks now. I've opened 2 and one had zero carbonation, a week later (2 nights ago) i opened the second and it was barely carbed. I had them in the fridge for 2 days before opening.
Bottles are in a bucket in a closet in the basement at mid 60s in the dark conditioning.

I am siphoning with a racking cane attached to the tube which i soak in the sanitizer then fill with sanitizer to start the siphon.

For the dead ringer, i bought the water from the grocery store.

*EDIT*
oh yeah, the 'sour' smell is really the best way i can describe it. my wife thought it smelled like pumpkin, but i think that is because the pumpkin beer smelled identical. I may bring one up to the homebrew store and have him crack her open and smell it to see what they say.

Maybe I'll be more careful cleaning the bottles for this next batch. I plan to bottle next week sometime.

Thanks again!

 

[WoodlandBrew]

Pumpkin is often associated with acetaldehyde. If that's the case here, then it will get better with time.