Sour Mash Berliner Weisse... Infected?

[justindustrial]

Here's a link to the original post: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/sour-mash-berliner-weisse-questions-415906/

At the end of primary, the beer had a nice clean smell and a tart sourness. 1 week at 70F

I racked into secondary, onto a pound of toasted coconut (which I toasted myself at 400F for 15 minutes) 2 weeks @68F

When bottling, the beer smelled like rotting pig feed / rotten garbage. It had a strong sourness. pH 4.6

I fear that this batch may have gotten infected. I was expecting the same clean tartness as before, with a coconut smell. Instead I got garbage smell with strong sourness.

The coconut should have been sterile (after baking) and I am meticulous about sanitation, but this beer is definitely off.

It tastes decent, but smells awful.

Any thoughts on what might have happened?

 

[ne0t0ky0]

Sounds like some Brett. I've sampled some Brett only beer from the Mikkeller yeast series which smelled absolutely terrible, but tasted ok. My guess is that if you can give it more time, the Brett will change the aroma. If it isn't bottled aging with some oak will give the Brett something to chew on and help change the beer.

 

[TNGabe]

A pH of 4.6 is too high for a Berliner, it's on the high end of normal for non-sour beers. Garbage smell and souring indicate bacteria. I do fruit berliners a lot without trying to sanitize the fruit and even with an ABV under 3%, the pH is low enough to prevent any new bacteria from reproducing. At least so far....