Disaster brew!

[WelshDave]

I am new to brewing and have so far brewed a all grain kit from brewdog (punk) and my own smash which went well, both 1 gallon batched in demijohns. My latest brew was 1kg of Marris Otter and 100g of crystal with Styrian goldings and cascade for hops. S04. I was aiming for a darker beer as an experiment. I used a 30l bucket fermenter which looked odd with such a small batch. The first issue I had was no bubbles in the airlock at all..but some krausen indicating the c02 was escaping elsewhere. After 2 weeks the result was an extremely strong beer full of sediment and an overwhelming strong smell of fermented apples. I was tempted to bottle but decided not to bother and wrote the batch off as it tasted bad.
Was this result of oxidisation from using such a large fermenter for a small batch? Its gone on my never again list! Also...did I use too much grain?

 

[An Ankoù]

As many traditional breweries use open fermenters, then logically, it should'nt be a matter of headspace. On the other hand, they pitch yeast by the bucketful and a thick, rocky head begins to form within hours. I don't know how much of the sachet of SO4 you used, but I would have tipped the lot in. So yes, I think your beer got off to a slow start and con-fermented with some unwanted element. I'd be inclined to ferment in a two-gallon bucket for a one-gallon batch.
Did you use too much grain? No. Is it oxidation? Not exactly: many microbes, acetobacter for example, cannot multiply without the presence of oxygen. There was just two much headspace in a 30-litre bucket for such a small fermentation to replace all the air with CO2.

 

[WelshDave]

Thank you very much. That's all good to know for the future. I have just inherited some more demijohns so I will stay away from the massive bucket from now on. I am only doing 1 gallon batches because I don't have a sizeable mash kettle yet and I am using large pots on the hob.

 

[Sadfield]

Apples, can be a sign of a problem, but is usually a sign of a too young beer.

https://beerandbrewing.com/off-flavor-of-the-week-acetaldehyde/
The surface area to volume ratio of such a small batch in a big vessel probably didn't help with separating beer from trub and with limiting oxidation. However, a bit more time on the yeast may have led to an okay beer. All part of the learning curve.

 

[WelshDave]

Apples, can be a sign of a problem, but is usually a sign of a too young beer.

https://beerandbrewing.com/off-flavor-of-the-week-acetaldehyde/
The surface area to volume ratio of such a small batch in a big vessel probably didn't help with separating beer from trub and with limiting oxidation. However, a bit more time on the yeast may have led to an okay beer. All part of the learning curve.

 

[WelshDave]

Thanks for your reply this is all good stuff. I only pitched half a sachet of S04 as I have been doing in my much smaller demijohns. Another problem with such a small yield is all the beer was very close to the yeast cake and much of that muck would have got in the beer. Definitely lots to learn.....it hurt pouring that grogg away!