I'm finally posting a "Is my beer ruined" thread.

[WhiskeyR]

I swore I'd never post one of these...

About 6 weeks ago I brewed a Belgian Wit. I decided to do an extended primary like most suggest. After the first three weeks of fermentation, I had to travel and leave the beer alone for two weeks. When I arrived home, the water in my bucket had evaporated down to where the blowoff tube was no longer submersed, possibly letting air in. There was some liquid in the tube, I don't know if that helped or not.

I decided I would go ahead and keg this and hope for the best. It smells extremely sour... even when I release some pressure from the keg I get a little blast of sour smell. It smelled sour before kegging, too.

Did oxygen ruin my beer, or was there likely too much carbon dioxide in the bucket for air to get in anyways? The bucket seemed to have a lot of pressure in it. A small push on the top would send a lot of bubbles to my blowoff bucket.

Any advise, encouragement or jokes?

 

[unionrdr]

That sour thing worries me. I think maybe you should've installed an airlock,since initial ferment was done at that point.

 

[Ziggybrew]

CO2 protects the top of your fermenter. Some large commercial craft brewers use open fermentation (uncovered) without any problems for decades.

But unionrdr is right -- that sour thing is troublesome. However, I'm learning to be patient, time seems to fix all of my mysteries of funky tastes.

 

[JonM]

Is this your first Belgian wit? I ask because I did one recently using WLP400 for the first time and it made some pretty unexpected funky smells. Even weeks later in the bottles it smells ... different from other beers but I think it's just how it's supposed to smell.

 

[unionrdr]

That's why I'm concerned about the sour aspect. It may be part of the style/yeast qualities Belgians have. Just got overdone somehow?...

 

[WhiskeyR]

Is this your first Belgian wit? I ask because I did one recently using WLP400 for the first time and it made some pretty unexpected funky smells. Even weeks later in the bottles it smells ... different from other beers but I think it's just how it's supposed to smell.

Yup, first one. Only my second brew. I used the WLP400. I tasted a sample before kegging and it doesn't have anything too funky about it, except a bit of a sour finish/aftertaste. Not as bad as the smell was.

It may be fine after a little while?

 

[JonM]

What else is in your recipe? Mine had orange, bitter orange, coriander - I suppose any of those (esp the coriander) could make a sour or lemony effect.

 

[unionrdr]

I think so. Flavors to tend to meld better with aging. Then of course,they have that best window. It's down hill from there.

 

[WhiskeyR]

What else is in your recipe? Mine had orange, bitter orange, coriander - I suppose any of those (esp the coriander) could make a sour or lemony effect.

Coriander and bitter orange peel. The recipe called for 1oz each but I backed them off to .5oz each instead.

 

[WhiskeyR]

I think so. Flavors to tend to meld better with aging. Then of course,they have that best window. It's down hill from there.

Thanks, hopefully that is what happens. This stuff never really did smell good... come to think of it, once it started fermenting its smelled like this (the blowoff). So hopefully that's a good sign.

 

[gratefuldisc]

belgian yeasts make funky (in a good way) flavors and smells that may seem sour if you are not used to them. I was really worried when I smelled my first wit at bottling, I was expecting something like blue moon (IIRC BM doesn't use a belgian yeast), but I was pleasantly surprised with what I got...

What were your fermentation temps like? warmer ferm temps (like over 70) would cause the yeast to produce more of the funky flavors...

 

[unionrdr]

That was my thought as well. Ferment temps?...

 

[SimBrew]

My first AG was a Wit fermeted with wyeast 3944 but I fermet at like 73 and from the first week, the smell was so overwelming.

I bottle it and the taste was like the smell, I shouldn't have bottle it with that taste and smell, I waited 6 week in bottle, and after 3 try , i dump the batch.

Those yeast should be fermeted at more like 62-64 so the smell don't get that bad.

Hope your's will turn better than mine.

 

[WhiskeyR]

Temp was 69-72 the first three weeks, may have gotten up to 74ish while I was gone the next 3 weeks.

 

[gratefuldisc]

Probably just warmer fermentation temps pushing the yeast to create more esters, so you have a stronger belgian flavor...

I believe belgian flavors are an acquired taste, and most easily accessible commercial examples (Blue Moon, Shock Top, etc) of wits are not good examples of the style. Personally I hated the first authentic belgian beer I tried, but now I totally love them... I say give it a little time and a fair chance...

 

[WhiskeyR]

Probably just warmer fermentation temps pushing the yeast to create more esters, so you have a stronger belgian flavor...

I believe belgian flavors are an acquired taste, and most easily accessible commercial examples (Blue Moon, Shock Top, etc) of wits are not good examples of the style. Personally I hated the first authentic belgian beer I tried, but now I totally love them... I say give it a little time and a fair chance...

I'm going to go with this school of thought! That and it's very green.

I love Belgians, especially St. Bernardus. I wanted this one to be like a Hoegaarden.

 

[WhiskeyR]

Well I poured myself two half pints of this tonight from the keg. Its carbed to a drinkable level and the sour smell has subsided by probably 60%. The taste is unremarkable (boring) and nothing like the Hoegaarden taste I was going for. But it is not terrible. I think I may have used too much dried orange peel. At any rate, I may be able to attribute this all to the beer being green.

Can I expect it to get better with time even though I had it in the primary for 5-6 weeks and then kegged? It has only been kegged 4 days. Some opinions would be helpful.

 

[krumb]

after kegging, my beers tend to get really tasty and hit their marks at the 2 week point. let it sit a little longer in the keg...

 

[beerkrump]

Were you smelling this straight from the fermenter? Did you taste it? Many times the air trapped in the fermenter can be nasty. Concentrated CO2 and dried up krausen are not pleasant.

Pastuer's experiment proves that no microbes are going to crawl/fly up the blow off tube.

 

[WhiskeyR]

Were you smelling this straight from the fermenter? Did you taste it? Many times the air trapped in the fermenter can be nasty. Concentrated CO2 and dried up krausen are not pleasant.

Pastuer's experiment proves that no microbes are going to crawl/fly up the blow off tube.

The smell was there from the first or second day of fermentation. The whole room smelled. It retains the smell in the keg but it seems to be mellowing.

 

[gomb]

Anytime I use wlp400 I plan for it to be in the bottle 4 weeks minimum before I try it. Something about that yeast needs time before it hits its stride.

 

[WhiskeyR]

As of last night any hint of sourness is completely gone. Its aged quite nicely and tastes like a more complicated Blue Moon. Time was all it needed. I would still use less bitter orange peel next time though.

 

[Hernando]

Anytime I use wlp400 I plan for it to be in the bottle 4 weeks minimum before I try it. Something about that yeast needs time before it hits its stride.

Thanks for the tip. I would have never of known that and probably would be posting in a few weeks that my beer taste like toilet wine.

As of last night any hint of sourness is completely gone. Its aged quite nicely and tastes like a more complicated Blue Moon. Time was all it needed. I would still use less bitter orange peel next time though.

Glad to hear it is turning out well as I am doing almost an identical beer which is just past week one of fermenting; also my second brew.