Vinegar Smell...1 Week In The Fermenter

[Yeasty]

Hi guys,

Got a batch i just put down..

1 x 1.7kg Thomas coopers Premium selection Lager

1x 1.5kg Coopers Light malt extract

Saflager W34/70

I cleaned and sterilised everything as per normal. Made sure i used the sodium Met. that i have

Basically got the extracts dissolved in boiling water, then topped up to 23Lt to get 22/23 Lt.

Pitched yeast (11.5g) same as normal, then put into fridge, set to 12. This is the same as i did my last brew a mexican cerveza.

1 week into fermenting now, took a hydrometer sample. Not expecting much, as last brew @ 12deg. was rather slow.

Most noticable now is a vinegar smell to the liquid. Only took a little sip ass i didnt want to drink incase infected with bacteria

Can anyone tell me if its infected, or should i wait? the hydrometer sample was gassy 1 week in, like fermenting as normal, it just smells off....and tasted a little funky from the sip...

 

[razz]

How did it taste yeasty ?

 

[Yeasty]

It doesnt taste too bad, but there is a slight vinegar taste in the back of the mouth if u know what i mean...

Its not like an overpowering vinegar taste...more like an olive taste?

 

[razz]

Check the gravity reading each day and taste it, also look for anything unusual on top of the beer. If it is infected the smell/taste will get worse. You don't want to chuck it unless you have to. The smell doesn't sound to good if you know what I mean. I haven't used that yeast before. Do a search on infections.

 

[0M39A]

you sure it wasnt more of a sulphury smell?

this is very characteristic of lagers, hence the need for the actual lagering phase, where the sulphur smell dissipates.

 

[Yeasty]

Just had another whiff...its definitly a vinegar smell

had another taste too...doesnt seem too bad to the taste well...for a 1 week old brew anyway..

 

[Screwtop]

Sounds like acetobacter yeasty. Probably a bit hard to tell at this stage, usually quite evident once krausen has subsides, then visible as a skin on top of the beer, white in colour, with a stirated almost geometric pattern to it not like the rounded bloom of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Aceto skin/film will cling to an object such as a hydrometer if put into the beer and smells of course like Vinegar as it is used to make vinegar. It can live in vessels such as fermenters and can occur naturally from oxidation. Don't think this would be the case as your ferment would have been producing plenty of CO2. Clean your fermenter with a bleach solution (plain unscented bleach, not white king it has surfactants and scent, plain old no frills 3.7%, 1 cup in 5L). Put the solution in the fermenter and seal it up, give it a good shake and leave for 24hrs, shake it up whenever you pass by, rinse and leave to dry. Sanitise the fermenter, seals, tap and everything with a no rinse sanitiser before the next use.

 

[Yeasty]

Well i sanitised a ladel and started to skim some of it off the top....definitly was a thin whitish type skin on the beer.

Its got me wondering how the hell it happened..(as do most people id say when they get infected) as im pretty thorough with my cleaning...

Should i ditch the brew now, or wait a little longer?

I'll clean it up, and soak it once i get the yay, or nay from someone to ditch...

 

[Mr Bond]

Acetobacter pic in this thread

 

[tangent]

sodium met leaves a bloody awful smell and is about as useful as an ashtray on a motorbike.
try some Starsan from Craftbrewer or equivalent product.

 

[Yeasty]

Acetobacter pic in this thread

Well mine doesnt look like that at all. Before i skimmed it it just had like a thin skin with floaty bits in the wort.

sodium met leaves a bloody awful smell and is about as useful as an ashtray on a motorbike.
try some Starsan from Craftbrewer or equivalent product.

Yer i know...just trying to get rid of it so i can buy something different. Its worked every other time up until now though

 

[vlbaby]

sodium met leaves a bloody awful smell and is about as useful as an ashtray on a motorbike.
try some Starsan from Craftbrewer or equivalent product.

You got that right tangent! Sodium met failed to sterilise properly for me several times in the past, and the result was usually an over carbonated vinegar smelling/ tasting gusher of a beer.
I'd switch to iodophor Yeasty. Never let me down once.

vl.

