Lager brew kit smelling like cider

[Hoddy]

Hi all

I have a strange, and a maybe worried too soon question.

4 days ago I started brewing brewing a 1.7kg single can kit of Tooheys special larger with whole 1.5kg can of coopers light malt (to replace the 1kg of sugar in the instructions) and 100g of bru mate to improve head retention.

It's been bubbling like a good'un but nearly stopped this evening so I thought I would take a reading to see where it's at.

Gravity when I started was 1.045 and the reading tonight was 1.020.

But when I taste tested the wort it was very very cider'ry like.

Not sure if I should be worried?? I've not brewed a lager type kit.

Thoughts on if something has gone wrong here? Any assistance great fully received.

 

[MyQul]

I had an pale ale that got infected and had a cidery off flavour. May not be an infection though

If it's acetaldehyde it just means it's too young and needs more conditioning

http://www.howtobrew.com/section4/chapter21-2.html

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Cidery
Cidery flavors can have several causes but are often the result of adding too much cane or corn sugar to a recipe. One component of a cidery flavor is acetaldehyde which has a green-apple character. It is a common fermentation byproduct and different yeasts will produce different levels of it depending on the recipe and temperature. Cidery flavors are encouraged by warmer than normal temperatures and can be decreased by lagering.
If it is caused by aceto bacteria, then there is nothing to be done about it. Keep the fruit flies away from the fermentor next time.
[/FONT]

 

[beechwood]

I did have a similar situation a few years back with both the coppers stout kit and coppers English bitter kit. They both smelt appley and tasted terrible. :sick:
Not sure what to suggest really :wha: ended up throwing mine down the sink on both occasions, haven't done a coppers kit since.

 

[ManseMasher]

I did have a similar situation a few years back with both the coppers stout kit and coppers English bitter kit. They both smelt appley and tasted terrible. :sick:
Not sure what to suggest really :wha: ended up throwing mine down the sink on both occasions, haven't done a coppers kit since.

I'm not too keen on coppers myself at times....

 

[Hoddy]

Is that coopers or the rozzers?

 

[MyQul]

I would suggest some conditioning time is needed.

Due to shear lazyness and not being bothered to open, chuck beer away and wash the bottles of about 1/3 of the infected pale ale it ended up with 4 months conditioning. I opened one out of curiosityn on the weekend and it''s just about palatable now :lol: