My first batch - off smell @ 15 days in primary

Discussion in 'Homebrewing' started by PSU_Mike, Jan 5, 2015.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. PSU_Mike

    PSU_Mike Initiate (0) Sep 6, 2013 Pennsylvania

    Fair warning, this is going to be fairly vague as I have no experience to gauge from.

    I don't have a hell of a lot of room so I bought a 1 gallon kit to dabble until we move and I have more room ($20 @ Staples sounds like a good enough deal to make me go for it). I brewed up the batch that came with the kit. It's a single hop pale ale with 1oz. chinook, pale malt, and crystal 20. I mashed @ 152 for 60 before my 5 hop additions @ 60, 15, 10, 2, and FO. I have not invested in anything to control the fermentation temperature yet as this is just a playing around thing for the time being. I live in an old house that is not well insulated. I did an ice bath to get it down to 70 before pitching. I used a blow off tube for the entire 15 days.

    I was careful to make sure everything was sanitized before it made contact with the beer. I had nice krausen after 3 days and I could see a ton of activity for about 10 days. I opened up the top a few days ago and the smell was excellent. It was chinook. Yesterday, I went to get a hydrometer reading (1.014) and the smell was pretty offensive. It no longer had the dank pine smell I get from chinook. It was more like a rotten, rancid smell. I had the smell in my nostrils for a few hours and it's not pleasant. I tasted it and poured it out after a sip. Completely undrinkable. Could this be a byproduct of fermentation being too cold? Infection? Will this 'go away'?
     
    #1 PSU_Mike, Jan 5, 2015
  2. Iamjeff6

    Iamjeff6 Initiate (0) Sep 9, 2013 Virginia

    Im no pro but im thinking it might be some form of infection from opening it that first time. If it smells bad and tastes bad I have a feeling that it might not go away. I know me and my buddy have experimented with a Mr. Beer for just small test batches and second runnings and it always turns out that way.
     
    #2 Iamjeff6, Jan 5, 2015
  3. kbuzz

    kbuzz Initiate (0) Jan 22, 2011 North Carolina

    This has me confused. You added hops to the mash?

    Also, what is the other end of the blowoff tube sitting in?
     
    #3 kbuzz, Jan 5, 2015
  4. VikeMan

    VikeMan Grand Pooh-Bah (3,067) Jul 12, 2009 Pennsylvania
    Pooh-Bah

    If that description is accurate, it sounds like an infection. Will it go away? If it's really an infection, no. But it won't really cost you anything to let it sit another week and see if it has changed.
     
    #4 VikeMan, Jan 5, 2015
    PSU_Mike likes this.
  5. PSU_Mike

    PSU_Mike Initiate (0) Sep 6, 2013 Pennsylvania

    No, mash @ 152 for 60, then a 60 minute boil when I added the hops. The blowoff tube was in a glass of water.
     
    #5 PSU_Mike, Jan 5, 2015
  6. kbuzz

    kbuzz Initiate (0) Jan 22, 2011 North Carolina

    There's your infection, likely...needs to be a sanitizer solution...
     
    #6 kbuzz, Jan 5, 2015
    Iamjeff6 and PSU_Mike like this.
  7. JohnSnowNW

    JohnSnowNW Initiate (0) Feb 6, 2013 Minnesota

    Out of curiosity, what did you use to sanitize?
     
    #7 JohnSnowNW, Jan 5, 2015
  8. PSU_Mike

    PSU_Mike Initiate (0) Sep 6, 2013 Pennsylvania

    A no-rinse sanitizer that came with the kit. I'll see if there is a brand name on it when I get home as I have some left. It was a white salt-like powder.
     
    #8 PSU_Mike, Jan 5, 2015
  9. ronobvious2

    ronobvious2 Initiate (0) Aug 24, 2010 Tennessee

    Unless water crawled up his blow-off tube and into the wort, how could he get an infection? Did krausen touch the blow-off tube and it wasn't sanitized?
     
    #9 ronobvious2, Jan 5, 2015
  10. PSU_Mike

    PSU_Mike Initiate (0) Sep 6, 2013 Pennsylvania

    This was my thought as well. Bacteria would have to crawl up my blow off tube and take a leap of faith into my wort. Can this happen?
     
    #10 PSU_Mike, Jan 5, 2015
  11. VikeMan

    VikeMan Grand Pooh-Bah (3,067) Jul 12, 2009 Pennsylvania
    Pooh-Bah

    Bacteria can't climb per se. But the culture can spread across (up) a solid surface, as long as there's food to eat along the way. But this takes some time obviously.

    ETA: A more likely blowoff tube related culprit would be a blowoff tube whose "fermenter end" wasn't sanitized properly, or pressure related suck-back of the liquid from a contaminated blow-off collection vessel. I have seen cultures growing right on top of the floating debris in a blow-off vessel (despite the sanitizer solution the debris was floating on), but it would take some serious reverse pressure (caused by something like a steep temperature drop in the fermenter) to suck it back into the fermenter.
     
    #11 VikeMan, Jan 5, 2015
    Last edited: Jan 5, 2015
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.