Is infected beee very undrinkable?

[Stigy]

Bit of back story before my question:

I got a Mr. Beer kit for Hanukkah this year and have been loving it so far. My friend got the Beer Machine and his dad bought him 7-8 of the bagged mixes they sell. He asked me if I wanted to brew one since he had so many and we could just split the beers and I was excited.

I went to the LHBS and got a pound of Light DME and some Noble hops (Saaz and Tetterang (sp?)) and did some flavor boils in the DME and added the mix and put it into the Mr. Beer keg which had been soaked overnight in oxiclean free and then sterilized using StarSan.

Fast forward to today and I cracked one beer open after 3 weeks fermenting and 3 weeks in the bottle and it has this strong taste (not burning but something in the end of the beer as I swallow it, not up front) but I'm not sure if its just bitter hops or if the beer somehow got infected during fermentation as a result of the keg not being 100% clean.

My question is though - would I without a doubt know that my beer was infected by the taste of it? Could it just be that The Beer Machine mix has some strong hop flavors already and by me adding hops I messed up the flavor profile of what they had made?

I definitely don't want to ditch the batch and I'm gonna have a friend try it tonight to see what she thinks but I'm curious as to how undrinkable infefted beer is.

Thanks in advance.

 

[dkm11b]

It depends on what the beer tastes like. Is it bitter? Because that is NOT a sign of infected beer, describe what you are tasting, and I'm sure others will be able to chime in.

 

[Stigy]

It depends on what the beer tastes like. Is it bitter? Because that is NOT a sign of infected beer, describe what you are tasting, and I'm sure others will be able to chime in.

I just had my fiancée taste it and she said that it tastes very bitter so that may be a result of me over hipping this Pilsner. It just may be TOO hoppy for a pilsner. I love hops (huge IPA fan) but maybe not overload of Noble hops in a Pilsner style.

Then she told me it had a slight, slight vinegar after taste but nothing overwhelming by any means. That's what I kinda tasted as well but its very faint.

Its also only been 3 weeks bottle conditioning so it definitely could use more time.

 

[Beernik]

There are beer infections that you will know without a south they are infected by taste. I had a stout that was infected with lambic bacteria from a previous beer in those bottles. The more time that went by, the stronger the infected flavor became.

"Strong flavor" isn't enough to diagnose if its an infection or some other off flavor. Try to pin it down to something. My infection was sour, horsy, and fruity.

Oh, and a bacteria infection in your beer shouldn't hurt you.

 

[Cyclman]

Beer needs more time to smooth out. It'll get better or worse. If bottles way overfizz, they're likely infected.