When if you remember, I have recently shared a batch of beer, which is an Australian Pale Ale. I never noticed it at all, but some of my friends said that they tasted a little sourish twang in the beer. I was pretty surprised that they tasted the sourish flavour while I did not. Perhaps it is because I am not that fussy about beer and could possibly drink any kind of beer. Wuhahaha! Anyways, they said that the beer taste great and it’s just that little twang and they don’t mind at all. In fact, they drank a lot of the home brew and are asking for more.

I got rather curious about this. The Australian Pale Ale shouldn’t taste sour. Well, there are some beers which have this sour profile, but certainly not the Australian Pale Ale. It should have this slightly bitter but aromatic smell and taste but definitely shouldn’t be sour at all.  Sour in the beer could mean improper sanitization hence bacteria infection and since it is just a little sour, it would most likely be introduced during the bottling process. Perhaps the carbonation drops or even the bottles and bottling equipment are not properly cleaned. Can’t do much about the carbonation drops since I can’t clean it but for the bottles, it can be easily solved. From what I can remember, I did a very thorough job in cleaning and sanitizing the bottles. However, it could be that I didn’t do the sanitization procedure correctly. And it could possibly be the spigot that got infected with me realizing it. It is near impossible for me to thoroughly sanitize the spigot if it is attached to the fermenter.

Or it could be that the beer is just green. It will tend to taste like green apples and surely it will be sour. And if that is the case, then aging the beer a little longer will improve the beer and make it less green. Well, I will just need to wait for maybe 2 more weeks and maybe do another taste test with my friends. I guess that’s the hardest part of beer brewing - the wait. I am eager to see whether the sour taste fades away or not. Damn, beer brewing can be pretty exciting but at the same time, it can be very disappointing.