Noob Experiment Tinned Plums In Lager Kit

[Lord Aramid]

Hi!!

I am a newbie home brewer, I have helped my brother make beer several years ago and am just getting into it again - I'm afraid I went a bit crazy with the kit though ...

i thought it would be interesting to see what dark tinned plums do to beer - instead of just trying an ordinary batch the first time - and i think i've stuffed it up.

i used a coopers lager kit, think i was fairly careful with sterilizing [used sodium metabisulphate], used the yeast in the kit but rehydrated it, and kept it in a room where the thermometer read about 18 degrees average, then i bought a heat belt and put that on, which made the temperature up to 23/24 degrees for the last few days, and then also to complicate it some more, some hops i bought over the internet arrived and i pushed them through the airlock as i didn't want to contaminate the batch.

the initial SG read 1.038, and now its been 6 days, and the SG is 1.010, and i was opening it up to put the finings in tonight as i want to bottle tomorrow

and geez my god a horrid cider smell, tangy yukky smell like apple cider, and the taste, it tingles, and although i can taste bitter beer i can taste sour apples.
also the nice white froth of about 3 inches deep that i could see through the airlock when i was pushing the pellets in has all gone and there is brownish icky rubbish around the inside of the fermenter, kind of like when you leave your coffee cup in the garage and forget it for a few weeks.


i think i'm going to cry first then throw it out but i was thinking of the bloody plums - would putting fruit in the wort make it smell like this??

or did i infect the beer when i pushed the pellets in the airlock???

thanks for your opinion guys and girls!

 

[DKS]

Bad luck mate I reckon best tip it and brew again before you loose enthusiasm.
Start with a simple brew and control those temps. 18* would have been perfect.
Daz

 

[bum]

Do not tip it!

Might not be great but there is nothing immediately pointing towards infection. Give it time and see how it goes.

And don't worry about the foam (called "krausen") thing - that is perfectly normal.

 

[Zapp Brannigan]

Hi!!

I am a newbie home brewer, I have helped my brother make beer several years ago and am just getting into it again - I'm afraid I went a bit crazy with the kit though ...

i thought it would be interesting to see what dark tinned plums do to beer - instead of just trying an ordinary batch the first time - and i think i've stuffed it up.

i used a coopers lager kit, think i was fairly careful with sterilizing [used sodium metabisulphate], used the yeast in the kit but rehydrated it, and kept it in a room where the thermometer read about 18 degrees average, then i bought a heat belt and put that on, which made the temperature up to 23/24 degrees for the last few days, and then also to complicate it some more, some hops i bought over the internet arrived and i pushed them through the airlock as i didn't want to contaminate the batch.

the initial SG read 1.038, and now its been 6 days, and the SG is 1.010, and i was opening it up to put the finings in tonight as i want to bottle tomorrow

and geez my god a horrid cider smell, tangy yukky smell like apple cider, and the taste, it tingles, and although i can taste bitter beer i can taste sour apples.
also the nice white froth of about 3 inches deep that i could see through the airlock when i was pushing the pellets in has all gone and there is brownish icky rubbish around the inside of the fermenter, kind of like when you leave your coffee cup in the garage and forget it for a few weeks.


i think i'm going to cry first then throw it out but i was thinking of the bloody plums - would putting fruit in the wort make it smell like this??

or did i infect the beer when i pushed the pellets in the airlock???

thanks for your opinion guys and girls!

I'm not the best qualified person to answer your questions but I doubt the hops would infect the beer. I have never ever heard of beer [Coopers Lager] with canned plums before in a combination..........?!? But good on you for trying something new. It may not be infected, but I doubt the combination will work well.

 

[Lord Aramid]

Well now that I think about it I dont know what I was expecting really but I've got another fermenter arriving tomorrow so I guess I will bottle it and put it in the shed and forget about it, maybe it might be ok in a few months in the cold!

And tomorrow will try again this time without fruit... with two empty fermenters to fill hooray.

Thanks for your thoughts! it makes me sick to think i'd have to tip it, I don't recall having a bad batch years ago, but then again my role in the beer making was holding the sugar bags, stirring the wort and rinsing the bottles so I might have overlooked something!

 

[kelbygreen]

biggest thing is cleanliness sanitation I have not got a infection yet but consider my way a little over the top. But after reading some posts and how little it takes to get a infection i dont risk it at all lol. I soak everything thats dirty in napisan for at least 1 day and then rinse and sanitise with 10ml of bleach and 10ml of vinegar per 5lts of water and let that contact the surface for at least 5 mins (30secs will kill bugs, 3 mins is EPA recommended) then rinse 3 times and go straight on to putting wort in fermenter or beer in bottles. Also boil all my ingredients for a min or 2.