Stalled Fermentation At 1018

[milligan]

I was about to bottle this disaster today (29/11) but did one final check on the gravoty. It is 1.1015 at 24o so it hasnt really moved.

Now this is the problem. When I started the bloke at the hardware shop who sold it to me said that the kits was out of date but that doesn't matter. Now I've had some issues with this brew and the taste has changed a lot. There doesn't seem to be any skin on top of the brew but the taste leaves a bit of a twang in the end. In fact its about 5 minutes after the taste and that twang is still on the back of my tongue. If I had to struggle it reminds me of a metallic taste at 5 minutes after tasting.

Now given the facts, my lack of what a brew should taste like at this stage and that the bloke said he would refund my purchase given the expiry date and that I only have 60 bottles at this time should I:
a. be safe and toss it and do another, not expired, kits,
b. take the punt and bottle anyway.

Im thinking about tossing and getting my money back based on all the dramas with this brew. If bottles weren't scarce at the moment then I would probably give it a crack.

Any opinions/abuse/tips accepted.

 

[buttersd70]

I've used a tin that was given to me after sitting in a guys shed for 3 years, then another year in my shed....obviously the yeast on this one was dead, so I used another, but it turned into one of the best (non grain) beers I ever did....so I don't think the expiry would have much effect on any off-flavours (although it might explain, in part, the low attenuation from the yeast )

I think the off lfavours you are getting are likely to be more due to the hot fermentation temperatures you had on this brew....

Beer does funny things in the bottle. Some beers that taste ferrel at bottling turn into good beers after a couple of months of aging in the bottle, and this one may fall into that category. At the end of the day, the decision to bottle or toss is yours...but personally, I would be bottling, and starting the next batch. Get yourself some more bottles...BigW stocks the coopers PET bottles, they're only something in the region of 12.00 for 15....

If you bottle, try one at 2 weeks, at 4 weeks, and at 6 weeks....see if the flavour improves (which it should). Keep notes. If after 6 weeks it has had no improvement at all, then I'd say to toss it.

Just my 2c. Either way, don't let the trouble you had with this first brew put you off. Give it another go. I'm sure you've learnt a fair bit since this brew went down, and you should be able to avoid these problems for your next attempt.

 

[milligan]

Hey Butters. OK, so the use by may not present a problem so I will cross that off the list of negatives. However, just to be on the safe side I may try and avoid this in the future.

Re: the flavours. It was mentioned before that the hot fermentation may cause some "extra" flavours and increased chance of hangover. I have since got myself a fridgemate so hot ferments should be a thing of the past.

I have been trying to get some new PET bottles but everyone is always sold out. I guess every man and his dog are trying home brew for summer. I keep checking ebay for some local bottles as I cant see myself driving to Sydney for them, yet. Not quite that dedicated yet

I will then bottle and call it a learning experience whatever happens.

This first brew has already taught me so much so no matter where it ends up it was definitely worth it.

Thanks again, Butters.

 

[buttersd70]

No worries.

Out of date cans are certainly best to avoid...they darken with age, may not ferment out as fully as expected, and the level of bitterness may not be quite what was expected....It becomes a bit of an unknown. When I did mine, It was a bit of an extreme out of date (to say the least)....but at that point, I had enough experience with full extract brews to be able to use it in a recipe that was quite forgiving, so whilst I didn't get quite what I expected, I knew it would fall somewhere into the range of drinkable.

 

[milligan]

Its Sunday 14/12/08 and this brew has been in the bottle for 15 days. I thought I'd try one to see how its going.

Carbonation could be a little better but its not flat. There is no head to speak of.

Tasting: there is a definite taste of celery and a little bit of "numb" (sorry I cant do any better there) on the front of my tongue as an after taste.

No off tastes to speak of but I dont really know.

Any hints on what this may be and any tips on how to taste beer (eg what to "look" for in a taste, etc).

 

[buttersd70]

Its Sunday 14/12/08 and this brew has been in the bottle for 15 days. I thought I'd try one to see how its going.

