Second off flavor batch.... odd symptom.

Hi all,

Had this happen a while ago to a Boddingtons clone extract kit.... and again recently to an all grain version of Nierra Sevada (recipe from this site).

I believe I picked up a bacterial infection, but wanted to see if anyone can confirm or has had this before.

1st of all this was a 10g batch, fermented in a single fermentor. It was kegged to 2 side-by-side corney kegs with the same prime of the same hose (just moved mid stream). The other 5g went to my brew buddy (force carbed in his kegerator) and was touted as one of my best efforts to date. I tasted his and becides a slight hint of yeast in the bouquet, it was pretty darn good.

My 5g is a whole different beast. Again force carbed. It smells like dish water. BUT there is another odd symptom. The beer took 2-3 weeks to carbonate. An even now, if I pour a pint, within a minute the head is a thin almost oily slime on the surface.

I have a 4 keg keezer and the system is working well for all other beers. I know I can pour a good looking beer from my keezer and currently other taps produce a good head. I have verified pressure on this keg (and have switched the input from another one a week ago... just to be sure)

So.... dish water, head quickly settles to oily film, showed up with same symptoms about 20 batches ago in an extract batch.

Any guesses?

Do you spray your connections with dish soap to check for leaks? Maybe some got in.

Nope.

I hand wash everything with Starsan solution and paper towel. Rinse with fresh water. Swirl/shake to wet all surfaces with a starsan solution. Invert. Allow to drain. Then use as soon as possible.

howabouttheiris said:

Nope.

I hand wash everything with Starsan solution and paper towel. Rinse with fresh water. Swirl/shake to wet all surfaces with a starsan solution. Invert. Allow to drain. Then use as soon as possible.

Click to expand...

Can you open up the keg and take a picture of the top with a flashlight/camera?

If there is any infection or contamination it should show.

If it possible that it is the same keg or tap as the last infection?

What does it taste like?

Howaboutheirisis,
I'm Just Guessing,
I don't know much about Starsan. I always use iodophor.
Before I fill my corny keg I wash it out really well with iodophor and water. Then I fill it halfway with water. Then I hook the corny keg up to my tap and run the water through my tap. This ensures that nothings in the tubes and that the corny keg has c02 in it before I siphon into it. I wonder if somehow your star san is ending up in your equipment somehow. I've never had anything turn out like your description but if you sanitize your stuff which I would imagine you do then I'm leaning toward something being left behind in your corny keg. I would suggest tasting the wort through all of the phases of fermentation before the transfers to see what it tastes like as it goes along. It may help determine when the problem shows. If it tastes good coming out of the fermenter then it would lead me to believe its something in the kegs. I'm just guessing but hope you can figure it out. It's alot of work to be disappointed with. Best Wishes, VW

I just thought of something. I sprayed some insecticidal soap on the leaves of my hops before the hops appeared this season. I thought to myself when I sprayed them that I wouldn't want soap spray on my hops to turn out in my beer. Is it possible some soap spray got on your hops? Just wondering if it is a possiblity since you mentioned dishes in your taste. ?

ShakerD..... i like where you are going with this.....

1st. Here is the photo.



Notice that there is an oily film on the surface, exactly what I get in my glass after it quickly kills the head.

By checking thru my old posts, I was albe to find a photo of the dumping of the old batch .....



Sure enough... it is the same keg.

As for taste.... it is odd. It tastes sweet (?) and maybe a bit of bandaid (?) and a lot of sewer ... but the smell is day old dishwater... not dissimilar to the smell that you can get if you forget clothes in the washer for a few days. How about that for a sensory overload.

I read more carefully and would gather that if half of the batch came out delicious something is up with that keg being infected. I've never had a problem with the sanitize the hell out of it with semi hot water some iodophor then charge it with c02 and flush it through before putting the beer in. I suppose your siphon line could be infected other than that I don't know. If it tasted good out of the carboy i'd think it's something with that keg. I hope you can resolve the problem and I hope your friend with the other half of the batch will share it VW

I agree with the above posts. It seems to be the keg. Which means you want to change all the o-rings, take it apart and give it a really good cleaning.

Your infection looks like this LINK

Sorry for the loss of your beer.