Some of my brews turning sour

[LacriV]

Wow, that's a lot of work! Maybe I'll stick to mead in the future. Beer I can get in the shop as well, though homemade it would be massively cheaper.

As an update to my beer:
It now stood over night by the door but got a little too cold, so now the fermentation slowed down a lot. However, the sour smell is now also noticably weaker! The sugar wine now smells like sima, which it technically is, just without lemons.

I now set the fermenters a little further away from the door, let's hope I can find a sweet spot where the yeast thrives but the infection doesn't.

 

[Larse]

It's not really a lot of work. Since you've had a couple of infections, you can't trust your equipment, especially fermenters, siphons etc. So the first time, a proper intense cleaning regime is needed. After that, if you just do an immediate clean out (water and scrubbing brush), you don't need to do the intense clean and just add sanitiser and seal up.

The brew day stuff is pretty easy. Especially with the spray bottle. Just requires a bit of thought.

I've been brewing since my late teens. Never had an infection.

 

[LacriV]

It's not really a lot of work. Since you've had a couple of infections, you can't trust your equipment, especially fermenters, siphons etc. So the first time, a proper intense cleaning regime is needed. After that, if you just do an immediate clean out (water and scrubbing brush), you don't need to do the intense clean and just add sanitiser and seal up.

The brew day stuff is pretty easy. Especially with the spray bottle. Just requires a bit of thought.

I've been brewing since my late teens. Never had an infection.

Still, if you compare it to my meadmaking process where the only thing I sanitize is the bottles, it's a lot more effort.

 

[Larse]

Still, if you compare it to my meadmaking process where the only thing I sanitize is the bottles, it's a lot more effort.

I'm sure it is. Your decision as to whether it's worth it or not. But if you want to avoid the heartbreak of throwing out your beer, the work has to be done.

 

[LacriV]

I'm sure it is. Your decision as to whether it's worth it or not. But if you want to avoid the heartbreak of throwing out your beer, the work has to be done.

Yeah, I guess I'll have to see. At the moment I feel a bit demotivated, but maybe after a while I try it again.

Since I created an account now, I thought I might share some mead recipes on here. Do you think people would be interested?

 

[LacriV]

Update:
The fermentation is finally done and I bottled the beer! There was still a sour smell to it when I opened the fermenter, but the flavor seems unaffected. I guess it was some kind of fermentation smell after all, though definitly not one I'm used to.

There is a thin layer of white flaky stuff at the top, but it just smells and tastes like yeast so I think it's fine. The liquid itself was almost totally clear.

The temperature was very inconsistent and sometimes dropped below 8 degrees and the fermentation died down. Then once I moved it to a slightly warmer spot it started up again. The whole brewing process was very imprefect, so I guess I'll see if it turns out drinkable.