Need Help Diagnosing Ruined Beer

Discussion in 'Homebrewing' started by mattclough, Oct 9, 2014.

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  1. mattclough

    mattclough Initiate (0) Jan 31, 2013 Virginia

    I recently kegged an IPA only to find that something had gone very wrong. Despite being golden in color, the stuff is hopelessly opaque. After many weeks, even cold crashing, the haze level is off the charts. The smell is a little sharp, but overall not bad and has a typical Mosaic aroma, which I dry hopped with - just an ounce for 5 days. The flavor though is hard to describe but my first words are rubber or plastic. The foam is rocky and looks a little yellow, but sticks around for a while.

    I'm thinking there are a few candidates —

    First, chloramine, which my city uses in the water. I'm told that the taste attributed to chloramine is stronger in happier beers.

    Second, infection. I've never seen an infection like this, but it has all the signs - gnarly flavor, unabating haze, intense rocky foam and yellow to boot. I just don't know what kind of infection would lead to rubber/plastic flavor.

    And last but not least, and I know this is controversial, yeast autolysis or possibly yeast mutation. While the yeast vial was new and healthy, and the beer didn't sit long, I did accidentally leave the vial in the hot sun for a while. I'm thinking this may have a terrible effect on the yeast before pitching.

    But I just don't know. Does anyone have any insight into this?
     
    #1 mattclough, Oct 9, 2014
  2. Seacoastbrewer

    Seacoastbrewer Initiate (0) Jun 5, 2012 New Hampshire

    Can you describe your brewing procedure including recipe? That will help
     
    #2 Seacoastbrewer, Oct 9, 2014
  3. mattclough

    mattclough Initiate (0) Jan 31, 2013 Virginia

    I don't have it in front of me, but it was pretty basic. These are estimates...

    About 13lbs of Maris Otter, mashed at 152 for about 60 minutes, infusion mash
    Batch sparged with 165F sparge water til 1.020 runnings
    60 minute boil, 1.5oz Mosaic first wort hopped to 60min, whirlfloc at 20min, 1.5oz Mosaic at 10min
    Chilled to 75F, pitched White Labs Pacific Ale Yeast (which, again, had been sitting in direct sunlight for a while)
    Fermented about a week, dry hopped 1oz Mosaic for 5 days
    And it was at this point that the beer was apparently in it's ruined state. I'm pretty sure the wort tasted fine before fermentation, or I would have been rushing to fix something during the brew.
     
    #3 mattclough, Oct 9, 2014
  4. DrewBeechum

    DrewBeechum Pooh-Bah (1,954) Mar 15, 2003 California
    Pooh-Bah

    The rubbery/plastic type phenol that you're getting is probably a chlorophenol if you didn't remove the chloramine from your water. It's usually not going to be apparent in a batch of fresh wort.

    Usual drill - either carbon filter it or use a dose of potassium metabisulfite to clear it. I used the K-meta and don't bother filtering my incoming water. Just a pinch will do for our batch sizes. Cheap insurance.
     
    #4 DrewBeechum, Oct 9, 2014
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  5. epk

    epk Pundit (849) Jun 10, 2008 New Jersey

    "Chilled to 75F, pitched White Labs Pacific Ale Yeast (which, again, had been sitting in direct sunlight for a while)"

    So you fermented at 75? That's high in my opinion and might have added to the off flavors, though Drew points out a very likely suspect now that I think about it.

    How long is "many weeks" and how long did you actually cold crash for?
     
    #5 epk, Oct 9, 2014
    Last edited: Oct 9, 2014
  6. utahbeerdude

    utahbeerdude Maven (1,374) May 2, 2006 Utah

    The rubber/plastic flavor could definitely be phenolic compounds produced by an infection. I've had this happen in the past. If it is an infection, then there will likely be other clues due to the continued feasting by the unwanted bug. First, the gravity may continue to drop. Although if your beer is cold, the rate for this happening may be relatively slow. If the beer is bottled (I see yours is kegged), then gushers can result.
     
    #6 utahbeerdude, Oct 9, 2014
  7. mattclough

    mattclough Initiate (0) Jan 31, 2013 Virginia

    Nah, just chilled to 75 to pitch, fermented around 70.

    The keg has been in the keezer for about three days now, and still opaque. I know dry hopping causes some haze, but I've never seen something so opaque from hops alone, which is what leads me to believe it's an infection, but I've also never tasted an infection with such an insane phenolic character with nothing else, i.e. no funk, no sour, etc. I've also seen some off-white greenish foams from dry hopped beer, but this one just looks kind of sickly.

    Someone mentioned something to me about chlorophenols affecting taste more heavily in highly hopped beers, something about them binding readily to hop compounds. Has anyone seen any research / literature on this?
     
    #7 mattclough, Oct 9, 2014
  8. VikeMan

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

    It's not that chlorophenols combine with something from hops... It's that the chlorine from the chloramines combines with phenols (tannis) from the hops to make chlorophenols. The phenols don't have to come from hops though. They can also come from grains, if sparged too hot and/or at too high a pH. Phenols are also produced by some yeast strains.
     
    #8 VikeMan, Oct 9, 2014
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  9. mattclough

    mattclough Initiate (0) Jan 31, 2013 Virginia

    Ah, very informative! Perhaps that is my issue after all... I guess it's not crazy for a dry hopped beer to be opaque is it?
     
    #9 mattclough, Oct 9, 2014
  10. JackHorzempa

    JackHorzempa Grand Pooh-Bah (3,375) Dec 15, 2005 Pennsylvania
    Society Pooh-Bah

    Dry hopping can result in a fair amount of polyphenols in the beer and this ‘excess’ presence of polyphenols can indeed impact clarity. Some BA homebrewers will cold crash their beers to get ‘stuff’ to precipitate out which will result in a clearer beer.

    Cheers!
     
    #10 JackHorzempa, Oct 10, 2014
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