Looks like I've got an infection

Northern Brewer General
1

I made a 5 gallon mash (pilsener and a little Crystal 60, OG 1.065) and split it into two 2 1/2 gallon batches, hopped one with Simcoe and the other with Amarillo for IPAs (both around 75 IBU). Added a 1.5 liter 1056 starter, split between the two. Things seemed to be going fine for two weeks, then I added an ounce of hops to each one for dry hopping. After a day, the Amarillo smelled very strongly of cider vinegar, although the hop aroma is evident as well. The next day the Simcoe batch smelled that way too. These don’t smell a little off, it’s a very strong odor.

Is there any chance that this is anything other than an infection?

2

probably soured but let it age and try it sometimes a beer gets dumped too soon.

3

24 hours seems quick to go from hero to zero…did you gravity/sample at the time you added the hops? Did it taste OK?

Could also just be the hop aroma…wait it out and see…if fermentation went well the alcohol level for that OG should be sufficient to prevent a major infection…

I’ve had stuff that I’ve turned my nose at…couple of weeks later and I have to remove the tap handle to save some for later…patience pays…

4

So they smelled normal at two weeks, but bad the next day?

Have you tasted them?

5

No, I haven’t tasted. Probably a good idea, but it’s hard to imagine right now, I’ll wait a few days and see what happens.

Both points, the fact that id would be strange that it went south so quickly, and that the alcohol should help protect it are good. Also, these are in two different fermenters, so they would have to have picked up the same critter(s) on the cold side.

Thanks for the help, it’s a big help to be able to depend on you folks.

6

Little scary that at one point, post fermentation, the beer tasted fine and now you are picking up vinegar type smells. Really, if you want to know if this beer is good or not, all you have to do is taste it. There’s no denying an acetobacter infection, give it a taste and you will know instantaneously, its either not vinegar, on its way to vinegar, or completely vinegar. Anytime I have gotten this in the past I also noticed floaties in the beer that were definately abnormal, and I am not talking about stuff that would be hard to see. Jellyfish and cobwebs creeping completely from one side of the carboy to the other, and all over. I sure hope you don’t have a bad batch, I hate wasted beer.

7

+1 Seems too quick. Give it a taste.

8

It’s OK!

Thanks for the advice to taste this, it tastes pretty good. It is a hopbomb, but that was intended.

I may have overdone the dry hops, but they will, of course, be a lot less strong after a few weeks.

This is an experiment, I made a 5 gallon mash, pilsener and a little crystal 60 for an OG of 1.065, then split that into two 2 1/2 gallon batches and boiled with different hops, one Simcoe, one Amarillo. The purpose was to learn about the effects of different hops. I dry hopped with an ounce of each, after adjusting the 60 minute and 15 minute additions to shoot for the same IBUs in each.

An ounce each in dry hop may be a bit too much, but we’ll see.

Thanks again for the help.