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Beers received and in the fridge.
Posted 34 days ago.
awesome! can't wait to hear what you think.. I've been letting some of the bottles age to see if it was an infection, but we'll see what you think..
Posted 34 days ago.
Also, I'll send you some of my IPA once it is done! I'm paranoid about an infection on this one now too, but there's no usual signs of infection in the carboy.. I might be buying a new auto-siphon and bottle filler..
Posted 34 days ago.
OK, not sure if I will get to them this week or next (work travel). Want to get some Smithwicks for calibration as well.
IPA wise, I'd love to try. I've had it reviewed pretty extensively this week. This was MACC version3, but scores been coming in 38, 45, 45 for the Mosaic/Amarillo dry hopped version, 40, 42, 43 for the Citra/amarillo dryhopped version. The original beer was nearly as good as the 3rd, though I think Mosaic adds something, and I am glad I worked it in.
You're going to like that Beer man.
Posted 34 days ago.
Thanks for sending the beers, I enjoy tasting what others brew and diagnosing what may have gone right or wrong.
I tried the bottles of the Irish Red you sent. I didn't do a calibration beer as I guessed that from the threads this is more about figuring out what went on rather than scoring to BJCP standards. I had a friend of mine join me to make sure I wasn't going nuts as well as to bounce ideas off of.
There is something going on with this beer - it isn't the clean Irish Red I would have expected. Here's what I noticed.
It poured extremely hazy/cloudy with a deep muddy red color to it. I let the bottles sit in the fridge for 4 days, and had it warm 30-40 min prior to drinking. (I still have one in there and might let it sit longer at room temp, if you want...?) Some light head that slowly faded.
Aroma reminded me of a brown, overripe banana. There was also some malty sweetness and a fusel alcoholic warmth. No hop aromas. My immediate thought here was ferm temps, however it sounds like those were under control reading what you posted earlier.
The flavor was a malty sweetness with more of the overripe fruit, with esters (again my notes point to a high temp fermentation) that dominate. A light bitterness/sourness follows, however with no hop flavor. It seemed almost oxidized to me as well.
My bottle was well carbed. A note here, since Olan didn't think his was well carbed, mine spent more time at room temp/in transit, etc., it may have had time for something in the bottle to continue to ferment - the dreaded "infection" as they say. I wonder if when bottling out using your wand, perhaps your wand had something in it...? Again, I notice a sour/astringent finish. Mouthfeel is full and somewhat creamy. I could also taste some toasty malts in there as well, it wasn't all bad. :)
After having read through everything you did, these are my thoughts:
-temp sensor with brewpi wasn't taking temp in correct location... or calibration issue?
-stirring up the fermentor when adding the sugar doesn't seem like a good idea, you're just adding in dead/tired yeast, trub, etc.
-what was the age of the yeast you made a starter with? how big was your starter?
-something got in the bottles, and it was more than one, indicating an issue from the racking cane backwards
-other thoughts - off flavors are goign to be more pronounced with carbonation, when you tried your beer prior to racking, did you notice anything? had you already drank something else?
Thanks for sending them out. Let me know if you have any other questions about anything I mentioned. I'm a "home brewing dad" as well so I don't spend much time on the computer these days as munchkin has gone mobile, but you can always email me at iheart314 (at) gmail.com
Cheers
Posted 34 days ago.
Now that you mention it, the bottling wand was brand new with all of my previous beers.. this is the first time I've tried to clean and reuse it, and I do remember finding it difficult to clean.. I did soak in oxyclean and rinse with hot water multiple times, but who's to say there still wasn't something left over.. especially since I cleaned it the day of bottling the Red Ale, and not after using it last.. meaning it may have sat with trub (or other crap) for a few weeks or so..
I would point to the temperature sensor, however I also have an analog thermometer inside the chest freezer.. (long story short, I had problems with my main fridge a few years ago.. bought a thermometer to be sure the fridge was cooling correctly at the time.. I now have a leftover analog thermometer, and I leave it in my chest freezer..) and that seems to be reading the ambient temperature of the chest freezer pretty close to the brewpi.. of course, I only check this when I'm being nosey and peaking in the freezer, so who knows how close it is when I'm not around.. This also doesn't mean the probe that is taped to the carboy is reading correctly..
I wish I could tell you the viability, but it really has been that long ago.. I might still have the vial at home, and I can check the date when I go home to let you know.. I used the yeast starter utility here on homebrewdad, and calculated the starter I needed.. from what I remember, it was about 1500-1600mL.. This thought went through my head recently, regarding fusel alcohols.. Could there be a problem with the starter, perhaps if the temperature was too warm before I pitched the yeast?
I hadn't drank anything when I tried it at bottling.. and as stated in my review on the recipe page, I'm just not the best at pointing out subtle details.. I definitely don't remember the harsh upfront taste that I got when it was bottled, and a complex malty taste is what stood out to me the most..
You are definitely more than welcome to let the other bottle sit out to see what happens.. I have a six pack that I've left at room temperature for exactly the same reason..
I got very similar responses from the homebrew club about fermentation temperature.. I'm not saying it's not the problem, I'm just saying its something I accounted for.. I've brewed beers prior to this one in the same chamber and didn't have problems like this..
edit: Also just wanted to add, thanks for taking the time to try my beer and give me some feedback.. I am sure you are busy with the kiddo and everything, but I appreciate your response and help..
Posted 34 days ago.
Edited 34 days ago by blur_yo_face
If you didn't try it prior to bottling, that opens up a whole realm of things - and the fact that several of us had this "unique" experience tells me that it is probably a batch thing. I would not suspect a starter problem via temp, although maybe something got in there during the growing or transfer...?
How many batches has this happened to? The other thing to remember is that sometimes this stuff does happen. There are so many variables in homebrewing that it is hard to isolate the one thing that could have happened. If this is a consistent problem, then perhaps more analysis is needed, but if this is an isolated incident, I'd encourage you to continue to practice using best methods and not to dwell on it too much. :)
Happy to help, let me know anytime.
Posted 34 days ago.