Should I dump it?

What went wrong? Was this supposed to happen? Should I throw it out? What do I do now?

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GMAC
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Should I dump it?

Post by GMAC »

I haven't brewed beer in a long while and I decided to get back into it. I used 6lbs of dry malt, a half pound of cracked rye, a half pound of cracked 2 row pale malt (both grains were boiled for an hour with the wort), a couple ounces of pellet hops and some Wyeast yeast. The # isn't really important because it was very old, clearly too old to work. So after a couple days of nothing, I bought some Munton's "No name" yeast and pitched that. Things went fine, I tasted it when I racked it into the secondary and it tasted good but now it's gone very cloudy. A light shined on it only penetrates maybe 1/2 inch into the beer.
It still smells ok but I haven't tasted it. Fermentation is stopped and it's actually sitting "capped" right now because I needed the fermentation lock for my second attempt.
Should I pitch it out, keep it, put it in the cold cellar (about 38 degrees right now)?
Any suggestions would be appreciated.
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cloudy beer

Post by slothrob »

If it tastes good enough for you, I'd keep it. It's probably not going to be the best beer you'll ever make, but it won't make you sick.

It's probably going to stay cloudy because you boiled the Pale Ale and Rye Malt. Those grains need to be mashed. Boiling them probably just extracted a lot of starch that will likely be difficult to drop clear. Just tell everyone it's a Wit beer, a style which is intentionally made cloudy.
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GMAC
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Post by GMAC »

Thanks.
I guess this next one will be the same because I did the same with some rye malt. Just following the instructions I received from the supplier. Next time I will mash them but remove the grain bag prior to boiling.
Glad to hear that there is nothing that is going to hurt me. I was afraid that it was some sort of bacterial bloom.
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cloudy beer

Post by slothrob »

It is possible that the beer could be contaminated with bacteria, most beer probably is to some extent, and the unmashed base Malt could supply food to grow bacteria. I've never seen a finished beer go cloudy after getting contaminated with bacteria, though, my experience has been that it shows as a light colored film on top of the beer.

If it is contaminated, it won't hurt you, though, it will just change the flavor. A lot of beers are intentionally inoculated with bacteria to achieve a particular flavor, usually a sourness. The common bacterial contaminants in beer are Lactobacillus, which is used in Berliner Weisse and probably Guinness, Pediococcus, which is used in Lambics and sauerkraut, and Acetobacter, used in Flemish Sour Ales and vinager.
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