Noob fermentation question

[bmad]

Hi everyone. First post and first brew too so forgive my noobness!

Anyway kicked off with a Coopers Autralian Lager brew. Cleaned/sterilised everything as per guidelines. Fermentation went well I think. The mixture was certainly active and after a couple of weeks the final gravity settled at 1.009 for 3 days. My only concern is the smell of it. Just seems a bit "off" smelling. Almost sour. A bit of searching suggests it could be infected, others say its normal. Now I have tasted the brew expecting to vomit but actually it was just fine. Just like flat beer! So, I figured that it could still be ok so went ahead and bottled up today.

Your thoughts would be appreciated. I'm hoping the smell will subside during the bottle ferment stage. Also I imagine that an infected mixture would not taste great either? Finally how long should I leave the bottles now before a cheeky taste?

Just to be safe I mixed another brew today as a backup just in case I lose this one!

Thanks for your help!!

 

[PD]

you would be able to tell if the beer was infected by tasting.
A newly fermented brew gives off many strange aromas so don't bother about it. Now you have bottled it ( after priming with sugar ) just leave it somewhere relatively warm for a couple of weeks, then move it to a colder spot for a week and then try it. Honestly its not worth tasting before so steel yourself for the wait.

 

[Mr BR]

+1 for the above and welcome to the world of brewing :thumb:

 

[bmad]

+1 for the above and welcome to the world of brewing :thumb:

Excellent. Thanks for that. I'll definitely wait at least a couple of weeks before I crack one open!

 

[dennisking]

Hi and welcome.

 

[mmaguy41]

Its very easy to worry with your first brew as you dont know what to expect, im sure it will taste fine after a few weeks in the bottle. Enjoy!

 

[fbsf]

Yup, it will smell odd when in the Fv, but after a month or so in the bottles (2 weeks in the warm to carbonate, 2 weeks minimum in somewhere cooler to condition), it will smell and taste totally different...

But welcome to the world of homebrewing!

 

[lukehgriffiths]

I'll jump in here with a question on barreling.
I have a brew in fv. Had one week but am giving it a second. I have pressure barrels is the process the same process used for them? Also is a fridge okay for conditioning?

 

[Dieseljockey]

Yup...just the same, prime as you barrel, leave in a warm place to carb then somewhere cold...and yes to the fridge, when I fill a corni after it's conditioned it's in the fridge ready to tap later.

 

[cask is best]

Hi everyone. First post and first brew too so forgive my noobness!

Anyway kicked off with a Coopers Autralian Lager brew. Cleaned/sterilised everything as per guidelines. Fermentation went well I think. The mixture was certainly active and after a couple of weeks the final gravity settled at 1.009 for 3 days. My only concern is the smell of it. Just seems a bit "off" smelling. Almost sour. A bit of searching suggests it could be infected, others say its normal. Now I have tasted the brew expecting to vomit but actually it was just fine. Just like flat beer! So, I figured that it could still be ok so went ahead and bottled up today.

Your thoughts would be appreciated. I'm hoping the smell will subside during the bottle ferment stage. Also I imagine that an infected mixture would not taste great either? Finally how long should I leave the bottles now before a cheeky taste?

Just to be safe I mixed another brew today as a backup just in case I lose this one!

Thanks for your help!!

I did coopers Aus lager last year and mine smelt like you describe. However it turned out to be one of the best brews i have made.