Carbonation could be a little better but its not flat. There is no head to speak of.

Tasting: there is a definite taste of celery and a little bit of "numb" (sorry I cant do any better there) on the front of my tongue as an after taste.

No off tastes to speak of but I dont really know.

Any hints on what this may be and any tips on how to taste beer (eg what to "look" for in a taste, etc).

If it's a little under carbonated after 15 days, that's nothing to be overly concerned about, a bit of time will help that. In fact, in this case, it's a good thing, because the main concern was that you would have bottle bombs due to the high fg - so if it's under carbed after 15 days, its likely that you can stop worrying about that now.

Not sure what the tastes you have described are. But chances are, they will lessen in time. As far as tasting, there is an article here
and off flavour descriptions here and here

 

[milligan]

Good point about the bottle bombs. Didn't think of that so a win finally with this brew.

Thanks for the links. I had read the first one and found it helpful but hadn't found the other 2.

I am chilling another bottle for a few days/week and will try again.

Otherwise as you suggest, Butters, time may help. I shall store these in a deep dark cavern to be found by people of the future. Hopefully that will be enough time

 

[milligan]

Just tried a little more of this brew and found that the celery taste had gone/been covered up by chilling.

A reading of the flavour identification notes tells me that maybe this beer is alright. I could not identify any of the tastes and smells suggested. I think it may just be more bitter than I am used to (xxxx gold drinker mostly). Reminds me a little of drinking a coopers stout. That sort of residual taste on the back of the tongue that lingers. Is that bitterness????

At this stage I cant see me sinking a dozen of these in one sitting but that is a good thing.

I may also be missing some of the other flavours given the high fermentation temps, aeration of the wort during fermentation, etc, that this brew endured.

 

[buttersd70]

That sort of residual taste on the back of the tongue that lingers. Is that bitterness????

Probably. Bitterness is best percieved on the back of the tongue. Given more time in the bottle it will smooth out. I'd suggest that you put a proportion of the batch aside and let it age a bit, so you can get a comparison of how time effects the flavour. That, to me, is one of the better education tools a new brewer has at their disposal....staggered tastings of their early batches.

 

[milligan]

I thought I should update this with my tasting notes.

It has been in the bottle for 60 days or so. This has mostly done away with the "celery" taste, although it does appear in the odd bottle. This one is darkish, pours with a small head which dissapears pretty quick. It is more bitter than I am used to (ex-megaswill drinker) and the aftertaste is pretty heavy, in that you wouldn't drink more than 2 tallies of this stuff.

So for my first attempt back I will be able to drink most of these which I would class as a success.

 

[raven19]

I thought I should update this with my tasting notes.

It has been in the bottle for 60 days or so. This has mostly done away with the "celery" taste, although it does appear in the odd bottle. This one is darkish, pours with a small head which dissapears pretty quick. It is more bitter than I am used to (ex-megaswill drinker) and the aftertaste is pretty heavy, in that you wouldn't drink more than 2 tallies of this stuff.

So for my first attempt back I will be able to drink most of these which I would class as a success.

Great to hear. Can I suggest keeping a sixpack to the side for future sampling, to see how it goes over time.

Now get to it and make some more beer!!!

 

[shayne]

i'm glad to hear your stuff worked out in the end milligan. have a batch down now at 9 days that seems slow (coopers canadian blonde) - though it is at 1012, and has been for two days. all my others dropped like a sack of s**T down to 1010 or under, but this one we managed to keep at a decent temp (~23 as opposed to ~27) and i was nervous it wasn't going to finish. we've chosen to leave it another 2 days or so, even though this chews into our stock rotation time (we have 2 ferm. between 2 of us, but a third sounds like a must) but most of what we've done so far have a very bitter/sour taste even after 3+ weeks in the bottle (some as short as 4 days in the ferment, though they were down to 1008) so i'm willing to punt that if we wait a bit longer we'll be rewarded in the end.