Well it happened, tasted my sour mash today and god damn it's acidic....Reminds me of rodenbach's feeling when you swallow it. I know how air got in...didn't catch it fast enough apparently. Ah well, my carboy will be empty anyways so I'm boiling it now to kill the bugs and then going to pitch it onto the yeast cake my last batch is sitting on right now. At least the last batch isn't infected. It's not terrible tasting though, think I caught the acetobacter before it got really bad. It just has a very acidic swallow... Maybe it will turn out to be a happy accident. Anyone experience this before and have any insight?
No experience to speak from, but couldn't you brew another one and blend to dilute if you don't like the level of acetobacter in this batch?
Can't really help you, maybe @OldSock has some ideas that he's come across. Acidic wouldn't be the main issue however.. vinegar would be the flavor you'd be picking up if you found it in your beer. Sounds kind of tasty to me, but maybe not in a light colored berliner. Maybe hold it off and use it to dose a batch in a blend like @koopa said, or perhaps use it to blend into another sour that you want more vinegar notes.
Hmm wonder what it is then... It's like almost to the point of hurting when you swallow, racking it onto a yeast cake now. The taste itself before the swallow is nice, tart, but way more funk than usual. I won't be forgetting about that little air-hole on my pot lid again any time soon lol.
Nah no fruit flies or anything. Don't have a ph reader. Having just tasted it next to the one I racked on raspberries today...lol let's just say this will probably get dumped, it's only 15 dollars and a week setback. I'll let the yeast cake do it's thing and taste it to decide. Not a huge deal if it's a loss since I'm brewing a batch every weekend, 5 more gallons go under heat lamp tomorrow.
Trying to figure out what flavor you are getting then. Rodenbach is damn delicious, so I'm having trouble pinning down anything that could be construed as off putting.
Yeah, but you know how it like has a hell of a bite when you swallow? Maybe goudenband is a better example. Basicially quadruple that feeling, it's rough.
LOL yeah it would be but it's to the point of pain when you swallow. Plus comparing it to my other one the taste isn't all that great any longer...We'll see what it does on the yeast cake if it doesn't kill the yeast from the acidity. It shouldn't take long to kick off since it's a fresh cake.
Shouldn't be acetic acid. Acetobacter requires oxygen to convert alcohol into acid. I wouldn't think you have enough time to build up the yeast to ferment in there and then enough time for the acetobacter to populate and convert. Could be another acid from the funky stuff you don't want or a touch of fuesl from the higher temps and some resident yeast fermenting hot.
