Forgive me for asking this question as I’m sure it has been asked before but I didn’t have much luck in finding anything about this in my brief search on this message board.
I recently brewed a Liberty Cream Ale I bought from Midwest Supply. The entire brewing process went as directed and I was really looking forward to my first taste of the beer. I used the dry yeast that came with the kit. I fermented the brew for 9 days in the primary and switched to a secondary. I let that go for 15 days before kegging it. I thought I was particular about cleaning and sanitizing with Star San. I went to take my first drink and was very disappointed. The taste was bad and the aftertaste was worse. I couldn’t drink the glass of beer. I had high hopes the the great reviews the kit received.
How can I tell if the beer is contaminated? Is there a smell or bad taste? This is my 5th brew, I’m very pleased with the first four.
Yes - tell us about your fermentation temperatures. What did you cool wort down to before pitching yeast and what temp. was room at that you fermented in, or temp. strip on fermenter.
Also, other things after you put beer in fermenter where infection could have occurred…
gravity checks?
Tubing and siphoning
Bottles - were they clean, did you use new or used, how did you clean them?
Spigots, siphon starter, bottle filler . . . did you take them apart when you sanitized.
Did you rinse after sanitizing with starsan (you should not rinse)
To be honest, my first guess would be high fermentation temps throwing off fusel alcohols and giving a really harsh flavor. This is one of the most common things early on when people first start.
I live in Lincoln, NE. I cooled the wort down to 70 degrees before pitching the yeast. I fermented in a room that I kept at a steady 67-68 degrees and the temp strip stated about the same.
gravity checks? - OG was 1.042
Tubing and siphoning - all cleaned and sanitized
Bottles - were they clean, did you use new or used, how did you clean them? I kegged and did clean with BPW and StarSan.
Spigots, siphon starter, bottle filler . . . did you take them apart when you sanitized. - I kegged this batch and cleaned everything, new o-ring gaskets, scrubbed and sanitized.
Did you rinse after sanitizing with starsan (you should not rinse) - didn’t rinse.
I will have to have some fellow brewers that live close by give it a try and see what they think.
[quote=“IBRACN”]I live in Lincoln, NE. I cooled the wort down to 70 degrees before pitching the yeast. I fermented in a room that I kept at a steady 67-68 degrees and the temp strip stated about the same.
gravity checks? - OG was 1.042
Tubing and siphoning - all cleaned and sanitized
Bottles - were they clean, did you use new or used, how did you clean them? I kegged and did clean with BPW and StarSan.
Spigots, siphon starter, bottle filler . . . did you take them apart when you sanitized. - I kegged this batch and cleaned everything, new o-ring gaskets, scrubbed and sanitized.
Did you rinse after sanitizing with starsan (you should not rinse) - didn’t rinse.
I will have to have some fellow brewers that live close by give it a try and see what they think.[/quote]
A few years ago I tired a recipe I put together for a Smithwick’s clone. Didn’t taste good to me or a friend. I gave it to someone to “extract the essential oils” He and his wife thought it was a great beer and drank it.
Well, my next door neighbor brewed a cream ale a week before me (I didnt know that) and I had him give mine a taste. He said it taste just about like his. He liked it. He did say that I need to recarbonate it or carbonate it more and that is the only problem he saw in the brew. Guess it just isn’t my taste but glad it isn’t contaminated.
I’m going to join LincolnLagers once the February meeting gets here. I have a lot to learn.
He and his wife thought it was a great beer and drank it.