Brown IPA

[Geddey]

HI Everyone

I hope anyone can help me before i go crazy :)

I have just disposed of my second 40 pints of IPA after initial fermentation as the beer was brown and smelt like vinegar and tasted horrible, on my second lot i found that the lid had a tiny crack in the side can oxygen during fermentation cause this? i have cleaned the bucket with VWP and Steriliser but i am still getting brown and smelly beer, can any help please.

Thanks

 

[An Ankoù]

HI Everyone

I hope anyone can help me before i go crazy :)

I have just disposed of my second 40 pints of IPA after initial fermentation as the beer was brown and smelt like vinegar and tasted horrible, on my second lot i found that the lid had a tiny crack in the side can oxygen during fermentation cause this? i have cleaned the bucket with VWP and Steriliser but i am still getting brown and smelly beer, can any help please.

Thanks

A bit more info needed:
Could you provide the full recipe and and some process data? I've been fermentingin a bucket with a mighty crack in it for some time. Just replaced it. Didn't cause the beer any problems though.

 

[Geddey]

HI, thanks for your response :) i cleaned the bucket with VWP and rinsed out with cold water then sterilised with no rinse sanitizer, i used kits on both ocasions and monitored the temp/fermentation with a Tilt Hydrometer and kept in a fermentation fridge at 19 degrees and opened the bucket once the gravity had stayed stable at 1008 for 2 days and both times the sample after had been horrible and was a dirty brown colour with bits in it, with a nasty vinegar smell to it.

 

[Geddey]

the first time was a wilko IPA kit and the second time was the mangrove jacks Pink Grapefruit kit

 

[Dutto]

Back in the day (i.e. 1968) I had two consecutive brews smell and taste like vinegar …

… and gave up brewing for many years!

Back then, I didn’t realise how important sanitising EVERYTHING was! By “everything” I mean everything that comes into contact with the brew.

A visit to a commercial brewery near Pickering finally convinced me after seeing tons of sanitising liquid scattered around the site.

I agree with @An Ankoù that we need more information so please start on the basis of the above and consider what may be going wrong.

First up for me would be “How old is your sanitiser?” Personally, I use a combination of Tesco’s Thin Bleach and Star-San; but I still check that they have an acceptable pH.
:hat:

 

[Geddey]

Thanks, so taking it back to basics, the only thing i think i didnt sanitise is the hops edition packet i added, the sanitizer is not that old and the VWP is pretty new, i left all equipment soaking in VWP before rinsing and sanitizing

 

[RichardM]

If your fermenter is plastic is it scatched? Scatches can harbour bugs that sanitiser wont get. Have you calibrated the Tilt (and did you sanitise it)? Are you sure the temperature was contolled properly?

 

[Geddey]

yes the temp stayed at constant temp i have an inkbird setting the temp, the tilt was calibrated and sanitized

 

[An Ankoù]

Could you give more recipe details. How long in the fermenters? At what stage did it begin smelling of vinegar? From what you say, I don't think sanitation is the main issue, but I'm fascinated by the vinegar-especially in fresh beer.

 

[Dutto]

HI, thanks for your response :) i cleaned the bucket with VWP and rinsed out with cold water then sterilised with no rinse sanitizer, i used kits on both ocasions and monitored the temp/fermentation with a Tilt Hydrometer and kept in a fermentation fridge at 19 degrees and opened the bucket once the gravity had stayed stable at 1008 for 2 days and both times the sample after had been horrible and was a dirty brown colour with bits in it, with a nasty vinegar smell to it.

Personally, I follow the 2+2+2 system and avoid Dry Hopping wherever possible.

I make up for the Dry Hopping by making a Hop Tea and introducing it after the 2 weeks fermentation and before the 2 weeks carbonation. (The last 2 weeks being taken up by Conditioning before I start drinking.)

 

[Geddey]

i sanitized and added wilkos IPA kit and hot water then topped up with cold water, left to cool with the lid on and then added yeast and put into the fridge temp stayed at 65f, og was 1.0430 and ended at 1.0080 and was frementing for 13 days, ABV is showing as 4.59%, i only noticed the smell once i took off the lid to move to keg, sampled it and it tasted of vinegar

 

[Geddey]

Personally, I follow the 2+2+2 system and avoid Dry Hopping wherever possible.

I make up for the Dry Hopping by making a Hop Tea and introducing it after the 2 weeks fermentation and before the 2 weeks carbonation. (The last 2 weeks being taken up by Conditioning before I start drinking.)

Sorry to sound like a newb, is the hop tea hot water and the hops, do yo not waite forthe standard 10 days for a kit

 

[RichardM]

Personally, I follow the 2+2+2 system and avoid Dry Hopping wherever possible.

I make up for the Dry Hopping by making a Hop Tea and introducing it after the 2 weeks fermentation and before the 2 weeks carbonation. (The last 2 weeks being taken up by Conditioning before I start drinking.)

Have you got the right thread?

 

[Dutto]

Sorry to sound like a newb, is the hop tea hot water and the hops, do yo not waite forthe standard 10 days for a kit

Absolutely not! I have yet to see a Kit manufacturer suggest that the maker waits six weeks before drinking it; but almost everyone says that the brew tasted better after a period of conditioning!

I make the Hop Tea in a coffee cafeteria using boiling water and hops.

If the recipe calls for the hops to be introduced during the fermentation process I tend to ignore it and make a Hop Tea instead.

I also don’t use bottles and use 10 litre kegs instead. This means that I can carbonate with CO2 gas and at the same time condition the brew.

Most brews come clear after two or three weeks from kegging, but they definitely taste better after two months or more.

 

[Dutto]

Have you got the right thread?

Definitely.

 

[RichardM]

Definitely.

While what you say is right about 2+2+2 I don't see what it has to do with a brew tasting of vinegar when fermentation is complete.
Undoubtley you need to give a beer time to condition it shouldn't taste of vinegar when fresh. To me that sounds like an infection or off flavours to due to temperature issues.

 

[Dutto]

While what you say is right about 2+2+2 I don't see what it has to do with a brew tasting of vinegar when fermentation is complete.
Undoubtley you need to give a beer time to condition it shouldn't taste of vinegar when fresh. To me that sounds like an infection or off flavours to due to temperature issues.

Which is what I pointed out in my original Post (#5) and which could have been introduced with the hops!

Please read things before commenting.

 

[RichardM]

Which is what I pointed out in my original Post (#5) and which could have been introduced with the hops!

Please read things before commenting.

I have read all of the thread. The OP makes no mention of dry hopping. You introduced dry hopping, hop teas and 2+2+2, all of which I suspect are irrelevant to his problem.

 

[Old Fart At Play]

i sanitized and added wilkos IPA kit and hot water then topped up with cold water

Adding water you haven't boiled could be an issue

 

[Dutto]

Thanks, so taking it back to basics, the only thing i think i didnt sanitise is the hops edition packet i added, the sanitizer is not that old and the VWP is pretty new, i left all equipment soaking in VWP before rinsing and sanitizing

I have read all of the thread. The OP makes no mention of dry hopping. You introduced dry hopping, hop teas and 2+2+2, all of which I suspect are irrelevant to his problem.

As you seem to have some form of attention deficit, I have highlighted the first mention of “hops” in Post #3 from @Geddey !

I have also highlighted your latest Post where you assure me you have read “all of the Thread then accuse me of “introducing” the subject of hops when I responded in Post #5.

You may apologise anytime!