Still relatively new to this. I Brewed a cream ale about 3 1/2 weeks ago. I'm pretty sure it has an infection. The hydrometer sample tasted very sour, but I hit the target for my recipe at 1.020.
I chilled a sample and force carbonated a small sample with a soda stream, and the taste and smell reminds me of a couple of the Gose varieties I tried at the local beer festival this year, which I did not care for. I've read that acetaldehyde can give beer a green apple taste? I'm not sure this tastes so much like green apples though.
When I first put the beer in the fermenter, it took off like crazy. I had to replace the airlock with a blow off tube because I woke up in the middle of the night and heard a hiss and bubbles were coming out the airlock. After 3 or 4 days, it looked like all the airlock activity had stopped so I checked on it several times, but there was still a heavy blanket of krausen. Cleaned everything before hand and sanitized with star san.
My questions are:
1. Could checking on it cause the infection? All I did is pop the lid and look a few times.
2. Does an infection have visible signs? Other than what looks like a bit of yeast floating on top and some sediment throughout, there's not anything that looks weird.
3. I'm leaving the beer in a secondary, and will check in a week to see if the flavor has improved. If it is an infection will it just get worse? If its acetaldehyde it should get better correct?
4. My bucket has a sour smell to it now (it used to smell like hops) and I want to do another batch, should I be afraid the bucket may contaminate the new batch?
Kinda long, but without anyone around who could taste it and say yes or no, I've tried to give as much info as possible.
Thanks!
I chilled a sample and force carbonated a small sample with a soda stream, and the taste and smell reminds me of a couple of the Gose varieties I tried at the local beer festival this year, which I did not care for. I've read that acetaldehyde can give beer a green apple taste? I'm not sure this tastes so much like green apples though.
When I first put the beer in the fermenter, it took off like crazy. I had to replace the airlock with a blow off tube because I woke up in the middle of the night and heard a hiss and bubbles were coming out the airlock. After 3 or 4 days, it looked like all the airlock activity had stopped so I checked on it several times, but there was still a heavy blanket of krausen. Cleaned everything before hand and sanitized with star san.
My questions are:
1. Could checking on it cause the infection? All I did is pop the lid and look a few times.
2. Does an infection have visible signs? Other than what looks like a bit of yeast floating on top and some sediment throughout, there's not anything that looks weird.
3. I'm leaving the beer in a secondary, and will check in a week to see if the flavor has improved. If it is an infection will it just get worse? If its acetaldehyde it should get better correct?
4. My bucket has a sour smell to it now (it used to smell like hops) and I want to do another batch, should I be afraid the bucket may contaminate the new batch?
Kinda long, but without anyone around who could taste it and say yes or no, I've tried to give as much info as possible.
Thanks!