Undiagnosed problem

First problem that I can't diagnose. I've made all the mistakes the book so far but this one I can't figure out where I went wrong.

The beer is ok until the aftertaste which is very soapy, a really bittery tangy soap. Only differentiation from the recipe below is I dry hopped for 7 days as opposed to 5, which I've heard can give you some grassy notes but there's nothing grassy to it.

All equipment was initially cleaned with a cloth and soapy water and then flushed with star san (I let the star san rest for 1 hour on all surfaces).

I'm a process engineer in my non brewing life and its killing me that I didn't keep track of anything else


The recipe is as follows:
Type: All Grain
Batch Size: 23.00 L
Brewhouse Efficiency: 73.00

Ingredients

Amount Item Type % or IBU
2.80 kg Pale Malt (Barrett Burston) (2.0 SRM) Grain 60.87 %
1.80 kg Wheat Malt, Malt Craft (Joe White) (1.8 SRM) Grain 39.13 %
10.00 gm Galaxy flowers [14.90 %] (60 min) (Mash Hop) Hops 3.5 IBU
5.00 gm Galaxy flowers [14.90 %] (60 min) (First Wort Hop) Hops 9.6 IBU
10.00 gm Galaxy flowers [14.90 %] (20 min) Hops 5.9 IBU
12.00 gm Galaxy flowers [14.90 %] (5 min) Hops 2.9 IBU
35.00 gm Galaxy flowers [14.90 %] (0 min) (Aroma Hop-Steep) Hops -
40.00 gm Galaxy flowers [14.90 %] (Dry Hop 10 days) Hops -
1.00 items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 10.0 min) Misc
1 Pkgs American Ale (DCL Yeast #US-05 ) Yeast-Ale

Beer Profile

Measured Original Gravity: 1.046 SG
Measured Final Gravity: 1.012 SG
Actual Alcohol by Vol: 4.43 %
Bitterness: 21.8 IBU Calories: 430 cal/l
Est Color: 3.3 SRM Color: Color


Mash Profile

My Mash Step Time Name Description Step Temp
60 min Step 66.0 C
10 min Mash Out 76.0 C
Batch sparge 78C

Is there anything in that recipe which doesnt look right? Its a Stone and Wood Pale Ale Clone(beer here in Oz).

Same water as I've always used and its never caused problems before.

What sort of soap did you use to clean the equipment?

That sounds like the culprit if it did not get rinsed well.

Per howtobrew.com
http://www.howtobrew.com/section4/chapter21-2.html

Soapy
Soapy flavors can caused by not washing your glass very well, but they can also be produced by the fermentation conditions. If you leave the beer in the primary fermentor for a relatively long period of time after primary fermentation is over ("long" depends on the style and other fermentation factors), soapy flavors can result from the breakdown of fatty acids in the trub. Soap is, by definition, the salt of a fatty acid; so you are literally tasting soap.

High fermentation temps can lead to solvent-like phenolics that are are sometimes mistaken for a soapy taste. How did your primary fermentation temps look for this beer?

+1 to high fermentation temps. I would always get that "soapy" mouthfeel before I really started controlling my temps. This was in a basement that kept to about 68f on the floor in the summer. When I started putting the fermenter in a chamber with ice bottles to keep the temps in the low 60's the problem went away.

Had this problem with ALL my beers pretty much.... Until I got a chest freezer and made a temp controller. The difference it had made in my beers is ridiculous honestly. I would have to agree with he above about ferm temp.

Thanks for your responses.

I don't think I left the fermenter in too long, about 1 week after primary to dry hop.

I'll have to be more rigerous with making sure I rinse well after cleaning(although I thought star san would get rid of most of those falvours).

I'm looking into purchasing a brewpi right now to keep the fermentation temp really tight so that could help with the higher fermentation temps which might also be the issue.

Thanks guys

It's not too long imo... What was your temp? Do you have a temp controlled fermentation? Fluctuation in temp is gonna get funky stuff going on too.

Also, if you are looking to save some cash you can make a temp controller for less than 40. Search "eBay Aquarium temp controller" or "stc1000 temp controller" . That's what I made. Super easy and fun if you like tinkering.

I agree with the too hot fermentation as above. Until I got a handle on fermentation temperatures, my beers were hit and miss. Since I was no longer able to use the house crawl space for fermenting anymore, and I already had a spare chest freezer I could use, so I put together an STC-1000 controller. Total assembly cost was around
$30.00 US, and I was happy as Larry.

sherwicf said:

Thanks for your responses.

I don't think I left the fermenter in too long, about 1 week after primary to dry hop.

I'll have to be more rigerous with making sure I rinse well after cleaning(although I thought star san would get rid of most of those falvours).

I'm looking into purchasing a brewpi right now to keep the fermentation temp really tight so that could help with the higher fermentation temps which might also be the issue.

Thanks guys

Click to expand...

Dish soap never touches anything I brew with.

Clean with oxyclean.

Rinse extremely well.

Sanitize with star san (extended soak times are not necessary)

Star San doesn't really remove anything. It isn't a rinsing agent and it's not a cleanser. It is an acid solution that kills bacteria on contact. It will not remove soap.

PBW just as good?

sherwicf said:

PBW just as good?

Click to expand...

Better depending on who you ask. Pbw in my mind is preferred but it's more expensive than oxy clean.

I used oxyclean for years, then started using PBW, and the PBW is far superior, IMO.

I brew ALOT, like 25 batches a year, and a 8 lb container of PBW will last me about a year. At $35-40 retail for 8 lbs, that's $3-4 a month for the industry standard cleaner. I wouldn't call that "expensive."

My club even did a group buy, and got 100 lbs at wholesale prices, and got it down to about $3.00 a lb, which is very comparable to oxyclean prices.

Oxi-Clean + TSP90 = PBW.

http://www.bertusbrewery.com/2012/11/super-charge-your-oxiclean.html