I have a bitter which I am dry hopping in a secondary and and I believe it might be infected. It seems to be evolving CO2 and the gravity has dropped about 4 point from when I racked. I tasted the sample and there doesn’t appear to be any off flavors but the CO2 and gravity shift still bother me. I am wondering should I bottle the beer and hope for the best or dump it?
JIm
What was your gravity before this sample? (and the OG)
What’s probably happened is the transfer stirred up some of the yeast and they decided to have a snack before going back to bed. Happens all the time on transfer.
The OG going into the primary was 1.037, the gravity going into the secondary was 1.009 and the gravity tonight was 1.005. Do you think that the CO2 could be nucleating off of the dry hops? I didnt use a bag I just sprinkled them on top after the transfer.
That could be. I have a buddy that threw dry hops into secondary and the reaction was so strong that he thought fermentation had somehow started again. He had foam coming out of the airlock. This lasted only about half an hour and then calmed back down to nothing. We chalked it up to super-saturated dissolved CO2.
I should have given a bit more info, the beer has been in the secondary for about a week and when I took a sample this morning the gravity dropped another point. I gave the sample to my wife and she thinks its a bit off but can’t pin point the problem. I think it might be best to dunmp this batch go over my notes and try again.
Don’t dump it yet if you don’t have to. Wait til you’re sure one way or the other.
Dumping a beer that doesn’t have a problem? That’s called searching for a solution for a problem that doesn’t yet exist.
Hold onto it.
Keep in mind that a flat, warm sample out of the secondary will most likely taste significantly different than a carbonated, chilled, finished beer. Don’t dump it unless you’re positive it’s infected.
+1 to that! I’m continuously surprised at how my finished beer tastes so much more different that a room temp, just fermented beer. If there was an infection you’ll usually get a smell of it, a white lining on your beer, or a strong off-flavor. I’m going to guess the “can’t quite pin it” taste may be from the dry hopping, and it just needs to settle down with some carbonating and aging.
Is it clear? What temp is sitting at now? Do you see any yeast on the bottom of the carboy?
You had about 76% attenuation out of the primary and then racked it into the secondary right?
Definitely hold off on dumping it until you have some solid proof of infection.