The Background
Brewed a very simple recipe a few weeks ago, very few malts and only one hop spread over two additions. On transfer from primary to secondary, had a taste and pretty puckering. It was an ale so in secondary, I ramped up the temp but tasted today and, it is going to be ditched.
What Went Wrong?
Definitely one thing, possibly two...
Yeast: The yeast I used was a dried one, just bought, but, I had an old sachet of the same yeast that had been sitting in my fridge for ages so, my thinking was, "This is a bit large=r than normal batch, might as well throw in half a sachet of the old yeast. What harm could it do?"
My thinking was that it would be dead, and, even if it was, it would just act as yeast nutrient.
So, I poured it in and then I smelled the sachet. It was not a good smell. I'd never heard of dried yeast, in the sachet, becoming infected so, yet another information first for this site - send money
.Hops: This beer was brewed with another member here, youmustbemellow. This beer involved a first wort hop addition and we decided, to emulate first wort hopping better to grab a few litres of sweet liquor, add it to a small saucepan containing the first wort hops and very gradually bring it to the boil on the stove-top.
Both of us said, "It smells like a tasted cheese sandwich!" I never use the hop we were using and it is known to be a bit odd but, in hindsight, this cheesiness could have been due to age. (I had expected any cheesy hops, something I had only read about, to be also dis-coloured. In other words, I expected them to be yellow, yellow-brown, certainly not green as ours were.)
The Lesson
I have no idea how many beers I have brewed but that is the first all-grain one I have ever ditched before packaging. All equipment used in the process was brand-new as well.
I think the main lesson to be learned here is, to smell everything first. You smell your milk and whatever else before you use it; the same should go for your brewing. If I had smelled that dried yeast sachet before throwing it in, how many hours and dollars would I have saved?
As for the 'cheesy hops,' I personally don't think they ruined the brew (cheesy hops are used in some styles) but, if I hadn't added the half sachet of dodgy yeast, at least youmustbemellow and I would have learned something about cheesy hops.
Oh, and the second lesson is to label and date every malt, hop, yeast you buy/store. I could write heaps more on that but need to do two brews tomorrow to make up for the one going down the drain.
PP
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