To bottle or not

[ac13]

Was due to bottle my AG attempt at a Gose today but it seems to be tasting a bit vinegary. Taste wasn't there last week when I tasted it.

Bit of background - Was brewed 3 weeks ago and was transferred to a secondary fermenter last weekend (due to the first one leaking at the spigot) tasted fine at that stage. Transfer was a standard autosiphon. Don't believe any excess oxygen got in.

So yeah, is it worth bottling it or not do you reckon. As it is now I wouldn't drink a glass of it so is there any chance that it might improve in the bottle ?

Also any thoughts as to what might have caused this. I have a feeling it may have been either temperature fluctuation (fermenter kept under sleeping bag in spare room but room is fairly consistent temp wise ~18c) or possibly oxygen after transfer.

Cheers.

[molc]

Vinegar flavours are usually acetic acid, which comes from an infection. Temperature wouldn't cause this as itcomes from a bacterial infection. Oxygen comes into play as an aerobactor needs it to grow.

That said, lactic acid, which you are usually using to sour a gose, has a pretty sharp sour flavour starting off, so you could be tasting that instead.

If it's Aectic acid, your batch is doomed and will turn into vinegar, as it will keep growing in the bottles as long as it has oxygen. If it's lactic, it could turn out really well!

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[ac13]

Cheers molc, I think it might be acetic because there's a definite vinegary tinge there.

I kettle soured it with lacto for 2 days then boiled it and it had a nice sharp sour like you describe up until I transferred it. Its possible that it got infected so. Damn.

[molc]

If it's the first time you got this flavour, I'd say at least keep a demi around so you can taste it in a few months and see what happens.

Reading more, it turns out Aectic comes from aerobactor bacteria, which do thrive on oxygen, so oxygen could be at play here. If you don't have a further source of oxygen the bacteria can't grow anymore, as it needs both.

I need to do more reading about bacteria before giving advice I edited my first post just so I don't mislead anyone. If I've missed something, I'm sure someone will correct me.

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[ac13]

Thanks again for your help on this molc.

After using this as an opportunity to re-taste some commercially available sours to compare the taste of this - I'm 100% certain its acetic and will need to be dumped.

First ever wasted batch. Oh well.

Should I bin the possibly contaminated fermenter (30L Plastic) too or just really scrub it and re-use it ?

[Pheeel]

Should I bin the possibly contaminated fermenter (30L Plastic) too or just really scrub it and re-use it ?

I'd dump it

[molc]

Yeah I use plastic PET bottles for sours and for nothing else. They're cheap vs time, so dump unless you want to make more sours of that style.

[nigel_c]

Could also be too much oxygen pickup during the souring process. Did you flush the kettle with co2 before sealing it up?

[ac13]

Fermented binned, agreed that its not worth the worry for the price of a new one.

Could also be too much oxygen pickup during the souring process. Did you flush the kettle with co2 before sealing it up?

I didn't - this is something I will look into in future.