Stuffed It?

[amcqueen]

Hi all,

I started my 5th brew on Sunday morning, and I wrote down what I did. I must admit that I was a little flustered and did not really prep myself too well. I thought I had sanitised everything but I think the batch is infected (photo attached) The brew consisted of:

1 x Black Rock East India Pale Ale
1 x Black Rock Light liquid malt 1.5kg
150g Wheat Malt
250g Carapils
15 Saaz finishing hops
15g Amarillo Hops
US S05

The short and the long of it was that everything went into the fermenter as planned, and I filled up to the 20 litre mark, pitched the yeast at 18c and closed the fermenter lid, took a reading (over 1.060) and realised it was meant to be 21 litres. So I opened it up (the space between this was like 5 minutes) and added another litre of water and took a reading at about 1.048.

Temp was ok and left it to do its thing.

No fermentation was visible until yesterday, and the airlock hadnt moved. I thought the seal was no good, but then I took another sample and the reading was still at 1.048. Deciding that enough was enough, I had a look inside and saw as pictured. The smell is like a can of off baked beans. Do you think it is any good? Do I leave it and see what happens?

I really enjoy brewing ( done it for about 2 months now) and this is the first time ive really hit a snag, your comments are appreciated.



Cheers

 

[manticle]

Looks like hops and krausen.

Take another reading but make sure the tap is clean og gunk and the liquid is clear of unmixed malt. You might need to draw off a bit, then discard, then draw off some more and meausre.

Beer can smell pretty weird when it's fermenting. Don't freak out yet.

 

[amcqueen]

Looks like hops and krausen.

Take another reading but make sure the tap is clean og gunk and the liquid is clear of unmixed malt. You might need to draw off a bit, then discard, then draw off some more and meausre.

Beer can smell pretty weird when it's fermenting. Don't freak out yet.

Cheers for that, I just was worried that I didnt see any airlock movement at all for 3 days, do you think removing the lid will be an issue?

Thanks for the advice, I am very keen on getting it right and not wasting the $$

 

[manticle]

Take the lid off as little as possible, search for 'my airlock isn't bubbling' and relax.

 

[kelbygreen]

I wouldnt worry. Dont go by the airlock it can leak threw the seal in the lid.

48hrs in not a big deal to worry about it not kicking off fully.

What temp is it at? as its cold here and if its not been temp controlled you will find it will ferment very slow with little signs of fermentation if its a ale yeast.

 

[HBHB]

Yep, looks like beer to me.

Have faith.

Have a beer.......stop watching it, poking it with a stick and wait it out until your hydrometer screams "bottle me".

Enjoy it in 3 months time.

 

[fergi]

as manticle said it looks ok.
point i would make is i am now drinking a JSGA which is tasting fantastic, 5 weeks ago i thought it had an infection.
it had been in the keg for about a week and had a weird taste,so much so i was going to toss it out.
i kept it anyway and tried it a month later, what a difference in that month, its a great beer now, so dont be in a hurry to judge your brew, as manticle said try and not keep opening the lid too much, just leave it for another 10 days and check your fg then.
fergi

 

[amcqueen]

Thanks for the info guy, I will promise to leave it alone now =) By the way, the temp is 21c, and its in the linen press and is at that temp most of the time.

 

[iankaplan]

I know the feeling ...... I started brewing about 2 years. First brew, couldn't resist opening up the fermenter to see what things looked like. All good, left the brew to do it's thing for until bottling time. However, it didn't smell great. I decided to bottle half, and toss the other half. I'm still kicking myself for throwing those 11l of beer out ...... that first batch of red ale, after two years in the bottle, is sensational!

 

[Diggs]

I know the feeling ...... I started brewing about 2 years. First brew, couldn't resist opening up the fermenter to see what things looked like. All good, left the brew to do it's thing for until bottling time. However, it didn't smell great. I decided to bottle half, and toss the other half. I'm still kicking myself for throwing those 11l of beer out ...... that first batch of red ale, after two years in the bottle, is sensational!

You have beer 2 years old??? I'm lucky if mine makes 2 months ATM!!!