Wierd rubbing alcohol smell and cloudy. Dang, dude

[AgentPowers]

I'm new to home brewing and have encountered a possible problem. I'm only doing extract brewing at this time with the Coopers kit. My first two batches have been fine. The lager that came with the kit was good and my second batch was the Coopers English bitter which I just had a glass of this weekend after 2 weeks in primary and 2 weeks conditioning in the bottle. It is fantastic beer.

So, for my 3rd batch I decided to go with the Coopers signature series Australian bitter. It calls for 1.5 kg of light malt extract , the liquid kind. The local shop didn't have coopers brand so I bought 1.5 kg's of Briess golden light malt extract, the liquid kind. I also added about 250 g's of corn sugar to up the alcohol just a touch since it seems like if I follow the instructions for a Coopers brew I end up with an ABV of about 4%. I was wanting to hit closer to 5% which is why I added the additional sugar.

For this batch I did it as I normally would. Boiled 2 quarts of water and mixed in both the malt extract and sugar. Filled to the 20 liter mark and decided to heat some water to bring the temp up a little as I filled to the 23 liter mark. I read that when pitching yeast in cold weather where the brew temps will be a little lower it is good to pitch at a slightly higher temp. The temp strip on the fermentation bucket read 24 C. Coopers instructions say to pitch at 21 to 27 c.

So, anyway, it didn't look like it was fermenting since there was no foam on the top. After the 4th day it started to foam up. I'm one week in primary at this point and the temp has remained a pretty steady 20 to 21 C. The gravity seems to be slowing it's rate of decent but man, the beer smells and looks like crap. The English bitter I just did was cloudy too but it cleared up nicely and is fantastic. I'm worried about this batch. By the way, I did sanitize everything with Starsan.

I'm planning on letting it sit in primary for another week and I'm hoping it'll improve. What do you guys think?

 

[ong]

Did you add any hops? I'm wondering if you may have thought you were using a pre-hopped extract.

 

[twistr25]

According to Cooper's the Australian bitter is a lager. It says to pitch in the 22-24C degree range, but it should be fermented closer to 13C. I have a feeling those rubbing alcohol smells could be fusels from fermenting to warm for that yeast. May not really be a way to recover from that. Also if it started fermenting late, it likely just needs more time to clear.

 

[Jayhem]

Never, never, evAr add sugar to boost the alcohol of a recipe. The recipe was not designed for it and the proportions of hops and other malts are not suitable for this modification. Sugar added like this results in a strong alcohol smell and nasty flavors. If you want higher ABV% you should brew a style that is designed as a higher alcohol beer.

Also, most of my ales take at least 2-3 weeks in the primary to clear up and settle out.

 

[AgentPowers]

Gotcha. Nice info, fellas. It seems like some of the odor has dissipated but not resolved. At this point I think I'll move the container to my basement where the temps are closer to 17C and then let this sit a bit longer for a total of 2.5 to 3 weeks. Maybe I can salvage it.

I did not add hops. The Coopers kits are typically pre-hopped.

 

[Jayhem]

The hardest part to master as a new brewer is patience. A lot of beer that tastes bad after fermentation can improve a lot with time. If the sample tastes harsh when you are about to bottle, give it another 2-3 weeks in primary and taste test it again. That said, if the process isn't right, you ferment too warm, don't use enough healthy yeast or contaminate the beer with bacteria it may never get better. In the 3 years I've been brewing I've only had one batch that was "bad". and I dumped out most of it but other batches have been anywhere from OK to Awesome!

 

[AgentPowers]

Cool. The issue may revolve around the temp, which is odd. My first two batches turned out great and were done at the very same temp as this third batch. Further still, I followed Coopers instructions, short of adding a little corn sugar in the boil. Crap, for all I know this batch will turn out great too. I've had some doubts along the way for all three so far but despite my doubts the first two turned out nicely but, the first two didn't have a fusel odor either.

I love this new hobby!

 

[Trox]

If the kits had different yeast then they'll act differently at the same temp.

 

[AgentPowers]

I'm not gonna lose faith yet. Thanks for the input and I'll post back later to let ya'll know how it turned out.