Might have an infection

[svenito]

Currently fermenting a weizen using WLP300. Everything went well and was bubbling away at 21C for a few days, waft of bananas coming out of the fridge. Decided to take a gravity sample today (day 5) and pretty much at FG. As usual I took a taste. Firstly the smell was a little off, but the taste was pretty bad. Kind of bitter and cardboardy.
Opened the FV to check the liquid and it's got regular looking krausen on top, as far as I can tell

Click for larger image



My plan is to now drop the temp a few degrees each day over the next 5 or so days and see what happens. Overall the smell from the FV is fine, so could it be just the sample (pulled from the tap) was bad?

Is it worth finishing primary to see if it'll improve?

 

[Covrich]

On day 5 you shouldn't IMO be even touching it let alone contemplate chucking it if its still fermenting or coming close to the end you could have pulled all sorts of off flavours..... give it a few more weeks and see where it is

Cannot see the picture though

 

[Sadfield]

Totally, I wouldn't even be thinking about going near it for another nine days.

 

[svenito]

Fair enough, I'll leave well alone then. Thanks

 

[LarryF]

I did see the picture and it looks fine.

 

[Martybhoy]

Looks fine to me. I always think weizen yeasts give off funny smells. Usually sulphur in my experience, and normally gone by 2 weeks in FV.

 

[BeerisGOD]

I remember an extract beer i made using holland and barret malt smelly sulphary on bottling day. The stench burned my eyes. Thought it was a gonna.
Gave it a month in the bottle and still remember it being one of my favorite home made brews. Improved over time like most beers.
But like most have said way too early to judge.

 

[svenito]

This brew did not get better. The taste of smoke, nail varnish, and general farmyard didn't let up. I ended up dumping it and brewing the recipe again but with a single infusion this time in the mash tun. Aside from the issues I encountered on the day (all part of a learning experience) the beer is smelling and tasting great after just under two weeks.

My best guess is that I ended up with an infection, possibly brett? Either way, glad the second batch has worked out, but I will be trying another stepped BIAB at a later date - once the snow subsides :)

thanks for your responses

 

[Covrich]

Dunno if it was brett.. nail polish I think comes from high fermenting temps but you said it was stable.. never heard of farmyard off flavour before..

if it was a brett you'd have needed to steralise the heck out your fermentor to avoid it repeating.

Maybe it was doe for, I wouldn't have ditched the lot in less than a month.. I would have at worst dumped half in some demi johns or bottled some and left it for ages to age.. It may have healed to a drinkable state.

 

[svenito]

High temp could also be a cause. I fermented at 21C, current batch at 18C. Although it should be ok to 23C, so I don't know for sure. By farmyard, it was like farm animal hair - it just reminded me of it. I let my wife smell it as she's good with smells. I warned her not to taste it, but she did, much to her regret. Perhaps I should have kept some aside, to see what was to become of it. I'll bear that in mind should I end up in the same place again.