Will time heal this wound?

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

ISLAGI

1 beer short of a sixer
HBT Supporter
Joined
Nov 23, 2008
Messages
376
Reaction score
4
Location
Frogtown, OH
Made a PM Helles using the following recipe with DeathBrewers stovetop PM process...

Ingredients
Amount Item Type % or IBU
4 lbs Light Dry Extract (8.0 SRM) Dry Extract 57.14 %
3 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 42.86 %
0.50 oz Hallertauer Hersbrucker [4.00 %] (60
min) Hops 4.1 IBU
0.25 oz Vanguard [4.80 %] (60 min) Hops 2.5 IBU
0.50 oz Vanguard [4.80 %] (30 min) Hops 3.8 IBU
0.50 oz Hallertauer Hersbrucker [4.00 %] (30
min) Hops 3.1 IBU
0.50 oz Hallertauer Hersbrucker [4.00 %] (5 min)Hops 0.8 IBU
0.50 oz Spalter [4.00 %] (5 min) Hops 0.8 IBU
3.00 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 min) Misc
1 Pkgs Pilsner Lager (White Labs #WLP800) Yeast-Lager

OG : 1.055
FG : 1.006

3 days @ 70F to start fermentation
3 weeks @ 50F primary
1 week @ 40F to settle
All done in 6.5g carboy

Yeast never made a cake, kind of looked like seaweed balls (posted this part before). Racked to bottled. Tasted the sample that I used to check OG and I loved it.

After 1 week (too soon I know) I decided to crack one of the bottles to check for color and get some idea of the flavor. Color was beautiful. Reminded me of a stein at the Hofbrauhaus.

Problem is the taste and smell reminded me of ass. :eek::eek: I think it is phenolic, but I am pretty noobish to be definitive. It is almost like tasting an aluminum band-aid.

I am hoping that this may mellow out, but I can't seem to find anything that says whether this may go away. :confused:

Tanks....
 
I'm no expert when it comes to lagers, but your primary and secondary (if one was done) procedures seem a bit off. As I understand it, you should start and maintain the primary fermentation cold (~50F). Many of the phenolic flavors could easily be tied to the 3 days at 70F. You also have hardly any "lagering" time, which is a necessity for the style. Also, it looks like you kept it in the same vessel... keeping the beer on the yeast that long doesn't help with flavor either (for lagers at least). Personally, I wouldn't be too optimistic about it getting much better. Lesson learned hopefully.
 
I vote for letting it age but do it in a cold environment. The damage done is probably from the high Initial temperature. Lagers should take longer to ferment because of the cold. I've only attempted brewing a lager once but I kept it cold from day one and it turned out well. I did keep it in primary and secondary for about three months. I think the first month was primary. Do a search for off flavors and look up what could cause the phenolic band-aid taste. I think it's chlorine that causes that... maybe.
 
3 days @ 70F to start fermentation

I bet 90% of fermentation was completed in those first three days...you've essentially made a steam beer! With lagers, it's best to pitch with the starter and wort at the intended fermentation temp, in the mid to low 50s. With this approach, you may not even need a diacetyl rest.

As has been pointed out though, it's too early to declare it a disaster. It's staggering what several weeks of aging can do. Put the bottles away for a while, and hope for the best.
 
Back
Top