Well, at this point you know how to evaluate a beer by aroma, taste, and feel. You have a general understanding of the most common flavors and aromas in beer in regards to malt, yeast, hops, and water. You have an idea of some common flaws. You also have knowledge about how to use style guidelines as a target for your beer evaluation round. You put all these components together to come up with what your beer is like right now, and honestly that part is harder than acquiring this basic knowledge. The hardest part is letting go of the idea of what you were shooting for or what the beer was supposed to taste like and really taking a look at the beer in an open minded and non-judgmental way.
That is the hardest part because we always tend to go one way or the other. We either tend to be our own worst critic, or we fail to acknowledge the flaws or mistakes in our beer because there is no way we made a simple mistake. Judging your own beer openly and non-objectively is a lot more difficult than it seems.
This is why many people send beers off to competition. So use the information in this chapter and take your beer for what it is, not for what you wanted it to be or what it should have been. Be honest with the beer. Learn more about Jason Johnson. Readers of This Book Also Read.
Log-in to write a review or add a video review. James Feasel on Feb. Even if it appears slightly slimy, it is probably normal. Only if something hairy starts growing on top of the wort should you be concerned. I remember one guy reporting a dead bat floating in his fermentor That was definitely cause for alarm.
Mold A simple case of mold. Mold can usually be just skimmed off with no lasting effect on the beer's flavor. Withdraw a sample of the wort with a siphon or turkey baster and taste it. If it tastes foul then its not worth keeping. Otherwise the beer was probably not harmed. Infections in beer caused by molds are not dangerous. Be meticulous in your sanitation and you should not have any problems.
Yeast Strain Rotten egg odors hydrogen sulfide can have two common causes: Many lager yeast strains produce noticeable amounts of hydrogen sulfide during fermentation. The smell and any sulfur taste will dissipate during lagering. Let the beer condition or lager for a few weeks after primary fermentation. Bacteria Bacterial infections can also produce sulfury odors and if you are not brewing a lager beer, then this is a good sign that you have an infection.
If it tastes foul then its not worth keeping. A friend of mine, who insists on remaining nameless, was misled by the term, "pitching", and for his first batch attempted to forcibly throw each granule of dried yeast into the wort so that it would be wetted. The beer will not be worth drinking due to the lack of flavor. Likewise, liquid yeast cultures also need their breakfast routine. Low Attenuating Extracts Another common cause for extract kit brewers is the use of extracts high in dextrins. The yeast may have settled out prematurely and the bottles need to be shaken to get the yeast back into suspension. James Feasel on Feb.
Let the fermentation complete and then taste it before bottling to see if it is infected. Toss it if it is. Bacteria In this case, it probably is. Aceto bacteria vinegar producing and Lacto bacteria lactic acid producing are common contaminates in breweries. Sometimes the infection will produce sweet smells like malt vinegar, other times they will produce cidery smells.
It will depend on which bug is living in your wort. Aceto bacteria often produce ropy strands of jelly which can be a good visual indicator, as can excessive cloudiness, after several weeks in the fermentor although some cloudiness is not unusual, especially in all-grain beers. If you don't like the taste, then pour it out. Lactic infections are desired in some beer styles. Brettanomyces is supposed to smell like horse sweat or a horse blanket.
Raise your hand if you know what a horse smells like.
From sweat, I mean. I think Brettanomyces smells like leather, myself. Pediococcus can produce diacetyl and acidic aromas and flavors. One man's garbage can be another man's gold though. These two cultures and Lacto bacteria are actually essential to the Belgian Lambic beer styles. Under other circumstances and styles, beers that taste like Lambics would be discarded instead of being carefully nurtured and blended over a two year period.
Lambic beers have a pronounced tartness with fruity overtones. This type of beer is very refreshing and is excellent with heavy food. Be meticulous in your sanitation or investigate Lambic brewing. Cool Temperatures A beer that has been continually fermenting bubbling for a long time more than a week for ales, more than 3 weeks for lagers may not have something wrong with it.
It is often due to the fermentation being a bit too cool and the yeast are working slower than normal. This condition is not a problem. Gusher Infection However, the sustained bubbling is often due to "gusher type" infection. These infections can occur at any time and are due to wild yeasts or bacteria that eat the higher order sugars, like dextrins. The result in the fermentor is a beer that keeps bubbling until all of the carbohydrates are fermented, leaving a beer that has no body and very little taste.
If it occurs at bottling time, the beer will overcarbonate and will fizz like soda pop, fountaining out of the bottle. Improve your sanitation next time. If the beer seems to be bubbling too long, check the gravity with a hydrometer. Use a siphon or turkey baster to withdraw a sample from the fermentor and check the gravity. If the gravity is still high, in the teens or twenties, then it is probably due to lower than optimum temperature or sluggish yeast. If it is below 10 and still bubbling at several per minute, then a bug has gotten hold.
The beer will not be worth drinking due to the lack of flavor. Too Cool This situation is commonly referred to as a "stuck fermentation" and can have a couple causes. The simplest cause and probably the most common is temperature. As previously discussed, a significant drop in temperature can cause the yeast to go dormant and settle to the bottom. Moving the fermentor to a warmer room and swirling the fermentor to stir up the yeast and get them back into suspension will often fix the problem.
Yeast The other most common cause is weak yeast.
Referring back to previous discussions of yeast preparation, weak yeast or low volumes of healthy yeast will often not be up to the task of fermenting a high gravity wort. This problem is most common with higher gravity beers, OGs greater than 1. Low Attenuating Extracts Another common cause for extract kit brewers is the use of extracts high in dextrins. These are not bad extracts, in fact they are high quality, but their use is better suited to heavier bodied beers like strong ales, porters and stouts, where a high finishing gravity is desired.
This committee works best without distractions-- the meetings should be held in quiet, low light areas in a warm room. If the committee was given enough budget priming sugar , then they should arrive at a consensus in about 2 weeks. If they don't get their act together within a month, then its time to rattle their cages and shake things up a bit. The yeast may have settled out prematurely and the bottles need to be shaken to get the yeast back into suspension. Likewise if the temperature is too cool in the room, moving the bottles to a warmer room may do the trick.
Too much sugar You used too much priming sugar Cure: Vent and re-cap all of the bottles.
Bottled too soon You bottled before fermentation was complete. Wild yeast A gusher bug has gotten into the beer. Gusher bugs and wild yeasts are a real problem as they will keep on fermenting the beer until there is nothing left but fizzy bitter alcoholic water. The real danger with overcarbonation is exploding bottles. Bottle grenades can be very dangerous both from flying glass and from glass slivers left in the carpet.