Hey all, I brewed a kettle sour - last one turned out great, then I thought let's add fruit on the next brew. After primary ferment was over, I dropped in a bag full of marbles, 4lbs (thawed) frozen mango chunks and 14 oz package of Goya Passionfruit pulp. After a week it stinks in a not good way (sulfur?) which I think stems from the fruit. I sampled prior to fruit add and it was on track (~3.3ph, tasted good). Currently cold crashed and chilling at ~40f - anyone have similar problems with mango or passionfruit, and any ideas on how to de-skunk? Right now all I got is cold and time... Recipe: 5 59% Wheat Malt 3 35% Belgian Pilsner 0.5 6% Carafoam (2L) Kettle soured with lactic acid and Goodbelly mango 3days at ~97f Fermented US-05. OG 1.046 FG 1.010
I don't know what caused your issue, but if it is sulfur, here's a C&P from a document I did a while back for my local brewclub: Managing Sulfur-y Aroma Some yeast strains are prone to producing excess hydrogen sulfide, causing a “rotten egg” aroma. This can also result from a lack of nutrients for the yeast. With time, this usually clears up, either in the fermenter or in the packaged beer. My usual advice for this issue is to simply wait. But with a special event beer, you may run out of time. In that case, the answer is copper. - Straighten a 25” piece of 3/8” OD copper refrigeration coil and sanitize it. - Slowly stir the beer for about two minutes and smell, repeating if needed. If doing this the morning of the event, be sure to pour off that first pint of sludgy beer before stirring.
Thanks Vike Man! I was lazy enough to go straight from cold crashing, bottling, and lagering awhile to mellow it - but on sampling, the metallic is still there and turns out it wasn't sulphur, or even the fruit at all (though passionfruit pulp is stinky...)...I had been wondering what happened to the steel marbles I used to weigh down the hop bag in the fermenter (which initially sank but was floating after 7 days) - didn't see them when I dumped the hop bag, didn't see them when I transferred to secondary, didn't see them when I transferred to bottle bucket (or any cleaning stages) - now realize that the metallic taste was from dissolving the ball bearings in my kettle sour for a week! (ph~3.2) these - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01M056FSJ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Now seems kind of obvious...PS folks don't use these...
Yeah, any metal objects going into a fermenter or keg for an extended time should be stainless steel. Were the balls visibly corroded?
Nope - totally disappeared. I guess dissolved? I thought they were SS but updated posting for product (could have changed) on amzn says chrome plated SS. There was no sign of them!
Lesson learned...but dumping all that beer? Always sad. I’m sure I know a few who’d drink some but fear it’s toxic (5 gallons, ~10 dissolved SS marbles)...
Maybe you oxidized your wort while you were souring, pre boil. The nose comes off as baby barf, or parmesean, or sulfur. It's really unpleasant to drink. Some brewers recommend a layer of co2 over the kettle and covering with cellophane to prevent this from happening. I'd scrap and start over rather than trying to salvage with more fruit.
