A series of **** ups?

[Darren1973]

Hi, well it had to happen sooner or later. I brew a darker more hobgoblin type and there were a couple of things i did different to my previous brews which i dont think i'll do again:

1. I used the tap on my electrim boiler to move the post boiled wort into my fermenting bin rather than a syphon.

2. I used the tap on the fermenting bin to bottle rather than the syphon.

I think i may have oxygenated the brew by doing this as when i went to try a bottle (only 7 days after bottling) is was flat and had a vinegary smell to it. Not sure if i should bin the lot or leave it a few more weeks to see if it improves as i may have been a bit too early in testing it although the previous two were fine after a week to test.

Also ive brewed a SMaSH brew using Golden Promise malt and Citra hops, went to do an OG after boil and chilled and firstly it looked like a sample id send to the doctor lol (very very pale) and the OG was low (1.30) so i reckon i"m not doing something right.

 

[RGeats]

Number 1 won't be an issue, in fact it's a good thing, you want to aerate post boil and pre fermentation. I doubt number 2 would cause an issue for you either. Oxygen won't cause the issues you are talking about.
I wouldn't chuck it, leave it a couple of weeks and try it again. 7 days isn't a lot of time to carbonate and condition. Even if it isn't great in 2 weeks I wouldn't chuck it straight away, nothing to lose from leaving it a while.

Not sure what your problem is regarding your SMaSH without knowing more about your process or ingredients. However you may end up with a lovely beer, if a bit lower strength than you expected.

 

[An Ankoù]

1. I used the tap on my electrim boiler to move the post boiled wort into my fermenting bin rather than a syphon.

2. I used the tap on the fermenting bin to bottle rather than the syphon.

1. That's a good thing. You want plenty of oxygen in the pre-fermentation wort so that the yeast can go forth and multiply like rabbits before getting stuck into the actual work of making alcohol.
2. Should be a problem. It's best to avoid as much oxygen as possible at bottling time and it sounds as though you've got an acetobacter infection. As long as it doesn't taste of vinegar, it won't get any worse now that it's in the bottle. Is there is a bot of a vinegary smell, it should dissipate and the beer should be at least drinkable. But neither will it improve. You need to figure out where the infection came from; was it a dodgy bottle or has the batch been infected. If it doesn;t taste good after 4-6 weeks in the bottle, it's a gonner.

 

[Darren1973]

Thanks for you reply, i was thinking i was getting a bit cocky after 2 good brews lol i'll leave it another week or so. The SMaSH brew looks like straw at the moment but then again my first SMaSh with Maris Otter Extra Pale was the same and it was lovely. I guess if it ends up at 3.1%+ thats not a disaster. I used 4Kg of Golden Promise with 12 litres of strike water at 64oC then sparged with an extra 16 litres at 74oC to make about 25 litres pre boil i did throw some away as it wouldnt all go in. I batch sparged leaving each batch for about 5 minutes before draining then returned to electrim boiler for the 60 minutes boil adding 14 grams of citra hops for 60 minutes, 15 minutes and 5 minutes after boil. Then chilled to 20oC and syphoned (filtering using a hop bag) into the Fermenting bin, i took a reading then. Added the yeast ( Safale US-05) and thats where im at now with it. Fingers crossed on both lol

 

[Madhouse]

If your SMaSH grain bill is only golden promise then it will look like straw, it's got an EBC of 5. If you want a bit of colour you need to add a crystal malt, you don't need much to make it an amber. Would need to know more about your process to establish why your OG is low.

In terms of your two points, the first is a good idea anyway to aerate the wort. The second could oxygenate the beer but if you used a tube/bottling wand to fill from the bottom it's no issue.

 

[Darren1973]

It turned out to be a lovely brew, drank it all lol! Citra hops makes it very bitter compared to others ive used like Cascade for example

 

[Darren1973]

Also the dark brew was a total write off, the smell was more nail polish remover than vinegar. Anyway I repeated it a few weeks later, the only change was to syphon into bottles rather than tap, turned out to be a lovely brew this time, keeping a mini keg back for xmas :)

 

[Baz Chaz]

Unless its patently obvious and the brew is obviously infected, it's always worth keeping a brew for a while, had them in the past where I'd really thought 'no get rid' .... but can't stand waste!
Left one recent batch that although it wasn't off, it just wasn't to taste. Moved it from into one end of the stock cupboards out of the way to try in a month!
Yup ,it was improving and the remaining bottles after being left for a further month have been moved into their proper place in the stock and are going down steadily!

I'm a bit OCD at times, I keep my stock of beers in brewed order

 

[Darren1973]

Unless its patently obvious and the brew is obviously infected, it's always worth keeping a brew for a while, had them in the past where I'd really thought 'no get rid' .... but can't stand waste!
Left one recent batch that although it wasn't off, it just wasn't to taste. Moved it from into one end of the stock cupboards out of the way to try in a month!
Yup ,it was improving and the remaining bottles after being left for a further month have been moved into their proper place in the stock and are going down steadily!

I'm a bit OCD at times, I keep my stock of beers in brewed order

I have to admit it was heartbreaking to pour 22 litres down the sink

 

[MickDundee]

It turned out to be a lovely brew, drank it all lol! Citra hops makes it very bitter compared to others ive used like Cascade for example

If you are using exactly the same amount of citra at 60mins as you are cascade it’ll be much more bitter. Citra has AAU of about 12% whereas cascade is more like 7%. For the same bitterness you want to have less citra at 60mins than you do cascade.

You might want to look at some some software/apps like Brewers Friend or Beersmith so you can dial in some recipes and check the bitterness from them etc.

In respect of your OP, I echo what the others say that 1) should be beneficial not a problem. For 2) when you say you bottled from the tap, did you use a bottling wand or just straight from tap to bottle? The latter isn’t a good idea but a bottling wand is standard practice. Oxidation is unlikely to be apparent just a week after bottling so any issue is something else. You say it was flat, have you had it somewhere with a stable warm temperature?