New Brunswick Craft Brewers Association
Brewing => Miscellaneous => Topic started by: Richard on August 01, 2011, 07:39:43 PM
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So I just put together a beer for the competition that I used Campden tablets in; specifically to sanitise the fruit I was using. I used 2 tablets for a whole watermelon (about 5lbs worth of pulp), and I'm not entirely pleased with the results.
Either the tablets failed to stave off infection, or they're putting off enough sulphur-smelling stink to bring infection to mind. I'm hoping that force-carbing and waiting for the smell to vent will work, but right now I'm not hopeful.
Might have to put my popcorn blonde in for the competition instead of my planned entry "What A Melon Summer Ale". Bah.
Shit happens. :oops:
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Seems that it might not be infected; doesn't taste off, but still has a slight "rotten eggs" smell to it. I suspect either two tablets was too much, or it just needs to vent off anyway.
Will see how it goes.
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Just say you made the beer with saint john water, and that would explain the rotten egg smell
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This morning I changed the sanitiser solution in the airlock - think it had absorbed some of the sulphur so was perpetuating the stench for longer than it was in the beer itself. Smells like it should now - think this was just a case of needing to wait for things to vent.
I'm just not used to having it smell like my beer cut one in my face.
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So, you used campden to sanitize the fruit... the yeast had already been pitched separately into the wort at this point?
I think I've read that campden can lead to the development of sulfites, which would explain the smell.
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Primary had already been finished at this point; campden was added to the fruit pulp and then the whole lot was frozen to rip the cells up, before being defrosted and added to the beer (sealed throughout freezing/defrosting of course).
Not sure about sulphites - this really had the classic sulphur dioxide smell to it. Campden tables *are* sulphites; they don't so much form sulphites as start out as sulphites. Check this out:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campden_tablets (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campden_tablets)
"Typical use is one crushed Campden tablet per gallon of must or wort. This dosage contributes 67 ppm sulfur dioxide to the wort but the level of active sulfur dioxide diminishes rapidly as it reacts with chlorine and chloramine, and with aldehydes (particularly in wine). Therefore, the concentration of free sulfur dioxide is greatly diminished by the time the beer or wine is consumed."
Methinks things were just running their course precisely as would be expected. Fingers crossed :D
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SO2 probably clings very nicely in water, most sulfites do if I recall, but been a while since I took chem. Hence the nice lasting sulfur smell in the airlock.
Just means longer conditioning as it reacts with the aldehydes from the sounds of it.
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Yeah, I'd definitely let it have a good sit on the fruit, not only to help diminish the sulfur aroma, but also to absorb as much fruit flavor as possible.
I know from experience that some yeasts produce more sulfur than others, but letting them condition for awhile usually takes care of it (if that's what the source is).
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I'd hoped to have it ready for this Saturday, but I rather doubt it'll be done in time.
Next time we do a competition, we better give more lead time :P
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I think we should run them seasonally.
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Aye that works; wonder what styles would make an Autumn beer though - Oktoberfest?
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.....and pumpkin
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we could also do competitions for meads
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Summer = Light - Cream, Blonde, Wheat
Winter = Dark - Porter, Stout
Fall= Harvest time. Brown/Amber beer. Bocks, Irish Red, Marzen/Oktoberfest, etc
Spring = Uhh....Green/Hoppy? IPA, APA, etc?
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.....and pumpkin
Genius - Avoid the troubles of lager and keep it within reach of all. Got my vote.
I like Gil's suggestions otherwise.
I think we can either go two ways with this: keep it broad and let people be as inventive as possible, or keep it tight so that competition is more rigid. I say that's one for a vote, as would be the specifics if we choose to narrow things down further than Gil's idea
we could also do competitions for meads
Er weren't you the one who said it couldn't be done in less than 6 months? I disagreed, but I am a man hardened by many a mead hangover. I'd absolutely be for the idea, regardless, but we'd have to give good warning in advance.
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Thin it down, but keep each seasonal within those borders
That way, you rotate the brews seasonally, and the styles in those brews yearly.
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good ideas Gil. Richard, I think I said, or meant to say I can't prepare a mead in 6 WEEKS, months is definately possible. I find around the three month mark it can be good, assuming moderate original gravity
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Moving back to the OT - at this point this brew is _clearly_ infected. I couldn't even bring myself to take a sip it smelled so bad.
I will not be using the campden method of sanitising fruit again, not until I've figured out what the hell I did wrong this time (where I supposedly used twice the amount I needed and still got an infection). I'll just use heat in future.
I hate throwing a batch out :(
On the plus side, thanks to Dean's generous carboy loan and this one becoming freed up... I can brew my IPA for the next competition and re-do this recipe sans-campden. Double-winning!
[youtube:c80lx6j8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHPOzQzk9Qo[/youtube:c80lx6j8]
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Thinking about it; what I did was:
Took the fruit + pureed it in a non-sanitised bowl.
Added two powdered campden tablets.
Threw the whole lot straight in the freezer with a lid on the bowl - somewhat airtight but not entirely.
Took it out, let it thaw, threw the whole lot in the brew through a sanitised funnel that's got a couple of scratches.
I can see about half a dozen vectors for infection there.
- Scratches in bowl.
- Not giving campden time to work before freezing.
- Scratched funnel.
- Surfaces of bowl not touched by campden would not be sanitised.
- Freezing is intended to rupture cells, which I suppose could have been harboring bacteria away from the campden's reach.
- Bowl not being airtight could have allowed bacteria in.
So er... oops.
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I think you're over paranoid and that reason #2 is your culprit
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What i did with the cherries I just used was to actually bake them.
Took a little meat therm and set the oven to 180F, and when the fruit hit that temp, let it sit in there for 20 more mins, then cooled it in the fridge overnight. So far, the batch seems ok (minus me forgetting there's sugars in fruit, and having the airlock WTFEXPLODE on me)
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Dean: yeah... I suspect you're right. I think they need 24h to work. Either way I'm going to stick with what I know in the future (heat).
Gil: aye as long as they hit the right temperature it's all good.
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When I make Fruit wine my process is
Freeze berries
Place in Bucket
add 1 Gallon boiling water with one Campden Tablet let stand 24 hours
Proceed to add the rest of Juice
One could follow the same process with beer making just remember your adding extra sugars aswell as Volume of liquid OR............
You purchase pure fruit Puree which is 100% sanatized already add directly to secondary and away you go (my prefered option VS fresh fruit for beers and based on the cost of fresh fruit now adays its probably cheaper to buy the fruit Puree VS fresh from the store just my 2 cents
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yeah, I think reason #2 was the problem.
Also, NG is having a sale on the raspberry puree.