Sour wheat beer. What happened?

[FuzzyIguana]

I just cracked a bottle of a basic wheat beer. It turned out dark and absolutely disgusting! It was so sour and had a terrible residual flavor. It was a 1 gallon test batch so I didn't lose out too much. My time is worth more than a 3lb grain bill.

Anyone have an idea what caused this? I followed normal sanitization procedure. Could it have been bad yeast?

 

[Dcpcooks]

Not much information to help diagnose the issue other than dark and terrible.

Dark can indicate oxidation. Did you notice anything off at fermentation or bottling? Sour indicates some form of infection.

What’s your normal sanitation procedure?

 

[FuzzyIguana]

StarSan used for all brewing components with at least 2 mins contact time. Beer was oddly dark after boiling which kind of made me look twice.

Good, strong fermentation and I hit my FG after 7 days exactly. I have a feeling there was an infection somewhere due to the wort already being too dark.

Don't drink and brew.

 

[phendog]

Dark and disgusting can mean only one thing. We need more info
Yeast used, grain bill, ferm temp, water used (low pH??), did air lock dry out?,

 

[Dcpcooks]

So the color isn’t really a symptom? Could you have scorched the wort?

What’s your pre sani cleaning process Oxiclean or PBW? I’ve seen many examples of infections coming from bottling buckets and wands.

How old is the beer?

 

[FuzzyIguana]

Here is a picture of the entire recipe - sorry for the lens flair with flash. I pre-washed the kettle before boiling with OxyClean then rinsed. I pre-washed bottling bucket and all bottling accessories (at time of bottling) with OxyClean and rinsed, then sanitized with StarSan. I have city water with normal amounts of chlorine and it's never been an issue...I never adjust pH or minerals for my water.

I went back into my recipe program the other day and added yeast nutrient - that's the reason the date on the sheet is so current. The beer fermented for 7 days exactly until I hit FG. I do not use a secondary - I let it clear for another week in the primary then racked carefully into bottling bucket as usual. Hose tip at bottom, no splashing, whirlpool fill.

 

[FuzzyIguana]

I'm now wondering if the honey at flameout caused the infection. It wasn't raw though so I'm not sure.

 

[Dcpcooks]

I was curious about the honey but if you added it at flame out it should have pasteurized it regardless.

I’d give all your gear an overnight soak in 130 degree PBW. Then a hot rinse in 130 degree water followed by a sani treatment.

You may want to pull any valves apart for a cleaning as well.

It’s really a process of elimination at this point but sour definitely indicates some form of cross contamination. It’s really hard to speculate on the source or microbe.

There isnt anything that stands out from the recipe imo. So I’d look at equipmemt beginning with everything post boil including valves and transfer gear.

 

[FuzzyIguana]

I was curious about the honey but if you added it at flame out it should have pasteurized it regardless.

I’d give all your gear an overnight soak in 130 degree PBW. Then a hot rinse in 130 degree water followed by a sani treatment.

You may want to pull any valves apart for a cleaning as well.

It’s really a process of elimination at this point but sour definitely indicates some form of cross contamination. It’s really hard to speculate on the source or microbe.

There isnt anything that stands out from the recipe imo. So I’d look at equipmemt beginning with everything post boil including valves and transfer gear.

Thanks a million. Seriously, I appreciate the help. I don't own any PBW. Is that safe for all plastics, too? I will be close to my local brew store this afternoon and will pick some up.

 

[jschein]

I was curious about the honey but if you added it at flame out it should have pasteurized it regardless.

I’d give all your gear an overnight soak in 130 degree PBW. Then a hot rinse in 130 degree water followed by a sani treatment.

You may want to pull any valves apart for a cleaning as well.

It’s really a process of elimination at this point but sour definitely indicates some form of cross contamination. It’s really hard to speculate on the source or microbe.

There isnt anything that stands out from the recipe imo. So I’d look at equipmemt beginning with everything post boil including valves and transfer gear.

And soak your bottles too

 

[Dcpcooks]

Yes it’s totally safe for plastics. I like to shake things up with regard to cleaning and sanitation. So I’ll switch cleaners and sanitizers at times. I use star San, acid 5 iodine based sanitizers and bleach at different times.

Plus one to cleaning the bottles well!

 

[FuzzyIguana]

Soak bottles in PBW?

 

[jschein]

Yes, this could have been part of the problem

 

[Dcpcooks]

Look at everything post boil!

 

[FermentedCulture]

The problems might be independent of each other.

Lots of wheat beer yeast produce a high ph drop and produce other compounds which adds to the tartness. Since the darkness occurred before fermentation perhaps it wasn't due to oxygen or turbidity.

If you have a funnel and cotton wool/coffee filter/french press you could mash the wheat and pilsner malt in separate mini mashes then strain it and see if one of those are the source?

 

[FuzzyIguana]

I'll probably pick up a few oz of each and do a mini mash of each. That's a good point.

 

[FermentedCulture]

Maybe you mixed up the wheat and the biscuit malt .

 

[FuzzyIguana]

Maybe by LHBS did! Ah ha!

 

[gypsyhead]

Yeast does darken as it autolyses, which may have happened during the 2nd week in the carboy. A heavy pitch of a low-flocculating wheat yeast might darken in suspension if the carboy got too hot.
Another likely cause of post-boil darkening like that is by oxidation. Brulosophy did a few good articles recently on NEIPA darkening that were pretty astounding.
How do you chill and transfer your wort into the carboy? Did you pitch all 11g of yeast (5gal dose), and did you rehydrate prior to pitching?
How would you further characterize the sour taste/smell? Where in your mouth does the flavor linger?

 

[bolus14]

The fact that it was dark at the end of the boil sounds like a grain mixup or scorching.

Depending on what caused that it could also be the cause of the sourness. I've never fermented scorched wort but maybe something from that caused the sourness. Also, as someone else suggested maybe there was a grain mixup up, if you got a fair amount of acid malt somehow that would certainly give some sour taste.

 

[FuzzyIguana]

The sour taste wasn't the favorable kind. It was like battery acid (exaggerating). SS wort chiller, rehydrated dry yeast (it was a2.5 gal batch), and a basic transfer from kettle to carboy. I think my LHBS messed up my grain bill or it was an infection from something. Thanks for all the suggestions. It's gone now - down the drain.