Infection/Quality Problems: what we should know

Apologies that you never heard back from Almanac regarding an infected Heirloom bottle. Please drop me a PM so i can follow up on the issue? Hate to see an unresolved thread.

 

Jack, won't some beers oxidize and develop sherry type flavored ie abyss?

Edit: in the respect of what to do with an infected bottle, contact the brewer. I have had great luck in some cases, and no response in others. Also, my bottle shop will refund your money if you bring in the leftover portion of any beer you don't like.

 

Every beer will oxidize with bottle aging. Which flavors develop from those oxidation processes will vary with beer style (and other conditions). A typical pale lager will not typically have flavors of "sherry" but instead have flavors like:

• honey-like flavors
• cardboard-like flavors due to the compound 2-nonenal

For my Quads the predominant oxidative flavor I notice is dark fruit flavors.

Cheers!

 

But would pasteurization change that? Let's face it, beers like averys demons of ale or dark lord probably have little to no viable yeast anyway but can be put away for years. Would pasteurization really change this? I am not sure if it would. Clearly mixed fermentations with Brett Pedro and lacto will evolve, but how much does the presence of sacc affect a beers ability to age?

 

Is the question you are asking concerning aging beer that has been pasteurized vs. aging beer that is not pasteurized? If so, I can't help you here.

The majority of my beer aging experience is aging my homebrewed beer which is non-pasteurized and bottle conditioned.

Maybe you would like to start a thread on the topic in the Cellaring forum? Those are likely the best folks to help you here?

Cheers!

P.S. I suspect that not too many people cellar pasteurized beer but who knows?

 

I guess what I am getting at could be paraphrased as ...
Would pasteurization of beers like BCBCS lead to a better product? I understand why pasteurizing a sour would be detrimental to the beers "cellar ability", but I don't think it would affect a stout in the same fashion.

 

Sure - here are the most recent infected brews I've had lately:

Revolution Mean Gene (2014) bourbon barrel porter: lost half the bottle due to the most intense gusher I've ever witnessed. Tasted like leather and vinegar. Nasty. Had bottles fresh, and at 3 and 6 months that were all fine. This bottle was aged for a year. This completely bummed me out, as Mean Gene is my all time favorite ba porter.

Grand Teton Vintage 2014: It was originally a belgian strong dark aged in 40 year old rum barrels, and was absolutely amazing fresh. This bottle was a year old. It ended up being a very tasty infected brew - tasted like an oaky flanders red, but the rum and other malty flavors were eradicated by the bugs.

GI Bourbon County Barleywine (2015): had bottles fresh, then had this one from the cellar a few nights ago. Tons of tart cherries, very thin mouthfeel. Strong lactic nose. Nothing like the other bottles, or previous batches, for that matter.

Empyrean Carpe Brewem Nibbed In The Barrel Oatmeal Stout (2015): infected from the get go when I got a 4-pack this summer. Liked how it tasted, though, so I've been cracking a bottle every few months to see how it changes. Drinks like Bruery's Tart of Darkness with coffee added. Empyrean saw my 'infected!' check-in on Untappd and confirmed it and sent me a bunch of free merch. Good people over there.

Central Waters Peruvian Morning (2013): Love how it tastes infected, many do not. Known repeat offender. I like to crack one every so often to see how it's changing.


You can see a trend with those infected brews...I've only had a few infected beers that were not ba or had adjuncts added. They were from a local brewery here in MN that had contracted out their bottling operation and the bottler had serious sanitation issues. Funny enough, the infected ipas and esbs they were putting out were better than the original 'clean' beers. I made a 'great sours' comment at a beer fest and got serious stink-eye.

 

'Better' is in eye of the beer-holder. I like the coffee stouts fresh, but many ba stouts will get better with a few years as the sharp edges (ie: alcohol 'hotness', oakiness, bitterness) smooth out to create a nice smooth, balanced brew.

 

I do not know the 'answer' but it really comes down to the subjective definition of "better". Pasteurization does not come with zero flavor impact; heating the beer does indeed have an impact. As to what I posed previously: does pasteurized beer age 'better' than non-pasteurized beer? I have no clue on that particular topic.

Cheers!

 

Having had numerous infected beers over the past 24 months, all the way from Mikkeller, Bruery, Gi, to small players like Heavy Seas and Finback, it all comes down to quality control. Some breweries try their best, others overlook. At this point it's to early to tell, but first things first, I've been paying a premium for the name and i expect nothing short of professionalism. I hope GI rectifies the current catastrophe that is BC..

 

Thanks for the reply and the detail you presented about the infected beers. This is much better than: "my beer tasted funny so I poured it down the drain" kinda posts commonly being posted right now.

It is also cool that breweries are recognizing and fixing the infected bottle issue.

I think you also pointed out a valid point that infections aren't necessarily the end of the world- many beers/breweries intentionally do this of course.

 

I have one bottle of '15 BCBBW. IF it is infected, would there be any difference whether I drink it now or 6 months from now? Is it going to get worse over time? For anyone that may have already dealt with GI--or any brewer for that matter--regarding an infection issue, is there a greater risk of being told to go kick rocks if you wait "too long" to bring it to their attention?

 

While not specifically talking about infected beer, this article is certainly pertinent to the conversation.

http://growlermag.com/crap-beer-slipping-standards-lack-of-quality-control-threaten-the-industry/

 

Just a heads up @JackHorzempa and @stealth ... I recently found out this years BA Yeti was pasteurized after the infection issues in the last release. I will get to see first hand what the process affects as far as cellar ability...

 

I agree it is kind of a rant and I completely agree that there are places that should just lock their doors assuming the market decides their beers are junk. He did start to bring up standards but fell short which indeed makes this a well crafted complaint. I also read an article recently (that I can't find now) about brewery safety and the increase in accidents largely due to carelessness, lack of knowledge, no training, and little in the way of established safety standards. The statistics were actually pretty alarming.

In my mind, this all loosely hangs together - this is an industry and there are growing pains. Accidents - heck, I can think of a myriad of ways to hurt myself home-brewing five gallons and I can look at the safety procedures we have at my work place that didn't exist 35 years ago when I started. Sanitation and sanitary procedures/practices too - this is an area where I have direct input at "the shop" and things have changed enormously over my tenure here. One of our microbiologists retired a few years ago and was wondering what they would be doing with their time - I suggested she become a consultant to the brewing industry.

I do believe there are a lot of small(ish) breweries out there that have no understanding of process and just think of brewing small batches for sale as an extension of home brewing. Some of them I've visited. Some of them will learn and make "good" beer, some will not. Not everybody can make good products - it doesn't matter what the product is. Some "get it" and some never do. We now have a local "food incubator" where people who have product ideas can go and learn about processing, legal matters, food safety, etc. What it seem to be doing is shaking out the "wannabes".

 

Your belief is shared by several in the brewing community as well.

http://blogs.denverpost.com/beer/20...ng-craft-beer-industry-quality-problem/13432/

 

That article came out a little while after a friend who is a pro said that they got the first visit from OHSA. Craft Brewing is on their radar now, the injuries in the article show why.

As for small craft breweries, how many have basic equipment beyond thermometers and hydrometers? Have you been to ones that lack pH meters? A simple microscope to look at yeast health and possible contamination? Those places can't do QA if they don't have those instruments.