Green beer vs. extracting tannins vs. racking too early

[Heflover]

I bottled some "We Ho Wheat" (Eagle Rock HBS recipe) last night and the sample tasted terrible.

It was astringent, like it had dried out. I had kept it in the primary fermenter (the bucket) for 4 days and the secondary (carboy) for 8 days. Everything I have read on these forums suggests this bad "green beer" taste will go away if I leave it in the bottle a few weeks.

But I'm a little concerned, since a sample of an IPA (with mostly extract and some specialty grains) at roughly the same stage in the process was really delicious and beer-like. Also, the powerful banana smell it had in primary is completely gone.

I'm wondering if people have any thoughts on this.

The recipe was half grain and half extract, and I only did a "partial boil" adding a bit of water to get 5.5 gallons before pitching the yeast.

My water might have been a little hot (the mash got closer to 160F or maybe higher, sted 150F), so my key worries are 1) I extracted tannins from the grains and 2) I transferred the beer too quickly out of primary, leaving behind the floculating yeasts and keeping only the attenuating ones, which apparently can dry a beer out. Some other worries are 3) my iodophor solution lingered in the bottles and ruined it 4) I bottled too early. There were still little bubbles coming to the top of the carboy (I bottled because I'm leaving town soon and didn't want to leave it this way), although the airlock wasn't all that active.

Any thoughts or comments would be most welcome.

 

[billl]

As a general rule, I don't bottle beer that doesn't taste good. If it doesn't taste ready, I just give it some more time. If I have to go on vacation and leave it an extra week, the beer doesn't seem to mind at all.

Anyway, it's in bottles already, so there isn't much to do at this point. I'd personally put them in a plastic bin just to guard against bottle bombs since you aren't sure if the beer was done fermenting yet. Other than that, just let them sit. Off flavors can take a while to clean up in the bottle.

 

[Heflover]

As a general rule, I don't bottle beer that doesn't taste good. If it doesn't taste ready, I just give it some more time. If I have to go on vacation and leave it an extra week, the beer doesn't seem to mind at all.

Anyway, it's in bottles already, so there isn't much to do at this point. I'd personally put them in a plastic bin just to guard against bottle bombs since you aren't sure if the beer was done fermenting yet. Other than that, just let them sit. Off flavors can take a while to clean up in the bottle.

Thanks, I'll use that rule of thumb going forward. I guess I will be awaiting my hef for a while.

The beers are in a bathroom we don't use... with some under a sink in case they go kaboom.

 

[Captain Damage]

I had kept it in the primary fermenter (the bucket) for 4 days and the secondary (carboy) for 8 days.
....
I bottled too early. There were still little bubbles coming to the top of the carboy (I bottled because I'm leaving town soon and didn't want to leave it this way), although the airlock wasn't all that active.

Yes, I think you bottled way too early, and tried to rush the process. But I think what you tasted is beer that's still fermenting. 4 days in primary is too short. You can't make your beer finish faster by rushing your racking and bottling steps. To paraphrase Revvy: You are not in control. You don't get to decide when the yeast is done; the yeast decides that. IMO you would've been better off leaving the beer while your went out of town, even if you're going to be gone for a few weeks. The bubbles coming up to the top of your carboy indicate that there was still fermentation going on. Racking it early removed a huge portion of the yeast from the beer, so what fermentation is still happening is slowed because of the low yeast count.

I think now your worry is that you have potential bottle bombs!

 

[Heflover]

Yeah I am feeling that the gross taste was yeast. I think the biggest problem was racking to secondary too early. Something about the attenuating yeasts drying out the beer???? When I bottled, the SG was down to 1.010 ... I thought this was odd for a Hef (since what I like is the sweet taste) and I thought that meant it should have sugar left in the bottle. Maybe this thinking is off.

Anyway, I am hoping to minimize "bottle bomb" danger by opening a beer every few days. If I get a gusher, seems to me the rest would be in more danger. Till then I'll try to let them do in the bottle what should have been done in primary. But maybe that's impossible now. Has anyone ruined beer this way before?

 

[billl]

"Has anyone ruined beer this way before?"

No, this isn't the way to ruin a hefe. It's just a way to make your hefe take forever.

You had it fermenting for 12 days prior to bottling. If you had left it the primary, it probably would have tasted pretty good at that point. You didn't do anything to it that would kill the yeast - just slow them down. Hefe yeast tend to stay in suspension until they are done, so you'll likely get a tasty beer..... eventually.


For future reference, you can't stop fermentation at a certain level of sweetness. The yeast are going to eat all the sugar they can. If you try to bottle before they are done, you'll just make them eat the yeast in a confined space, create lots of CO2, and run the risk of bottle bombs from the pressure. If you want a sweeter tasting beer, you need to start with a recipe that has some naturally sweeter tasting malts.

 

[Heflover]

So after 10 days or so in bottles, I tried one yesterday just to see if it became a bottle bomb. But to get it cold in a hurry I put it in the freezer, and of course, forgot about it. By the time I poured it out, the beer in the neck was slushy and near frozen. I poked a hole through it and poured it out. The beer had a wonderful head and the icky taste was gone. Other than being a bit more hoppy than I'd expect from a Hef, it tasted not bad.

Is what I did the equivalent of "cold crashing" beer? If so it seemed to work.

The other thing I observed is that there are little fermentation bubbles at the top of the beer in each bottle, just like the little ones I see at the top of the carboy (in my next batch). And there is definitely a solid yeast cake at the bottom of each bottle. Other than a little bit of sediment near the neck, the beer looks clear.

I wonder if I'm on the way to having a decent Hef here.

 

[Heflover]

Now I realize my biggest mistake: I accidentally hop-bombed my hef. It was only when I was making a new batch last night that I remembered that I accidently dropped my sieve into the primary fermenter when I was pouring in the wort. The hops went straight into the mix. I didn't realize at the time how fatal a mistake this was and let it sit in there for four days. I guess it's the equivalent of dry-hopping beer. ug. I have a super-fruity, hoppy, tangy hef. A friend told me he and his girlfriend really liked it. Perhaps it's just a question of branding at this point.