Sour tasting beer.

[BeerBrewerDan]

Hi,

Today i took a hydrometer reading of my beer after it had been fermenting for 4-5 days and it read 1.008. I also sneaked a sip and it tasted like beer but had a really sour taste. I found the beer drinkable-ish but I cant imagine feeling like much more after a small glass. Is this usual? I mean I expected home brew not to taste as well as store brought beer but is sour taste expected? Is it from not sterilizing the equipment? My bucket was brand new so I thought that wouldn't matter and all the other stuff like, measuring cups, spoons etc had been washed properly after the last time being used. Next batch I will defiantly buy some sterilizing solution.

Also will this sour taste be fixed after waiting 2 weeks for the carbonation process in the bottles to be done?

Thanks

 

[RM-MN]

So you just found out that you don't like the taste of the active yeast in your beer with all the intermediate products that are formed during the acitve ferment but are later absorbed or broken down. Give your poor yeast a little break. Let them have another week at least before you sample again.

 

[Elkobrewer]

If you did not clean and sanitize your equipment you might as well dump it out. It will be infected. And also who said that home brew is not as good as store bought if made properly it's way better more hop flavor and aroma plus it's fresh and has no preservatives

 

[BeerBrewerDan]

So you just found out that you don't like the taste of the active yeast in your beer with all the intermediate products that are formed during the acitve ferment but are later absorbed or broken down. Give your poor yeast a little break. Let them have another week at least before you sample again.

Okay thanks for the reply. I'll leave it another week then see how it goes.

 

[BeerBrewerDan]

If you did not clean and sanitize your equipment you might as well dump it out. It will be infected. And also who said that home brew is not as good as store bought if made properly it's way better more hop flavor and aroma plus it's fresh and has no preservatives

Yeah I just assumed store bought was a lot better quality. I think I'll leave it another week or so like the person above said

 

[AZCoolerBrewer]

My understanding is that everyone goes to all the trouble of sanitizing everything to avoid sour beer. Some people use certain strains of bacteria and yeasts other than ale and lager yeast and some of those things make the beer sour, but usually the brewers that do that go into it with their eyes open and are trying to make a particular kind of sour beer. I'm pretty new too. I am fermenting my 4th brew right now. Welcome to the forum.

 

[masskrug]

Even beer at bottling time (3 weeks) isn't great. You're sucking on krausen at 4 days? It must be miserable. You still have to carbonate it and let it sit for 3 weeks (in the bottle).

 

[kevy]

Home brew can be life changing.
I feel so bad for those narrow minds stuck on miller or bud... more of the good stuff for us!

 

[charliethebum]

Hate to say it, but there's a good chance you've got an infection on your hands. I would let it ride and not throw it out just yet, but don't expect any miracles. At least now you know all that preaching about sanitization isn't BS welcome to the obsession by the way

Oh yeah, starsan is your friend! Don't fear the foam

 

[Elkobrewer]

Agreed don't fear the foam lots of foam

 

[charliethebum]

At four days your krausen (the thick brownish foam on top) probably hasn't dropped off but once it does you'll be able to better identify an infection. Google infected beer pictures different bacteria look different but they should be unmistakable.

 

[IslandLizard]

All I can say: How to Brew. Please read the section on cleaning and sanitation. Understand the difference and why it's done. In brewing we rarely sterilize, but we sanitize and need to do so systematically.

Starsan is one of the best and easiest to use sanitizers on the market. Iodine based products are next (e.g., Iodophor). Bleach (at the correct concentration) is good, but last on the list for ease of use.

 

[muels]

Don't dump it! Most of the work is already done. Give the poor beer a chance. Also, sanitization is a must. May be bad may not, don't pitch it.

 

[mongoose33]

Just....wait.

I'm a new brewer, and here's what I've experienced. I had a English Bitter with extra DME going in a fermenter. Gave off some of the worst fruity smells I could imagine. It was just killing me, because fruity wasn't what I was going for, not by a long shot.

Couple of people said "just wait and give the yeast a chance to clean up any off flavors." I left that beer in the primary for 3 weeks. Guess what? No fruity tastes! In fact, I was quite happy with it.

