Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Smelly Wort

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Smelly Wort

    I produced a wort on Sat its a pilsner, I used Durst Pils malt, Munich, and Carapils 20. And a little sour malt to ajust the pH. I ran out of time and let the wort sit after finishing the sparge until the next morn.
    Sun. It smelled funky like vomit, the wort was also covered with a dark protien like sluge. I skimmed it off. The grain still smelled like grain. I boiled the wort. 60 min, Lots of Saaz hops, Smell of vomit hidden by strong smell of hops.
    Mon. Its getting started fermenting the head is starting to form, Now it smells like hops and vomit. It tastes like fresh wort, And is very cloudy,The pH seems correct around 5.3 Why is this stinking so much? Any one ever have a simular experiance? If so how did it end up?

    From: Mike Murphy

  • #2
    HI MIKE WHAT ARE YOU DOING.THATS HOW YOU MAKE SKUNKBEER,LET THE MASH
    >SIT
    24-48 HOUERS WITH A LITTLE WATER KEEP IT UNDER VACUUM,THEN THE MILKACID BACTERIA IS GROWING-THIS IS A CONTROLLED PROCESS.YOURS IS UNCONTROLLED AND OPEN FOR THE WILD BACTERIAS OR WILD YEAST IN THE AIR,THEN YOU USED SAUR MALT ITS HARD TO SAY WHAT YOU CREATED BUT IT IS INTRESSTING .YOU BOILED THE WORT ,FROM HERE ON IT IS STERIL AGAIN.PLEASE LET IT FERMENT OUT AND LET ME KNOW HOW IT TASTES AND SMELLS.SORRY ABOUT MY GRAMMATIC BUT I AM BAVARIAN SINCE 3 YEARS IN TEXAS.CHEERS.BY THE WAY WHY ARE YOU USING SOUR MALT FOR CORRECTING THE PH,IT ONLY CHANGES THE TASTE.


    From: HARALD MOIS

    Comment


    • #3
      Hi Mike,

      When you mash, the bacteria (present naturally on the malt) are "extracted" along with the sugar, protien, etc., from the malt. This bacteria is killed by boiling the wort. If you do not boil the wort, you leave the bacteria in an ideal growth environment, warm and rich in sugars and protiens. Without having a look at a sample of the wort, it's impossible to say which of the hundreds of strains of microflora have spoiled your wort, however, it's irrelevant which one (or two or ten...) has done the damage. If your wort has gone off and smells badly, it will make beer that smells badly. I don't think that there is anything you can do with this beer. If you sell it, your customers will most likely complain and send beer back to you, which is worse than sending them no beer at all while you brew another batch. While I would NEVER recommend saving wort overnight, if you MUST do it, at least bring it to the boil before you leave. That way you will at least render any microbiological contaminants inactive and you MIGHT get away with leaving it overnight.

      I would suggest that you dump this beer and start a new brew. It would have been difficult enough to try to hide the smell in an ale, but to try to hide it in a pils, no way.

      Good Luck next time,
      Matthew Letki

      Comment


      • #4
        You have produced ideal culture conditions for the bacteria and wild yeasts remaining on the malt after malting. These are not killed off in the malting,mashing or sparging processes.

        You probably have a mixture of all sorts of bacteria including those producing lactic and acetic acids, plus all sorts of other more complex flavours. These have multiplied enormously overnight in the warm wort (most don't need oxygen, or only very small amounts, so will still grow rapidly), producing all the wonderful assortment of off flavour.

        The only realistic option now is to dump the wort and meticulously clean all your brewery plant, brewhouse and fermenting, before you next use it.
        If you have put it into fermenter, in spite of boiling the wort, I still wouldn't trust the plant without cleaning it at leat twice. Do not try to re-use the yeast, it is likely to be affected, and may not grow properly next time round.

        Learning point ? Forget how tired you are, once you have mashed in, you must complete the brewing operation without delay, else you may have a similar occurrence. It doesn't matter what malts you use, you can experience similar results if you treat the wort like this.

        Cheers

        From: dick murton

        Comment


        • #5
          Thanks for throwing this post back in my face. I have learned alot more about brewing do's and don'ts.
          www.Lervig.no

          Comment


          • #6
            Emegency stop...

            Something similar happened to us...while bringing the wort to boil, our feed water pump called it quits - ergo no more steam. We lucked out for 2 reasons, first the wort was up to around 80 Degrees C, had to let it sit overnight till we got the new pump installed. Second, we were making a dark beer anyway so increased EBC units were not an issue. With the specific heat potency of water/wort, this is an effective emergency action IMO.

            Comment


            • #7
              Hope, maybe...

              Closest situation I had was trying to cultivate yeast from an old bottle of Duvel. Pitched the yeast after making a starter which seemed OK. Next day, had big, strange looking bubbles. 2 days later, took a whiff of the fermenter - smelled like a compost heap with mustard on it. It took me about 2 months to get the smell out of my nose.

              To make a long story short, pitched Nottingham a day later, added pomeganate syrup to the secondary and 3 months later had a kick-ass lambic. Probably couldn't make it again if I tried...

              If you do save it, I'll try at least one

              David
              David Cohen
              The Dancing Camel Brewing Co. Ltd.

              Comment


              • #8
                gee I posted this back in 2000 before the site made its new fourm.

                but thanks for reminding me about it...
                www.Lervig.no

                Comment

                Working...
                X