poor boil
Moderator: slothrob
poor boil
would a poor boil cause off flavours in the final product. I've just experienced complete sytstem breakdown with my heat source during the boil. I was forced to leave the wort and go off and obtain another heat source,(after exhausting every other option, including putting it onto the bar-b-q). The result was a 2hr boil took me over 6 to achieve, even then it was touch and go. A little taster whilst checking gravity has revealed a very bitter taste which is quite objectionable. This has never happened before and its a little heart breaking to spend a whole day mashing, and 2 weeks later find its bloody awful. Due to poor boil or should I look elsewhere for the solution?
Package and Wait
I'm curious what your recipe is. Assuming you boiled it long enough continously to kill the bad stuff after you returned to the kettle, you shouldn't have to worry about off flavors from the kettle. Due to the longer boil, your wort is probably darker than you expected. It sounds like your hops were in there from the start of your boil. The longer boil would also extract more hop bitterness--which explains why you're sensing more bitterness. If it were me, I'd go ahead and package it and wait. In the meantime, make another brew to enjoy while you wait for the first batch. I made an all-grain IPA that seemed extremely bitter (at least to me), I was ready to toss it. After 3-4 months of aging, it was actually a great brew. You never know what your mistakes & misfortunes will bring you. Don't worry, have a homebrew
Time will tell,
I came close to throwing it on the flower bed but couldnt bring myself to do it. Ive since tried it again and as it doesnt smell off I had decided to do what you have suggested and give it a long maturation. The hops were only added an hour before boil end and there is a chance that i could have made a mistake in the amounts of dry hops I added. I'll wait and see, even the most badly balanced brews mellow out given enough time and subsequently always ensure a good beer cellar. Thanks for taking the time to reply.