Not Wherry nice

[martyn142]

Well it had to happen I guess. After making a few nice brews and making steady progres in terms of the finished product, my Woodforde's Wherry has gone wrong. It has a really fausty smell and although it tastes a bit better it has to go down the drain, which is gutting.

I think there are two probable causes, one more likely to be the culprit than the other.

Firstly I have been fermenting in my boiler house which has been around the 21-22C mark and seemed OK. However, the central heating has kicked in recently now and again and the temperature has gone up to around 25C which is too high I think.

The more likely reason though is that the FV I used has no tap and so I've been lifting the lid daily to check the SG. I suspect the air has got to it and it's oxidised?

Anyway I want to make sure it doesn't happen again - I am already looking at months in therapy to get over this one So how do I take a reading without having to constantly expose it to the air? Or is the problem likely to lie elsewhere in fact?

Fortunately I have some Coopers in my FV with tap which should finish shortly so all is not lost

[brewzone]

STOP!!!!

Don't chuck it just yet.

I've fermented at 25C on hot sunny days and the beer has been fine.

Maybe slightly fruity notes and more inclinded to produce a hangover if

drinking a lot of it but otherwise lovely.

It's hard to resist the temptation to check on the progress of fermentation so an airlock is the best option in future.

If it's glugging then it's fermenting.

Some weird smells eminate from a typical brew depending on the yeast.

Keg it as usual and give it a week and try it then.

[kenny850]

can only echo the above,unless your brew smells or tastes vinegary ,keg it and leave it for a few weeks. My 1st brew was wherry which was fine despite going through an iffy patch

[Dill]

The more likely reason though is that the FV I used has no tap and so I've been lifting the lid daily to check the SG. I suspect the air has got to it and it's oxidised?

I don't think that the air has got to it because you don't actually need a lid on your bucket, you can just put a tea towel over your bucket and get perfect results.

Did you sanatise your hydrometer when you was checking it each day?

It's hard to resist the temptation to check on the progress of fermentation so an airlock is the best option in future.

If it's glugging then it's fermenting.

Again this is not strictly true. If your bucket lid does not make an airtight seal the gas will escape from there and not through the airlock so an airlock is not always a good indicator that your brew is fermenting, or not, as the case may be.

But like Brewzone and Kenny advised DONT be in too much of an hurry to throw your brew down the drain, if it has reached its bottling /kegging gravity bottle or keg it, then let it condition for at least 4 weeks then have a taste and then decide whether it needs throwing down the drain or not.
I think you may be pleasantly suprised.

[adm]

Is it really that easy for beer to get oxidised? (I'm not sure, but I don't think so...):

1) Don't we try and aerate it as much as possible prior to ferment? So air (or even better, oxygen) is required for good fermentation.

2) Once fermenting, it kicks out a load of CO2 which (being heavier than O2) sits on top of the beer and pretty much forms a barrier between the beer and the air.

So I probably wouldn't worry so much about oxidation. As for yeast - some of them put out some niffs while working, but clear up once they are done.

As others have said....don't rush! Keep it for a while then try it again.

[martyn142]

Thanks for your replies. Just to clarify, the ale is already kegged. I let the secondary fermentation run for two days and have now put it outside to cool. I tasted it again after a day outside and it still stunk to high heaven.

There is some very good advice on this forum and the vast majority know more about brewing than me so I'll take your advice and hold fire. But it is going to have to do some prettty major maturing to improve enough to drink

Dill - yes the hydro has been sanitised each time.

adm - it had occurred to me that the CO2 sitting on top should protect it from the air. Presumably so long as I dip the hydro in reasonably carefully I am not going to disturb this layer and I should be OK?

Thanks all anyway.

[adm]

Regarding the hydro dipping - in theory, yes.....although it will certainly increase the chance of infection (you did sanitise the hydro before use each time?)

I'd recommend adding a tap to the fermenter for the future, and an airlock to the top. That way you can draw off a small amount for a sample without any problems.

[ade1865]

when fermentation has slowed, just chuck the [sanitised] hydro in and leave it. A quick peek every couple of days shouldn't cause any problems. Or at least it hasn't for me.

[Jim]

Although it's difficult to say what might be wrong (if anything) it definitely won't be oxidation. Oxidation is only a problem once fermentation has completely finished and the beer has been seperated from the yeast. During active fermentation, the yeast mops up any oxygen that gets in there.

The most likely culprit as far as I can see is the temperature. 25C ambient could result in 26 or 27 in the wort, once you allow for heat generated by yeast activity, and this sort of temperature can generate some pretty funky compounds in the beer. Unfortunately, these don't tend to go away.

[brewzone]

I'm sure Graham Wheeler recommends purging the CO2 that builds up in

the keg by unscrewing the lid a few times over a few days which helps

to remove some of the unsavoury compounds which otherwise are

trapped in the beer.

Use a gas cylinder or reprime the keg with sugar/yeast as when bottling

to give it some condition.

[Duncndisorderly]

the last two times ive brewed from a kit ive sterilsed my hydro and thrown it in along with the yeats, i use a better bottle so its see through, thus far no problem and i can check the gravity anytime i like without taking the bung or trap out