I'm ready to admit defeat. I have a brew that fermented at too high a temperature. I was told to leave it be and let the yeast work. I left it in the carboy for 2 months and its been bottled for 3 months now. Just opened one and the smell was bad, very skunky. The taste was just as bad. Any hope for this or should she go to the sewer rats?
Time to raise the white flag?
- Thread starter Dirk7728
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NineMilBill
Well-Known Member
I don't know if you've had successful batches before or since this one - but it would behoove you to take a comprehensive look at your process to determine is fermentation temperature is the sole cause of the off-flavors. Even water quality can play an enormous factor on your final product.
Depending on the type of beer, it might be able to age a while longer.
There are plenty of uses for bad beer though. You can cook brauts in it, google mancakes and beer bread. Maybe a beef stew. Just because it isn't drinkable doesn't mean you have to dump it.
There are plenty of uses for bad beer though. You can cook brauts in it, google mancakes and beer bread. Maybe a beef stew. Just because it isn't drinkable doesn't mean you have to dump it.
Dirk7728 said:
How high is too high? Typically you get fruity flavors from that, bubble gum, and banana. Skunky sounds like. Different problem. Can you better describe the flavor? Is it wet card board or something else?
jigidyjim
Well-Known Member
I agree. Skunky != high temps.
Im not much of a wine drinker but the after taste reminds me of wine. The alcohol taste in the back of your throat that lasts for a bit. The after taste tastes like a really bitter green apple. I remember the fermentation temps hitting 80 -85 degrees.
Yes i agree with you too. I was thinking my water was off. I have well water, but i have fair batches not great batches with my water, but not that bad. I have just recently started using store bought water. Im trying to eliminate things so that i can get that really good batch
Yeah, that's hot. If you're getting green apple and warm alcohol, that's from the temp, and probably won't fade much other than with the flavor of the brew fading. I'd still keep it around for a bit if I were you, see if anything happens or if it makes good beer brats. But I feel your pain, bro, it happens to many of us.
Joed15
Member
I'm new to brewing w/ only 4 extract batches brewed. Would tasting samples of the wort/beer at each step (before fermenting, before second fermenting, before bottling) of the process help identify where the off taste is coming from?
ludomonster
Well-Known Member
Buy a green bottled beer and let it sit in sunlight for an hour. Cool it and taste it. That's a skunked beer. If your beer has that kind of flavor, you need to ferment it in a darker place.
Yes, yes it would. If you're tasting each beer at each step, you'll know where the flavor begins, that helps a lot. Also, learning how different beers taste at different stages will help you in many other ways as well, not just in identifying off flavors. I taste every gravity sample I take, from pre boil to FG at packaging. I think having a well trained beer palate is really important to any brewer.
Dirk7728 said:
http://morebeer.com/content/homebrew-off-flavors
I like this resource for off flavors. Sounds like the green apple flavor could fade a bit, but the hot alcohol taste is going to stay. I agree with Nord save a few for cooking, stick the rest in a corner in the basement and check them in 2-3 months.
NordeastBrewer77 said:Yes, yes it would. If you're tasting each beer at each step, you'll know where the flavor begins, that helps a lot. Also, learning how different beers taste at different stages will help you in many other ways as well, not just in identifying off flavors. I taste every gravity sample I take, from pre boil to FG at packaging. I think having a well trained beer palate is really important to any brewer.
It's great to learn the difference between young beer and off flavors. It is amazing how different a beer will taste if given another two weeks to age.
I brewed a stout that I named Schitzo Stout because it tastes different every time I try it. After one week in the bottle it was sweet and chocolaty. At 2 weeks the sweetness was where it should be but the chocolate was gone completely. All I could taste was coffee. By week 3, the chocolate was back but mixed nicely with coffee flavors. I had another this weekend, 50 days in the bottle, and the first sip was chocolate aroma more than anything. The flavor was all chicory. Even as it warmed it changed. One sip I swear vanilla was the dominate flavor and there isn't vanilla, coffee or chicory in it!
I brewed a Bourbon Vanilla Cream Ale once that tasted awesome going into the bottles; by far the best taster I've had yet. Three weeks later it had changed into a very harsh flavor and a month after that it was a good solid beer but it never achieved what that first taster promised.
Beer is a finicky mistress!
NoRoom4Error
Well-Known Member
My first batch was crap and my 2nd was brilliant. On my 4th now. Don't give up!
For sure! You see a lot of guys mistaking 'green' or young beer flavors for flaws. And it makes sense, young beer doesn't taste right, so it comes across as flawed. When it comes to beer, your sense of taste and smell are your guide, so knowing how beers taste and smell throughout their life is a great way to develop your brewer's (not drinker's, that's different) palate.
