it had to happen eventually
No new brews. I’m still recovering from the disappointing loss of the hefeweizen and the unsatisfactory result of the improvised Fat Tire. Both seem to be the victim of the summer heat and humidity.
I’m pretty sure I let the hefeweizen sit too long… I brewed the batch on June 28th, and transferred it to the secondary on July 9th. I had planned on kegging it on the 28th but noticed a rather large patch of mold growing in the airlock. Closer examination of the beer revealed some white specks suspended in the brew just below the surface with a few clusters actually floating on the surface. The top one and a half inches of the brew also showed some discoloration and was noticeably cloudier than the liquid below. After conferring with Scott I was determined to see it through and give the beer a fair chance in the keg. After moving it as gently as I could to kitchen I noticed that the brew had stirred enough to disturb all the specks and what little sediment there was at the bottom. Given the various things that had floated to the top during fermentation, I opted to give it several more hours to settle than I normally would. When I came back to check on it, I noticed the specks that had previously been suspended near the surface were now freely floating throughout the entire brew, and the dark ring of liquid near the top had completely vanished. Dissipated throughout the rest of the beer I assumed. Letting the beer sit overnight didn’t make a noticeable difference either. I had no confidence in the brew at this point, but was still willing to give it a chance. Pulling out the airlock and stopper let loose a rather unpleasant scent from the carboy and caused me to write it off as a total loss. Just to make sure I wasn’t being overly sensitive I had Dakota give it a sniff and he concurred with my assessment.
The improvised Fat Tire had a far shorter stay in the carboys, but still longer than normal. The brew seemed to be suffering from the early stages of an infliction similar to the Raspberry Wheat’s. There were a couple of very small specks on the surface which may have just been bubble clusters, but it was difficult to tell. A greasy looking film also covered the surface of the brew, which could possibly be normal, but I’ve certainly never noticed it before. It smelled fine, but the taste wasn’t quite right. I decided to move forward and keg it anyway. After letting it sit in the keg for a few days it still tastes a little off, but everyone else seems to like it well enough.
In happier news, the Raspberry Wheat can definitely be counted as a success. Next time though I think I’ll wait for Raspberries to be in season and use a lot more than 10 ounces and try to cut the Raspberry flavoring out of the recipe all together.
It’s encouraging that the razz brew turned out as well as it did. Having two batches turn out so mediocre (as far as I’m concerned anyway) and one not turn out at all had really killed my confidence in brewing. I want to brew again as soon as possible, and keep the fermenting time as short as I can. I’m going to aim for a one week stay in the primary fermenter, followed by one week in the secondary, then keg it. Not sure what recipe to go with this time, but I’m leaning towards giving the hefeweizen another shot.