Infected.

This is my third brew out of five. It is an english bitter from an extract kit with WLP002.

I have a very strong green apple smell and a sour taste. My last batch had this as well. It fertilized the lawn...

I try to be extremely anal about sanitizing, I have used two bottles of starsan in the 5 brew sessions I have completed. I boil water in my kettle and drain it through the valve and drain tube before I start brewing, leave the carboy full of starsan until i am ready to fill it with wort, leave all of my utensils in starsan while brewing, etc.

I pitched a 1.5l starter at 62F and kept fermentation at less than 68F for three weeks. Kegged it today and the first taste smelled exactly like the Flemish Sour beer I am drinking right now.

One thing I did different was stirring while cooling with my immersion chiller. Is this the source of my problem? How do I prevent this in the future?

In all honesty it doesn't sound like an infection problem to me, especially if you're being anal about sanitizing. I don't know what the problem could be.

Infections are hard to get, especially if the yeast has taken hold in the carboy.

"Green apple" is usually from acetaldehyde and is found in "green" beers, the fermentation time may not have been long enough. This article might help some http://www.fermentarium.com/homebrewing/brewing-beer/why-does-my-beer-taste-bad/

carb it up and let it cold condition for a couple weeks and try it... hopefully should taste a little better then

OG was 1.050, FG 1.014 Aerated with O2, lag time for fermentation was 4 or 5 hours. Is three weeks too soon to pull it off the yeast?

I'll let this one sit for a while, but it sure didn't help the last batch.

1. How long after bottle conditioning are you consuming (i.e. how long is it in the bottle for)?
2. Do you notice off flavors in the wort? During bottling?
3. What temp are you steeping at?
4. Two bottles of Star San in five batches!? How much Star San are you using? What's your dilution?
5. Tell me about the rest of your sanitation process - how do you cleanse and sanitize, with what products and at what dilution?
6. Name all of the things you have changed (process, equipment, etc.) between your last good batch and the current one.

I too think this is a time issue more than anything else, but let's hear more.

1. No bottles
2. Wort smells and tastes fine
3.154f, 30minutes
4. If some is good, more is better? I was eyeballing ituntil I got the measuring bottle.
5. I wash everything with pbw in hot water, rinse, and submerge in a bucket starsan until I need to use it, after use it goes right back in the bucket.

The biggest change is whirlpooling with a spoon while cooling. Probably not the brightest idea, but it cut 15minutes off my cooling time.
I've ordered some ph test strips after reading more about starsan. Mine gets cloudy within minutes of mixing it. Hopefully that's it.

I'd be backing the "it's just green" theory if it didn't smell and taste exactly like the flemish sour beer.

Thanks for the feedback!

Get a new fermenter they're cheap. Stop using so much star-san. Follow the proper dilution and a bottle will last forever, as you can keep it stored for months. Are you sanitizing the kegs,lines,connects for each beer?

Try bottling a few next time. See if you have a keg problem.

Maybe too much O2. Try just shaking.

Maybe skip the starter and just pitch a dry yeast or liquid straight from the pouch. Starters are a great idea, but you've got to find the source of your problem.

You need to try changing things to find the prob.

Man that's a lot of starsan. Get a spraybottle from Lowes and mix proper dilution in there.

Brand new glass carboy. Starsan in keg pushed through lines. I have purchased a bottle with a built in measuring cup now

Does starsan keep that well even if its cloudy?

The last batch that was bad I pitched directly from a sanitized WL vial and no o2.

I see you tasted your wort...Did you taste that starter?

Just curious how much sugar went into this one...

Starter smelled good, didn't taste it.

Sugar? Not sure I follow ya.

The only two times I have even gotten that green apple taste was when I used excessive amounts of sugars compared to malts. Some people tend to think that corn sugar or table sugar doesn't change the flavor... I swear I notice something... Green apple.

No refined sugars. Just distilled water, LME, "specialty" grains, hops and yeast.

I'm going to do this one again without stirring this weekend. I'll let you know if it turns out better in about a month...