The same goes for bottling. I think you have to experience bottle conditioning to really believe in it--at least, I needed to experience it. I bottled an Irish Red Ale with a somewhat sour flavor to it, a fairly lousy finish. It was drinkable, I suppose, but only that.

After a few weeks in the bottle, guess what again? It's smoothed out and it's really a nice beer.

So give it it a chance. I think RM-MN has hit on it above--early on, all this weird stuff is going on, and what you might taste then isn't likely to represent anything other than....process. You have to let the process play out.

 

[BeerBrewerDan]

All the foam had already dropped of by 4 days? The instructions the extract said no longer then a week before bottling? If I leave it another week it sounds like it will go rotten/bad.

 

[mongoose33]

All the foam had already dropped of by 4 days? The instructions the extract said no longer then a week before bottling? If I leave it another week it sounds like it will go rotten/bad.

I'd leave it for 2 or 3 weeks before bottling.

Have you run across the Brulosophy site yet? Marshall Schott does these really neat experiments, comparing various methods, ingredients, and so on.

Among the many "exbeeriments" is one about racking to a secondary or leaving the beer in the primary:

http://brulosophy.com/2014/08/12/primary-only-vs-transfer-to-secondary-exbeeriment-results/

My second batch I left in the primary for 3 weeks. Happy with how it turned out.

You might check out the other exbeeriments; lots of interesting stuff there.

 

[BeerBrewerDan]

Is this infected? I compared to one's on Google but my one doesn't look too bad.

 

[IslandLizard]

^ That looks great!

Just don't leave it open unless you're going to rack it to your bottling bucket, right away. You don't want anything dropping in there...

It can still be infected, hard to tell from looking at it. Not all infections grow a pellicle (scummy layer on top) or do it in 4-5 days. How does it taste? Better than yesterday? It's still very "green" (young) beer.

Remember, every time you lift the lid or tinker with your beer there's a chance of infecting it.

 

[Stillraining]

Dan:
I think I remember your the guy that had too full of bucket and no airlock/blow off tube issues...Your making some very basic mistakes on your fist brew which is both good and bad.. Just a bit more reading and you will have a better handle on the whole thing.

In a nut shell..prior to boiling its not as critical to be sanitary. After boiling anything that comes in contact with your beer is a chance for infection. Wild yeasts and bacteria are floating in the air we breath..so just pulling off the lid like that is giving them a chance to take hold.
I would venture to guess your beer is perfectly fine since your stuff was new and will remain so even with whats gone on so far.
Just tighten up your post boil procedures a bit and spend some time reading about your next steps to be taken prior to taking them from the huge knowledge bank here or elsewhere that has gone before you.

Time is your friend with beer..

 

[BeerBrewerDan]

Yeah I try not to open it. But I have done it for this photo and for hydrometer readings. I will invest in a fermentation vessel with a tap in the bottom so when I take readings I don't let bacteria in.

 

[The_Bishop]

The tap in the bottom can be worse for letting bacteria in unless you are compulsive about keeping it clean/sanitized. Also, make sure you never break it off moving a full fermenter!

 

[Stillraining]

Yeah I try not to open it. But I have done it for this photo and for hydrometer readings. I will invest in a fermentation vessel with a tap in the bottom so when I take readings I don't let bacteria in.

Also remember that there is no "This is the Only way" to beer brewing...Everyone has their opinions about things, myself included...Come up with what is easiest or makes you feel the most comfortable and go that direction.

 

[IslandLizard]

+1^ Spigots on fermenting buckets can create a whole series of worse problems.

Leave the beer in the closed bucket for 2-3 weeks, until it's ready to bottle. There's no need to open it before that.

To do a gravity test, snake a skinny vinyl hose (1/4" diameter) down the airlock hole (after removing airlock) and siphon beer out into a large cup on the same level as the bottom of the bucket. To start the siphon suck on the end of the tube until the beer flows. Don't let it flow back. Replace airlock.

 

[GHBWNY]

+1^ Spigots on fermenting buckets can create a whole series of worse problems.

Leave the beer in the closed bucket for 2-3 weeks, until it's ready to bottle. There's no need to open it before that.

To do a gravity test, snake a skinny vinyl hose (1/4" diameter) down the airlock hole (after removing airlock) and siphon beer out into a large cup on the same level as the bottom of the bucket. To start the siphon suck on the end of the tube until the beer flows. Don't let it flow back. Replace airlock.