 

[Pumpy]

Yeasty it could be the smells from the lager yeast, otherwise dont waste it may I suggest this recipe

Yeasties Pickled Onions beasties

6 lb small pickling onions, peeled
6 c salt, pickling
30 c water

1 1/2 c sugar
7 1/2 c light lager malt vinegar
3 ts allspice, ground
3 ts cloves, whole
3 bay leaf

Scald onions for 2 minutes in boiling water. Drain and place in
cold water and peel. In a large bowl, stir half of the salt into
half of the water until the salt has dissolved. Add the onions.
Cover the bowl and leave the onions to soak for 12 hours.

Drain the onions, discard the brine and wash and dry the bowl.
Dissolve the remaining salt in the remaining water and pour it
over. Cover bowl and leave for a further 36 hours.

Drain onions and pack them into clean, dry preserving jars. Set
aside.

In a medium sized pan, dissolve the sugar in the vinegar over low
heat, stirring constantly. When the sugar has dissolved, add the
allspice, cloves and bay leaf and bring the vinegar to a boil. Boil
mixture for 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat. Cover the
pan and set aside to cool. When vinegar is cool, pour it over the
onions to cover them completely. Seal the jars and store them in
a cool, dry place.

My mother made wine and her strawberry wine got vinigar fly her pickled onions wer pink and tasted great .

Pumpy

 

[Yeasty]

<snip>

I love it

If it has been infected, how long would i have to wait to use the newly made pickle vinegar?

This is definitly a hard choice...pickled onions, or brew......what is a man supposed to do :huh:

 

[Screwtop]

I love it

If it has been infected, how long would i have to wait to use the newly made pickle vinegar?

This is definitly a hard choice...pickled onions, or brew......what is a man supposed to do :huh:

The pic in the link is PEDIOCOCCUS as Warren points out, not Aceto, you should have some elongated (sticky looking, straight formations, almost crystaline in appearance in place if its Aceto. The vinegar smell gives it away anyhoo. When will people stop using Sodium Met for sanitising, there must be 20Gb of negative stuff here on AHB, obviously the search function is wasted.

USE BLEACH

 

[PostModern]

Its got me wondering how the hell it happened..

Apart from using metabisulphate as a sanitiser... opening the fermenter tap every couple of days opens a door to infections. Put your yeast in and leave it alone for two-three weeks. Why all the poking and prodding?

 

[Yeasty]

lol...yes i will use bleach...i think thats what you're try to say??

I was just using what i had left, as ive never had a problem with it before...

The stuff in the fermenter doenst really look like straight formations though, just a thin whitish skin type stuff floating on top...

I took the first sample of hydrometer reading today, as its been a week in the fermentor. Ive only taken one since to make sure of the taste...no prodding here (apart from skimming the stuff off the top that is after i sanitised a ladel....)

 

[Ross]

i've had plenty of brews give off a vinegary smell during ferment - Don't stress about it.
Unless your beer gets a skin on it like the pictures, i reckon everythings fine.
leave it alone & stop prodding it, coz if it ain't infected, it certainly will be shortly...

Edit: just read your last post properly - things not looking too hot...

cheers Ross

 

[dirty mac]

I use Sodium Met all the time and never had an infection in the whole 3 years of brewing. I first clean with the alkaline salts and then use the Sodium Met. Maybe people are not using it properly as it is not the liquid that does the sterilising but the fumes. So it should be used with cold water and only about a litre in the fermenter will do. Trust me I once stuck my head in the fermenter to see if it was doing anything and it was like bloody mustard gas that would of sterilised a turd.

 

[Yeasty]

Well its been 2 weeks in the fermenter now and the vinegar smell is still there. Tastes like it did before.

The gravity reading hasnt gone down at all since pitching the yeast, still @ 1.046

I think im going to drain a bit off to use it as a malt vinegar and make some pickled onions, and eggs. The rest might get the tip

Weird thing is its got C02 in there...?

heres a pic