What Happened?????

[Darren Andrews (Daza)]

Hey guys went to start bottling after cleaning all my bottles and equipment to be faced with this...then the smell at first was like very sharp and like vinegar, but then in glass trial jar and measuring jug, not as bad, I'm wondering if I cold crashed and dry hopped before it had finished fermenting, it still had that krausen on it when I dry hopped....the gravity reading was around the 1.014? I put it bac in fridge to do another cold crash was that the right thing to do? please help, very disappointing....

Daza :-(

[Darren Andrews (Daza)]

dry hopped for 5 days and no mesh bag and cold crashed for 3 days

[Craig Howard]

I would run down to the local brew shop and get a pack of finings to add to that brew and leave it for at least 2 days.

[Darren Andrews (Daza)]

they not open should I put some Irish Moss in it?

[Craig Howard]

Try 1 level table spoon of gelatin in 300mls of warm water.  Dissolve it completely and add it gently to the top of the fermenter with a very very light stir.  ( Do not agitate it all up)

Seal the fermenter and wait 2 days plus.

[Darren Andrews (Daza)]

The mash temp on this one went mental shot up to 85C for 4 mins max while I was trying to raise temp back up when it went down to 62C (too much gas!!) would this make any difference to end beer? maybe my fermentation is taking longer cause I'm using 1 packet of dry yeast? says that it's ok for 23L batch and on Mrmalty.com

[Grant R Baker]

High mash temps (above 76C) can extract tannins from the malt hush... but 85C for 4 minutes might have just been a pocket of hot mash and is unlikely to drastically affect the beer. I wouldn't worry about it.

[Grant R Baker]

Next time let the primary finish and the karusen fall then dry hop. Beer / yeast will clean it self up (and not just in appearance) but to do so needs warmer temps 18-21C to work.

Cold crashing will stop the yeast from doing any other conversion work.

 

For a PA / IPA try 10 days Primary, 7-10 days Dry Hopping, 2-4 days Cold Crashing.

 

Leaving the current batch in the fridge sounds like a good idea for this one.

[Darren Andrews (Daza)]

it's at 1.8C and was going to add gelatin 2 days out before bottling(hopefully!) on Saturday. 

[Peter Church]

Take off a glass from the fermenter, put it in your fridge to settle a bit beforehand then try it, if you taste vinegar then... I suspect astringency, from the mash temp possibly leading to pH being too high, I dont know if there is any way of getting rid of this or masking it. The decision on what to do next will rest on what you taste

is this the same brew that had krausen still after 14 days?

fermentation temp was well controlled?

read the following then use your palette to work out what the issue is, if there is one, keep tasting every chance you get

http://beersmith.com/blog/2012/08/12/sour-off-flavors-in-home-brewe...

http://beersmith.com/blog/2012/06/19/phenolics-and-tannins-in-home-...

Astringent
Astringency differs from bitterness by having a puckering quality, like sucking on a tea bag. It is dry, kind of powdery and is often the result of steeping grains too long or when the pH of the mash exceeds the range of 5.2 - 5.6. Oversparging the mash or using water that is too hot are common causes for exceeding the mash pH range. It can also be caused by over-hopping during either the bittering or finishing stages. Bacterial infections can also cause astringency, i.e. vinegar tones from aceto bacteria.

The brown scum that forms during fermentation and clings to the side of the fermentor is intensely bitter and if it is stirred back into the beer it will cause very astringent tastes. The scum should be removed from the beer, either by letting it cling undisturbed to the sides of an oversize fermentor, or by skimming it off the krausen, or blowing off the krausen itself from a 5 gallon carboy. I have never had any problems by simply letting it cling to the sides of the fermentor.

[Darren Andrews (Daza)]

is this the same brew that had krausen still after 14 days?

fermentation temp was well controlled?

Yep same brew, and fermentation temp is perfect!! well when I say that it does what I want, but I ferment at a constant 19C with a 0.5C variance I usually do not touch the scum on sides like first brew, but maybe ths got swirled in to it? and the High mash temp was from me heating up the kettle, too much gas! could be a factor? I'll get a glass and put in fridge to clear. I want to learn about the pH levels and how to get them right.

[Darren Andrews (Daza)]

the taste was....I don't know didn't swallow a large mouth full the hops flavour is very different to what I'm used to and could be I'm recognising a new taste in that? the clarity is good, might not even need a gelatin mix? the question is Is it worth carbing & bottling? nothing to lose but 3 weeks I guess...

[Peter Church]

the fundamental taste wont change much, things will mellow and evolve but if the beer is faulted then there is no getting away from that, if it tastes like malt and hops then your good to go,. so if your not getting nasty astringent or vinegar etc then bottle away.

Also with crash chilling you shouldn't need to add gelatin

The section on astringency above is from how to brew