MSU Red Cedar Message Board

I have a porter (based on NB's St. Paul Porter recipe - with a few variations) that has been sitting in the fermentor for almost 5 weeks now and plan to bottle over the few days. I am going to really test my level of patience to let it sit in the bottle for a few more weeks after that - especially given the cool weather we have been having. A nice porter sounds SO good.

Lager? Was it pretty hot down there?

Best of luck. I have never had to dump out a batch of beer (knock on wood) and can imagine that would be painful to do.

Been toying with the idea of doing a tequila-oaked beer but can't decide on what type of base beer to do this with. Was thinking either a barleywine or something like an Imperial Brown. Any ideas? Anybody know of a beer that uses tequila barrels or the like?

I had a bottle bomb go off in my basement.

I had a batch of amber ale that I brewed and bottled over the spring. It had kind of a funky aftertaste and I had tossed most of the batch, but kept a few sixers to see if it could clear up over time. The beer was a tad overcarbonated, but not too crazy. I was away on vacation for a couple of weeks and assume the bottle exploded during that time.

Yesterday I went down to the basement to move a few things around and get stuff ready to bottle up another beer, and I found tiny shards of glass all over the place. The bottle absolutely disintegrated with no pieces larger than a penny left behind. The beer was entirely gone, evaporated. I did notice some beer spray on the shelves above where the beer was stored, but that was the only evidence left besides tiny pieces of glass.

I think the batch may have had some kind of infection that kept the fermentation going after bottling? The other bottles that I had left were super carbonated and all started to volcano out foam after opening. I'm sure the batch was done fermenting when I bottled it, it was in primary for nearly 6 weeks.

Anyone ever have a situation like that?

Good deal on all-grain equipment.

I have had some very strange odors when kegging and bottling that go away. You may not be infected at all. My last beer was a porter that smelled very odd. It smelled like pure alcohol and had a sour tinge to it. I kegged half and aged the other half on rum soaked oak chips. Both turned out great and smell even better.

I am brewing a Rochefort clone this weekend and may brew a second IPA using up the leftover hops I have from various brews. I did an all Warrior IPA which turned out great.

Thanks - I've heard the same about 'young beer' that can give the odd smells but turn out ok once the yeast finishes up, but I let this one sit on the yeast for a long time to try and self correct. Im pretty sure it was sanitation related, i had a seal pop off of my fermenter and fall inside - but i had sanitized the seal, so who knows. Glad to hear you have had some success with beers with off aromas though. Gives me hope that i won't get sick at least.

I will be sampling the keg in a few hours and will update. If not, I'm probably dead.

yeah, i know I'm not gonna get e.coli or anything, but figured i'd probably end up with a nasty case of the beer shits. it'll be worth it though.

i got a fly in the yeast I rehydrated last summer and a friend of mine had his cat put its paw in the pot while he was chilling the wort, and both of those turned out ok.

What yeast did you use for the Rochefort clone? I did a combo of a Trappist and an American Ale yeast for the one in the fermenter now. Curious to see how it will work out.

Edwort!

Some fantastic recipes on HBT. Great forum!

Uncle Awesome, you're beer will probably be fine. I had a string of infected batches due to grinding barley in the same area I brewed and filled the fermentor. When it became infected, it was very, very obvious. All kinds of funky smells while the yeast finish things up.

Anybody make cider? I love cider with malt.

I agree - if it tastes OK, then it shouldn't be infected. Could be esters or something else. If you were smelling the fermenter - maybe it was they krausen stuck to the side of the fermenter? If it is infected, you'll taste it.

Exactly. I have brewed most of his beers and they are all very good. He doesn't live far from me although I have never met him.