Beer Forum

I tried brewing a Amber Steam beer, just as an experiment. It was windy outside and had a hard time keeping a boil going. I tried it yesterday and it was not good at all, tasted metallic and infected. Is there anything I can do to salvage it? I thought about souring it but not sure if that will work. It had a funky smell during fermentation, but it was the first time I used lager yeast so I thought that was how it was. Thanks Brew Compatriots

You will have to give some more specifics if you want help...you gave very little information in your post...

mrbubba213 wrote: It was windy outside and had a hard time keeping a boil going.

how much of boil did you do?

mrbubba213 wrote:I tried it yesterday and it was not good at all, tasted metallic and infected.

how are your cleaning and sanitation practices?

mrbubba213 wrote: I thought about souring it but not sure if that will work.

this will most likely not work...good sour beers start from good beers to begin with

mrbubba213 wrote: It had a funky smell during fermentation, but it was the first time I used lager yeast so I thought that was how it was.

what kind of funky smell...lager yeasts can be sulphery but in my experience SF lager yeast is not that sulphery

You might as well let if ferment all the way if you haven't yet. If it is still undrinkable, dump it and brew another. Spending the $ to get bugs to try to sour it is probably going to leave you with a sour metallic not good beer instead of just a metallic not good beer.

It has a metal like taste, and a funky bitter taste. My taste buds aren't that good so that's the best I can do. I boiled 6 3/4 gallons. There was some scorch on the bottom from the last batch. The yeast had been un-refrigerated the day before, the refrigerated and un-refrigerated again before pitching. My carboy sanitation was good, filled with star-san right upuntil wort was placed in it. Tools and airlocks were all in a star-san solution. Fermented at about 68 degrees. I was a little rushed, so I guess Ill just have to remember to slow my process down and make sure I do everything the right way.

Did you taste/smell your spent starter wort before pitching? Are you able to scrub off the bottom of your kettle?

Yeah a few people did. The general taste was horse barn like in the taste and like tea in the smell. I didn't think it was bad at all, so maybe something happened in ferment?

mrbubba213 wrote:Yeah a few people did. The general taste was horse barn like in the taste and like tea in the smell. I didn't think it was bad at all, so maybe something happened in ferment?

Horse barn to me sounds like a brettanomyces infection. If your starter smelled like that and you pitched it into your cooled wort then your beer could be infected. What yeast strain did you use for this?

It was WLP840, and I didn't do a starter, just pitched it. The wort was barn like by the way.