Made a mistake, now what?

[Oyarsa]

I am in the process of trying to make a kiwi-strawberry sour beer. I started with 4 lbs of German Pilsner and 3 lbs of wheat. I intend to quick sour with both lacto plantarum and Voss Kveik concurrently.

I am doing BIAB and overheated the water a bit. After adding grain, it was 160 degrees. At the end of an hour and 15 minutes, it was down to 149 degrees. I'm still struggling with temperature control, as you can see, since I have not done many BIAB brews.

However, I wasn't very concerned by that. Unfortunately, in a hurry to move to the next step at the same time dinner was being placed on the table, I turned on the heat for the short boil and forgot to remove the grain. I went back out to check on it and the water had reached 200 according to the kettle thermometer. Is it worth continuing this brew? Hate to waste yeast and such if it isn't going to turn out at least drinkable...

 

[Jag75]

Oh dang . If I'm getting you right you basically boiled the wort with the grain bag still in ? If so I'd toss . Ive never been in this situation so don't take my advice as concrete.

 

[Oyarsa]

Not quite. I took it out before it started boiling, but barely. It got to around 200 degrees.

 

[Snuffy]

I would finish the brew and see what results. It’s either going to be fine or at least good learning experience. Maybe both. If you toss it, it’s just a loss.

 

[Sammy86]

I would unfortunately say dump it...nothing good could come from that grain getting to close boiling.

Otoh, like @Snuffy said could bean interesting experiment.

 

[RM-MN]

If you were doing a decoction mash you would remove some of the grain with enough water in it to not scorch and boil it, then return it to the mash to raise the temperature. I'm not so sure that leaving the grains in until the wort got to 200 destroyed the beer. It mostly depends on the pH of the mash.

If you keep the beer and let it finish, the extra cost is mostly time and yeast. If you dump it now it total loss. Why not gamble the cost of the yeast and see what you get? It may turn out terrible or it might be great beer.

 

[trogdor447]

Depends on if you have another batch ready to go. Its a good science experiment ... however if its going to hold you up from the next batch in the fermeneter.. ehh small batch 1 gallon test on the side?

 

[Snuffy]

Depends on if you have another batch ready to go. Its a good science experiment ... however if its going to hold you up from the next batch in the fermeneter.. ehh small batch 1 gallon test on the side?

Only problem with saving only 1 gallon is, if it turns out to be good you will know for sure you wasted 4. That would make me want to weep like a small child. The added temp was only applied for a few minutes before you realized what was up. I would consider it a robust mash-out and not ditch it. But that's just me.

Also, sour can cover issues that might make a straight brewed beer less than expected IMO.

 

[dbsmith]

Yeah, I would say keep it. Like RM-MN said, pH matters more than temperature. I actually did the same thing on my last batch, though the temp only got up to 185. It is currently fermenting. Going to try a sample in a few days when I take my FG reading. At the very least, taste it before bottling and decide then. You can always clean your yeast and repitch on your do-over.

 

[Oyarsa]

I tasted the wort and it seemed OK. I haven't tasted a lot of wort, but the only thing that felt off about it was that it seemed a bit flavorless, but I imagine that's how a berliner weisse wort (what I'm basing my recipe off of) should taste.

It ended up with a higher OG than expected. Guess we'll see how much of it is fermentable, but it's currently bubbling away like crazy. I have it in a tub of water with an Anova Sous Vide keeping the water at 100 degrees. Added the Lallemand Kveik Ale Yeast and lactobacillus capsules this morning. As several of you have said, it will be a learning experience.

Thanks for the advice!