What should I expect from my beer?

[kef300]

This wasn't my first all-grain, but its the first time this happened to me:

Last Saturday, I ran out of propane after mashing, right before boiling, and was unable to get a new tank since it was already late. I was brewing an American Pale Ale.

I didn't want to throw away my wort, so I capped my boiling pot and left it overnight. I didn't get a chance to resume the process until around 4pm on Sunday.

When I opened the pot, there was a thin white film over the entire surface. The wort had also a slight flour tortilla smell. I decided to siphon the wort to another pot to get rid of most of the white film.

I carried on with the boiling and transferred the beer to the fermenter. It is now fermenting.

I wasn't too worried about leaving the wort out overnight since I assumed the boiling would probably kill any infections/bacteria that might have snuck in. However, the film I saw and the smell (that did fade away after boiling) left me a bit confused. I also don't know if there are any reactions that occur to the starches and sugars if you leave a wort out overnight before boiling.

Did anyone go throw this before? Am I going to have a drinkable batch?

ALSO, IMPORTANT: Might as well ask. Saturday was NOT a good day for me. For this beer I'm referring to, I had created an American Pale Ale recipe, and, stupidly (I still don't understand how I let this happen) I added a lot more water during the second step of my batch sparge (read the total amount of sparge water as my second sparge and poured that in). What I did to compensate that was boil my wort for an hour before any hops and then proceed normally during the second hour. I ended up with the expected 5 gallon amount of beer. Does that additional hour of boiling before hops affect the sugars and flavour of the beer?

Last Saturday was not a good day.

 

[ImNoExpert]

Assuming that film was the start of some sort of bacteria colony, I think you can also assume that it affected the sugars in your wort unpredictably. But probably not too much. I'm guessing as I've not had any experience with that. I bet most of the bad stuff boiled off.

As for the boil, you may have had more caramelization due to the longer boil, but I would also suspect that this would be negligible.

My prediction is a good batch of beer. Maybe not great but good. Which is all we can really hope for.

Not ideal, but good job adjusting to the problems that pop up for us all from time to time.

 

[freisste]

Your mash was infected (I would venture a guess that over 99% of mashed are infected). Grain is covered in bacteria. Normally that bacteria had no chance of multiplying because it is almost immediately boiled. In your case it took hold. It (like all infections) will cause flavors. Likely in your case you boiled it quickly enough that the flavors are very subdued or not detectable.

At any rate, I certainly would NOT worry about it.

Regarding boiling times - you made a pretty simple mistake, but instead of panicking you made the best choice you could have made under the circumstances. Way to keep a level head. Likely this made an unnoticeably small change to your beer. Again, absolutely nothing to worry about.

Congrats on producing beer.

 

[snowtires]

Some beers have the mash sour before being boiled on purpose. I have let my mash sot overnight about 3 times and if there is a detectable flavour it may be good. No worries about getting infected again, it should be good to go.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Home Brew mobile app

 

[Cyclman]

+1 you likely made a sour beer, though in that timeframe, probably only minimally sour. Here's a BB video on how to do it: http://www.basicbrewing.com/index.php?page=october-31-2012-sour-mash-berliner-weisse

 

[TopherM]

There is a pretty high count of lactobacillius that naturally occurs in most vegetable and fruit husks/rinds, including the husks of grain. It's a symbiotic bacteria for pretty much all living things. Typically, that lacto is killed in the boil. They LOOOOVE mash temps, though, and will thrive and multiply if you let the mash sit. This is the traditional way to make sours, especially Berliner Weiss. I let my mash sit for about 36-48 hours to sour my Berliner. Yours sitting overnight isn't going to tart all that much.

Lactobacillus is the main probiotic you hear about in yogurts and all those GNC supplements. It's occurs naturally in the human gut and promotes proper digestion!

Go ahead and finish out the beer. You'll have a slight tart, but it could be very pleasant.

 

[jonmohno]

I wouldn't think that's such a bad thing to happen to a pale ale. Bells Midwest pale ale comes to mind when I read this thread, its kinda tart maybe from the yeast or even grains Im not shure but I liked that beer to have a tartness to it it was a little different than typical pale ales. I doubt you would have a problem since this is a technique that is desired in some beers. You probably wont notice anything, but I don't say that from experience from doing it either. Interesting if it did turn out a bit tart though and not such a bad thing in a pale ale sometimes. Ive think I have got some of mine a bit too sweet at times. Im interested in how it turns out for you.

 

[kef300]

Hey there, quick update:

I tried a bottle exactly one week ago (had been conditioning in bottles for 8 days). It tasted more bitter than what I expected, similar to a red ale I like to make. However, my idea was to have something less bitter for this batch. Had a slight green/sour taste which wasn't too bothersome at first but left an unpleasant aftertaste that didn't encourage you to keep drinking.

I had the second bottle last night (two weeks of bottle conditioning) and the sour taste, while still there, seems to have mellowed out a bit. Maybe it improved from that week of conditioning, or maybe I was in a different mood last night. The beer is drinkable but not necessarily something I want to give out with pride.

The beer doesn't smell strange and it doesn't seem to have any weird suspended particles, so I think contamination was avoided.

Hopefully it improves a bit more by the end of week 3.

 

[jonmohno]

I would just check on one every week to see how they get. You also would benefit from sticking some in the fridge for a week or two to chill after carbonation. This can help round out some harshness also after bottle conditioning.