the taste of bac. contamination

[ekjohns]

so i brewed the belhaven oktoberfest and tasted my 1 1/2 week bottle which had a bit of a sulfer rotten egg smell. Now i know that 1 1/2 weeks is VERY early to tell the final taste but it got me thinking about the actualy taste and smell of bacteria. Has anyone ever tasted a contaminated beer and describe the taste. I doubt my beer has bac. but just wondering what it would taste and smell like. I used Kolsch yeast if that has anything to do with smell

 

[elmetal]

did you use lager yeast? If yes, did you ferment in lagering temperatures?

lager yeast tends to leave that smell when fermented at ale temperatures. you said it was an oktoberfest so I just took a wild guess.

 

[ekjohns]

kolsch ale yeast brewed at about 60-65. hopefully it will mellow as it sits??

 

[elmetal]

hmm... yeah time heals all wounds

 

[ekjohns]

does that sulfer "fart" smell disipate after bottling or is that smell trapped in for good?

 

[dontman]

Kolsch is meant to lager for a good while before being bottled. I honestly don't know how much of that off flavor can dissipate in a carbed bottle. BUT You are right it is way to early to know. If after three more weeks it still has that flavor then it might be time to think about it.

You have illustrated exactly why I never even sample a beer until well after its green period. If there is an off flavor it is hard not to worry about that flavor for the remainder of the conditioning process and then boom, you try it after a couple weeks and it is perfect.

Moral: just put it away for a while and try not to think about it.

 

[Saccharomyces]

Kolsch yeast produce sulfur during fermentation. It will be gone within 2 weeks after the end of fermentation.

 

[chillhuman]

Kolsch yeast produce sulfur during fermentation. It will be gone within 2 weeks after the end of fermentation.

I have had varied results with Kolsch yeast. Sometimes you can't walk by the carboy without the elephant fart smell, but I have 2 batches now that neither one gave any off smells. They were both fermented in the coolest part of the basement, which varied b/w 58-63F since start of activity. I don't bottle, but its probably my favorite yeast and I have never had a batch end up with the rotten egg smell coming out of the tap. I don't have the temps to lager, so I use the Kolsch in German style beers which call for lager yeast, and it gets me close.

 

[ekjohns]

well hopefully the sulfer smell will mellow or condition out hopefully it isnt trapped in

 

[Edcculus]

To add to that, there are only a few types of bacteria that typically make it into beer and can survive in beer. The most common bacteria are Acetobacter and Lactobacillus. Acetobacter is a type of acetic acid bacteria. It metabolizes ethanol into acetic acid (vinegar). If you had this infection, you would get a very distinct vinegar aroma and flavor. Lactobacillus is a type of lactic acid bacteria. It is responsible for sour milk, and the sourness associated with Lambic, Gueuze, Flander's Red and Berliner-Weiss. A lacto infection is somewhat harder to identify, though it usually results in sourness. My only experience with lacto is when I got lazy and didn't clean out my mash tun for 2 days. That was the worst decision I ever made.

 

[ekjohns]

I tasted it and it didnt taste sour. It tasted like a green oktoberfest but had a little sulfer taste but that was prob. from me "tasting" the smell