Bad Batch - Bin it or savable?

[Leyther]

My 2nd brew was finalised about a week ago, its a LCPA clone I bought from liqourcraft and its their best selling kit so I think it must generally brew well.

I thought I followed all the instructions correctly and the OG/FG readings had me nicely at 5.2 %ABV so I was quite excited until I took a drink, it was frankly awful, I gave it a couple more days and tried again but still tasted bad so I chucked in 30g of Mosaic hops to try and improve it for a couple of days, they maybe had a slight improvement but still tasted awful.

The only thing I can thin is temperature was an issue, I brew in my garage and up until yesterday I didn't have a temp controller so it sat in the garage or in an closed esky when it was > 30C, I estimate it probably was fermenting between 22 and 26C so the range for the kit states <25C so it may have crept over this from time to time. I'm no expert in tasting to identify the true cause although I can detect a bit of buttering hence I think diecetyl maybe an issue.

I kegged it up anyway and its been slowly carbonating for almost a week, I've just sampled it and again it tastes awful so i'm now contemplating what to do, should I just pour on the garden and put down to experience or is it possible to rescue this? is there anything that can be done at this stage to try and improve it and remove any diecetyl?

Any tips greately appreciated, my first beer was a single hop IPA and whislt I would prefered it to have more Hop punch it came out a lovely colour and very easy to drink, especially from the bottles that sat for 3weeks, that one was probably fermented at a lower temp.

 

[Dae Tripper]

Give it a fortnight and see what happens. Just leave it though, so you can taste a difference at the end.

 

[Brownsworthy]

You might want to try getting the temp down to 18°C the kits may say 25°C though that will produce off flavours.
It may improve with conditioning it may not.

 

[Leyther]

Give it a fortnight and see what happens. Just leave it though, so you can taste a difference at the end.

would you recomend I leave it chilled or put back to room temp? I was considering putting back to room temp and pitching in some more yeast to see if that would possibly clear any diecetyl

 

[mstrelan]

If you're estimating the temp range it was perhaps even higher. Fermentation creates it's own heat so the wort is probably warmer than the ambient temp. Get it down to 18-20 next time.

 

[manticle]

If it really is a bad batch, I'd bin/drain.

Thing is, you won't necessarily know it's bad till it's finished and conditioned (although at those temps I'd have little hope).

So wait a week or two, see where it goes.

If trying to remove diacetyl, you want active yeast so look at making a proper, active starter or top cropping from another batch.

 

[LAGERFRENZY]

First rule is that almost all kit instructions are stupidly wrong about temperature ranges. Its a trap that most new players live and learn from. Also it really helps if you can describe the flavours that are so awful. For example my first few non-temp controlled brews had really nasty winey or cidery bitter tartness to them. I kept them for some months in bottles and the tartness did mellow a bit in time but it was still truly shitty beer. As mstrelan said you really need to brew ales at 18 - 20 and lager much lower than that (if using a genuine non-kit lager yeast).

I guess its up to you to determine whether you can have keg tied up for a while with beer that may not come good. Great to hear that you now have temp control. Expect big improvement with your next brew.

 

[ScottyDoesntKnow]

Why are all kit ferment temp instructions so far off the mark? Surely they know the ideal temp for the yeast they include. Why would they risk putting off so many first time brewers, making them either change to a different branded kit or give up on home brewing all together. Doesn't make good business sense...

 

[Lodan]

Why are all kit ferment temp instructions so far off the mark? Surely they know the ideal temp for the yeast they include. Why would they risk putting off so many first time brewers, making them either change to a different branded kit or give up on home brewing all together. Doesn't make good business sense...

kit ferment temps are higher because most starting brewers don't have access to temperature control. better to sell a kit and have it taste a bit funky than not to sell a kit at all

 

[LAGERFRENZY]

Its a chicken and egg sort of thing. Many noobs start brewing simply because they want cheap beer. If the kit makers recommended up front that customers should ideally brew at the correct range by buying a fridge and a temp controller on top of the capital outlay of their first $90 brew kit then that would turn quite a few of them off the idea of starting. Three or four brews in many stay with brewing because they outlaid the $90 on the kit and start learning to use some form of temp control after going on forums or talking to brew shops.

 

[Dae Tripper]

would you recomend I leave it chilled or put back to room temp? I was considering putting back to room temp and pitching in some more yeast to see if that would possibly clear any diecetyl

Try cold. This is a guess but you might just have to chuck it.

 

[Dae Tripper]

You could blend it if you are desperate.

 

[evoo4u]

20 litres beer with an off flavour + 20 litres good beer = 40 litres beer with an off flavour.

Me? I'd cut my losses and dump it, and look forward to a much improved brew using your new temp control.

 

[warra48]

Happened to my first brew 10 years ago.
I drank it through gritted teeth to teach myself never to repeat the mistake of fermenting a lager yeast at 28ºC in the middle of summer without temperature control.
Lesson learned.

If it's truly awful, better to dump it, learn the lesson, and improve with the next batch.

 

[yankinoz]

Uh, young novice, be patient, and do not form premature judgments.

1. Most yeasts make awful beer fermenting in the upper 20s, but not all. What did you use?
2. The off-taste is not likely diacetyl at those temps, nor sulphur. Clove, banana, bubble gum? It could be the rediscovered underwear taste of much green beer.

Try it at least 4 weeks after bottling. Cool it for the last week. If it's still bad, dump.

 

[Leyther]

Uh, young novice, be patient, and do not form premature judgments.

1. Most yeasts make awful beer fermenting in the upper 20s, but not all. What did you use?
2. The off-taste is not likely diacetyl at those temps, nor sulphur. Clove, banana, bubble gum? It could be the rediscovered underwear taste of much green beer.

Try it at least 4 weeks after bottling. Cool it for the last week. If it's still bad, dump.

Was a US Ale yeast s05. Beer wasn't bottled it's in keg, I'll leave it for a while to see if it improves as I've nothing waiting to keg for a couple of weeks. Should I keep the keg chilled or room temp?

 

[wynnum1]

You can use beer to slow cook meat if the off flavor is not too bad may be OK add a heap of spices.

 

[manticle]

Better to leave chilled unless proceeding with plan to add active yeast.

Taste a room temp sample to get an indication of levels of off flavours though.

 

[Leyther]

Actually just checked was a danstar nottingham not a S05

 

[Leyther]

Ive brought back to room temp and pitched the yeast that came with the liquid malt, worth a try, I'll give it a week or so then try again, if its still off I'll just bin it.