This ^ @OP. Also, sanitize the inside of the lid and bucket rim each time you remove/replace it. That said, don't do it often. Taking a sample through the airlock hole is the least invasive and least likely to introduce contaminants. I use a 100ml plastic syringe with a 12" length of [sanitized] rigid 1/4" plastic tubing on the end. A 100ml sample fills the hydro case with hydro in it perfectly and provides a nice taste sample to see where the beer is at post-ferm. Re-sanitize the airlock stem when replacing it after sample has been taken.

So, let this beer ride. Put the lid on, forget about it for a couple weeks. Do some reading on how to brew. Then take another FG reading, and then again a couple days later just to insure both readings are identical. If they are, your beer is done fermenting and ready to package. If the numbers are not the same, fermentation is still going on and it's not safe to bottle.

Welcome to the obsession.

 

[sky4meplease]

Your beer looks delicious. When I open a primary vessel and see that I am like a kid at Christmas.
I love the ideas here about how to sample without removing the lid. I typically just let primary go for extended periods to insure completion and even dry hop through the grommet to keep from opening prior to bottling day. Slowly raising the temperature toward the end of fermentation will help keep the yeast active and promote them consuming the compounds that produce the off flavors you were tasting while young.
Brew on and stay sanitary my friend.

 

[RM-MN]

All the foam had already dropped of by 4 days? The instructions the extract said no longer then a week before bottling? If I leave it another week it sounds like it will go rotten/bad.

It doesn't take long for the yeast to eat all the easily fermentable sugars and when they are done with that, the work on the intermediate products of fermentation which cleans up the beer. In that phase of the ferment, there is no CO2 produced so you don't get bubbles which means that you don't have the foam as the bubbles will only support themselves for a short time. Forget the instructions from the extract. They are flat out wrong. The early part of the ferment may be done and even the cleanup phase might but there will be a huge amount of yeast still suspended in the beer that has to settle out to keep from getting off flavors from the yeast. Being that this it your first beer, you're probably in a hurry to get it bottled, carbonated, and chilled so you can sample it. Take a hydrometer reading at day 9 and record the number. Take another at day 11 and if they match, you can bottle the beer and it will be pretty good. Longer time in the fermenter will drop out more of the yeast so you don't get as much settling out in the bottle and may get you a better tasting beer too.

 

[BeerBrewerDan]

Since i took a gravity reading 2 days ago. I decided to take another today, and got the same reading. So i test bottled 5 bottles and will let those sit for about a week and a half. I tried another little bit and it tasted better. So i will probably give the rest of it another 5 days then take a reading and bottle it.

 

[GilSwillBasementBrews]

I would just bottle the rest of it. As by removing some you increasing your headspace in your fermenter which will increase oxygen exposure leading to oxidation issues possibly. I would've either a)let it all sit a bit longer or b) bottle all of it. But I wouldn't recommend bottling some and waiting for the rest. If it's done enough to bottle some it should be done enough to bottle all. If you're not sure if it was ready to bottle you shouldn't bottle any of it. If you think it's safe to bottle some of it you should just package it all at one time and be done with it. Increased headspace and additional exposure will not do your beer any favors. Might be fine but each time you play with it you increase the odds of it not being fine.

 

[RDominique]

Home brew can be life changing.
I feel so bad for those narrow minds stuck on miller or bud... more of the good stuff for us!

Gotta stay hydrated during those hot summer months

 

[ColeVet67]

Hi,

Today i took a hydrometer reading of my beer after it had been fermenting for 4-5 days and it read 1.008. I also sneaked a sip and it tasted like beer but had a really sour taste. I found the beer drinkable-ish but I cant imagine feeling like much more after a small glass. Is this usual? I mean I expected home brew not to taste as well as store brought beer but is sour taste expected? Is it from not sterilizing the equipment? My bucket was brand new so I thought that wouldn't matter and all the other stuff like, measuring cups, spoons etc had been washed properly after the last time being used. Next batch I will defiantly buy some sterilizing solution.

Also will this sour taste be fixed after waiting 2 weeks for the carbonation process in the bottles to be done?

Thanks

I'm sorry but as few beers as i have made.. they ALL tasted better then store bought. JUST FYI.. :rockin: