Sour/musty tasting mead

My son and I tried our hand at mead for the first time... I didn't notice a lot of bubbling I thought that it wasn't fermenting correctly but my son thought differently, he's 17. Lol But when we went to bottle it after the normal 2-week. We tasted it and it tasted sour kind of musty It wasn't a good flavor. Does anybody possibly know what we could have done wrong? Thank you. On a side note he decided to …
Category: Mac

Pediococcus contamination--Will brett get rid of the ropiness?

I'm pretty sure I have a pediococcus contamination on a Kolsch that I brewed recently. Let's just say some stuff came up and my sanitation was not great. I sampled it after about 6 weeks in primary at 55F, and it was really, really sour. Fortunately, I love sour beer, so it's probably the most delicious homebrew I've ever made--it tastes like lemonade (oops!). I checked on it again recently after cold crashing and preparing to rack to a keg …
Category: Mac

Consecutive (lacto?) contamination with different fermenters

My two last batches got a sour/white wine taste to them (prior to bottling). The first one was a Hefeweizen fermented in my bucket. The taste was present from day 4 up to bottling a month later. In my memory, there was no film on the beer in the fermenter. The second one was a Brett Saison (WL Farmhouse Blend) fermented in my glass carboy. I tasted it yesterday after 3 weeks of fermentation and it had the same taste. …
Category: Mac

Has anyone used Bootleg Biology? Any experience with catching/ growing wild yeast strains?

I just ordered a kit from their website that is for catching/growing wild yeast strains for home brews. I was wondering if anyone else may have used them or tried doing this their selves. It's one thing to just try and open ferment, but this actually isolates proper strains for less work and better beer. Any advice welcome!
Category: Mac

Why my saké turned out sour?

1st batch was fantastic, tasty, sweet, delicious hot and cold. I used the same process for 2nd batch: Cooked the rice 2 cup water/1 cup rice ratio, let it cool in a container 3/4 of rice and a fine layer of koji (saké yeast), then added rice, yeast, etc up to the top, put a loose lid on top, stored in the coolest part of my house, after 1-2 weeks the rice ferments, the saké begins to form... I tried …
Category: Mac

Sour tasting cider with bits floating on top

This is my first time brewing hard cider. My cider is a yellow/brown colour, smells and tastes a bit sour (think apple cider vinegar), is still sweet but also has these funky bits floating ontop. I juiced the apples myself, sterilised equipment but did not use a Camden tablet. I used Safale-05 yeast. It has been fermenting in a fermenter with an airlock for 1 month. Is this normal? What should it look/taste like?
Category: Mac

Can I reuse a bottle that had a sour lactobacillus beer in it?

I had a very nice sour beer that had lactobacillus in it and was wondering if I can clean and reuse the bottle? I have not made any sour beers yet but I've read you should keep separate brewing equipment when making them because even the most conscientious cleaner and sanitiser can't be confident of killing it all. Can I reuse the bottle for beer that doesn't contain lactobacillus? I have a dishwasher if that helps? Would the steam cycle …
Category: Mac

Sour beer at home?

Newbie here. I know nothing about making beer. I love sours. Can you make sours at home? Is it too complicated compared to other beer making?
Category: Mac

Re-use my harvested yeast from primary after secondary finished on acetobacter

I was brewing a sour beer with Brett Bruxelensis, when my primary finished I harvested the yeast. The beer was fine. When I subsequently added it to secondary with raspberries I ended up with vinegar due to aceto bacter. I was wondering should I discard the harvested yeast or would it be safe to use? I suspect the acettobacter was introduced by the fruits, but I am not sure (not a whole lot of experience with sours).
Category: Mac

Droping beer with Brett in Carboy

I brewed a Belle-Saison and it's been in a carboy for 1 month now. Someone with a lot of experience told me he once bought a beer with Brett (Beer was "Orval") and droped the last 100ml into his fermenter and waited about 40days. I never brewed a sour and I am more of a scientific approach normaly, but I am curious about this one. What do you think? Will I get the result I am hoping for?
Category: Mac

Sour Off flavor

Our last 4 or 5 batches have had a distinctive sour flavor to them even though each has been a completely different style (wit, brown, 2 stout, hefe). What are the common reasons to get a sour off flavor? Extra Info / What we have tried: Extra sanitization, but either we are still missing it or thats not the problem we do BIAB have a consistent 64F fermenter not all done with the same yeast (but it was all dry …
Category: Mac

How can I deal with the diacetyl produced by pedio in a flanders red

I have a bunch of Flanders Red that has undergone a Pedio Fermentation and of course produced a bunch of diacetyl. This was done with the Wyeast Roeselare Ale Blend and then Barrel aged, then racked to carboy, its been in Carboy for a few years now. Ideally I would like to get rid of most of the diacetyl if possible. Suggestions? I'm thinking rack it on to some pitted cherries and add more Brett.
Category: Mac

Priming a Brett beer (WLP648) for bottling

I am getting ready to bottle my 6 month old sour. I used WLP648 on primary. I’ve been reading up on this on other forums, but I get mixed insights: some people say to just go ahead per normal, others pitch additional yeast and some other say you shouldn’t be using regular bottles due to Brett attenuating fast (risking bottle bombs). Anyone can shed some light on this?
Category: Mac

How essential is a starter for brewing with Lactobacillus?

I'm going to be tackling this recipe for my first attempt at a kettle sour. In the notes, it goes over procedures to make a starter. Researching I've come across sources that say you should have a heating pad under your beaker on the stir plate. I have neither currently and I was wondering if I could get away with not doing one. This question suggests heating the mixture to temp and then just wrapping it. Would that be effective?
Category: Mac

What is on top of my wort? Mold? Lacto?

I just opened the top of my scotch ale bucket, and it looks like there's mold inside. The recipe is pretty standard, plus some oak chips soaked in whiskey, in a muslin bag. What is this? Edit: Some people have suggested it might be lacto/pedio contamination, which wouldn't be terrible. Does it look like that? The second picture is better. If it is mold, is there any saving it? If it's souring, what's the best way to age it, and …
Category: Mac

Sour beer over herbed with Basil

Just brewed a sour with Basil thrown in at flameout. Now 6 weeks into the fermenter with WLP648 there's not much sourness and a bit (overwhelming) flavour of Basil. I was wondering what my options were to fix this. The Basil flavour should be less intense, so my options are: Mixing it with another (probably pure) sour lambic without any herbs Wait for a few months to get it more sour and hope the herb taste fizzles out I don't …
Category: Mac

Brewing a fruit beer with WLP648: keeping it on primary for an extra three weeks before adding fruit

I am making a basil-raspberry sour with WLP648 as yeast. Unfortunately I need to go on a work trip for the next 2-3 weeks and the beer has not fully attenuated fully. I was wondering if it hurts to let the beer sit on the yeast cake for another 2-3 weeks before I rack it to secondary with the fruit, or if the yeast would start falling out and settling on the bottom (meaning not enough yeast will be moved …
Category: Mac

Acidic Wort Affect on Immersion Chiller and Flavor

I am looking into building a copper immersion chiller for use on my next batch of beer. I plan on doing a sour ale. Will the low PH of the wort have any negative affect on the chiller? Will it cause the metal to leech extra particles, possibly causing off flavors?
Category: Mac

What to do with my (accidently) sour saison?

I have recently made a batch of Saison that turned sour. I'm having a hard time pouring it all down the drain, I thought about using it for cooking but I don't know what sort of recipes to look for. Does anybody have any idea what else I can do with that batch?
Category: Mac

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