Two Beers From One Batch?

[RobboMC]

I bottled my winter creation, a hopped black lager similar to schwarzbier of about 6% abv. a few weeks ago.
Black and dark crystal liquid malt extracts in a Pilsener base, an extract brew with 1kg mini-mash of grain.

It had fermented well, OG 1056 FG 1016, in 2 weeks

Racked to secondary, sat for 2 more weeks at 15 deg C in an insulated box in Sydney's winter.

Now I had 27 litres of brew, and my bottling bucket is 25 litres,
so I tapped off 13 litres, bulk primed, stirred and bottled,
then I tapped off the remaining 14 litres, bulk primed, stirred and bottled that.

3 weeks in the bottles and I've come to taste it, and
I still can't quite believe it, but I have 2 somewhat different beers!

The first batch, that came from the bottom of the secondary vessel
is stronger flavoured, maltier and not so hoppy. The second batch, that came from what
was at the top of the secondary, is slightly less flavoursome, not quite as malty and definately hoppier.

Can anyone shed light on what happened?
Is it as simple as a segregation of parts of the brew at low temperature?

 

[raven19]

If the secondary was not skaken up significantly during moving/racking I dare say you may have stratification of different densities in the beer - I wonder then if the alcohol % is different also due to different layering/densities... alcohol rising to the top maybe?
Were the bottles the same material or was one plastic the other glass?
Other than ideas above, best you send over some samples and I shall help judge! :lol:
I do like a good black ale...
Cheers.

 

[Hefty]

I'd believe it.
Since an episode with a mix of bottle bombs and flat beer from the same batch early on, I'm always paranoid about bulk-priming sugar solution settling when I have still cold beer (from CC'ing/lagering) to bottle so I sanitise a paddle and stir intermittently as I bottle.
Doesn't help with this batch but you could try the same in future maybe?

Jono.

 

[Flynnoftheoutback]

I cant cast any light on the subject, however have experienced something similar (well sort of) using a large kettle, large enough to do 4 x 23L batches at once, we often get different beers from the one batch? Everything is the same, it comes from the same kettle, yet we occasionally have found different flavours, aromas, bitterness and yes different alcohol %. Sorry i couldnt help you out...

 

[Adamt]

Even though this thread is a week and a bit old...

There isn't any way the beer can really 'separate' in any noticeable way at homebrewing scales.

Is there any difference in carbonation? If the second (less maltier one) is more fizzy it could either be an infection, or that more yeast has ended up in the second.

Failing that... are you SURE they are the same batch?

 

[koongara]

one word - bret. Any chance your sanitation wasnt 100% and something along the line or a bretomyocies or wild yeast has snuck into one of the batches?

 

[RobboMC]

The secondary definately was NOT stirred up, the idea being to leave the sediment behind. This isn't the first time I've done this on a 28 litre batch of lager, last time the method worked fine, but this brew has more dark malts and a pilsener base.

Bottles are all identical Coopers PET.

Absolutley definately the same batch, as unfortunately I only have one batch of black in the cellar at the moment.

Carbonation is the same, it wasn't the priming sugar that seems to have settled, it's the secondary.

The lighter batch was the second from the bottling bucket, so the bucket itself is clean. I suppose it's possible something got into the second lot of priming solution as it cooled, or into the top of the bucket during bottling, or even into the top of the waiting second part of secondary ( which sat with only air lock removed while I bottled first batch ) Contamination is a new spin on the issue - one I hadn't thought of. The second batch obviously sat around for longer after the airlock was removed.

Next time I'll keep a serious watch on cleanliness of the 2nd batch ( as one always should anyway ), but also find a way to homogonise the batch without stirring in the sediment ( here comes more brewerphenalia )

The maltier part came off the secondary sediment, the lighter and hoppier part came off the top away from any yeast.

Initially I'm with Adamt that this can't physically happen, and I've never heard or read of it.

The word 'judge' isn't a bad idea, maybe I'll pop them both into a comp and see what the judges say.

 

[BennyBrewster]

More suspended yeast in one of the batches which caused a quicker carbonation that naturally generated more heat and therefore produced slightly different by products...

haha no idea just a stab.