Young Brewing
Apartment Brewer 🍻
Hey all,
Last Sunday I brewed a pretty straightforward blonde for a family vacation in a couple of weeks.
Recipe:
The brew day went pretty well, done in about 5 hours, and went on to sanitize my big mouth bubbler with StarSan while I cooled down the wort. The only odd thing I noticed is that my packet of S-05 smelled like sour bread when rehydrating but I paid no attention and pitched regardless.
Here I am about 8 days later and it has finished nicely at 1.011, but a layer of pellicle (I think?) has formed on the top and the beer itself definitely has a pleasantly soured aroma. I sanitized the bubbler properly, allowed nearly zero oxygen in, due to pulling gravity samples from the spout at the bottom, and yet an infection occurred. Is there any way that some level of bacteria already existed within the s-05 that could have caused this? Is that scenario even possible? Normally, I would assume I just sanitized improperly but the distinct soured smell of the yeast early on has me thinking whether this could be the case. Either way, I have decided to rack the beer to my keg in hopes that the ph hasn't dropped enough to be noticeable in the finished beer.
If this wasn't meant for a vacation I would probably let this sour because I think the style could play really well, but maybe that's for another brew day. Has anyone had a similar experience?
Picture of the fermenter (this is pellicle right?):
Last Sunday I brewed a pretty straightforward blonde for a family vacation in a couple of weeks.
Recipe:
8 lbs | Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) | Grain | 6 | 82.1 % | 0.63 gal |
12.0 oz | Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) | Grain | 7 | 7.7 % | 0.06 gal |
8.0 oz | Caramel/Crystal Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) | Grain | 8 | 5.1 % | 0.04 gal |
8.0 oz | Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM) | Grain | 9 | 5.1 % | 0.04 gal |
0.30 oz | Centennial [8.10 %] - Boil 30.0 min | Hop | 10 | 7.2 IBUs | - |
0.30 oz | Centennial [8.10 %] - Boil 20.0 min | Hop | 11 | 6.1 IBUs | - |
0.30 oz | Samba [7.90 %] - Boil 10.0 min | Hop | 12 | 4.5 IBUs | - |
0.30 oz | Samba [7.90 %] - Boil 5.0 min | Hop | 13 | 3.6 IBUs | - |
1.0 pkg | Safale American (DCL/Fermentis #US-05) [50.28 ml] | Yeast | 14 | - | - |
The brew day went pretty well, done in about 5 hours, and went on to sanitize my big mouth bubbler with StarSan while I cooled down the wort. The only odd thing I noticed is that my packet of S-05 smelled like sour bread when rehydrating but I paid no attention and pitched regardless.
Here I am about 8 days later and it has finished nicely at 1.011, but a layer of pellicle (I think?) has formed on the top and the beer itself definitely has a pleasantly soured aroma. I sanitized the bubbler properly, allowed nearly zero oxygen in, due to pulling gravity samples from the spout at the bottom, and yet an infection occurred. Is there any way that some level of bacteria already existed within the s-05 that could have caused this? Is that scenario even possible? Normally, I would assume I just sanitized improperly but the distinct soured smell of the yeast early on has me thinking whether this could be the case. Either way, I have decided to rack the beer to my keg in hopes that the ph hasn't dropped enough to be noticeable in the finished beer.
If this wasn't meant for a vacation I would probably let this sour because I think the style could play really well, but maybe that's for another brew day. Has anyone had a similar experience?
Picture of the fermenter (this is pellicle right?):