I just moved to a new city and have everything set up new here. The week I moved in I brewed two batches so I could get something into the keg fridge. Shortly thereafter, within two days in the primary, the first batch turned for the worst. I have never seen an infection spread and kill a beer in the time span and violent nature that this happened. It appeared, at first, to be the most active fermentation I’d ever seen. But it wasn’t the yeast. Dumped, and decided to ditch that primary. It had been with me a long time, was stained and I could never really get the beer smell out any more.
Background: I figure I have averaged around a batch of beer a week for the last two years. I use a bucket primary and then into glass carboys after 4-7 days. I usually went with 7; Saturday to Saturday. I have lost 3 batches in the last two years, two with slow starts that became infected and one choc cherry stout that I clearly didn’t deal with the raw fruit correctly.
I have been here almost a month and I just dumped my fourth batch of beer into the toilet. I have two batches I kegged directly from the primary to see if I could save them but I suspect they will follow down the ****ter.
All 6 batches I have brewed in this apartment have turned south. This is after a very clean brewing record. This is killing me!!
What I do and what I’ve changed:
The first two batches were mini-mash recipes I’ve been using for quite some time. Used regular mash & hop scheduling, cleaning regiment, cooling with chiller, etc. Both dead. Cleaning: I cleaned and sanitized everything with sani-brew, then rinsed. Never had any issue with the rinse so had no concern. Also, since I’m doing a mini-mash, I top up with tap water to get to 5gl. Also, never had any issue so never had any concern before.
Next three batches: I was out of supplies so hit the local brew shop. Apparently they had no more supplies than I had. Lame. So I bought 4 Brew House kits. Never used these before but I had heard good things in passing. I “brewed” three of them. One was clearly f&@#$ the next day and the other two seemed questionable after around a week. I kegged the two since they seemed on the cusp. Not sure to what end, we will see. For these bathes I bought all new equipment. Like I said above, my old primaries had been used for years so it seemed like a good time to replace. Still cleaned and sanitized these with sani-brew and rinsed.
My last batch (the one I just flushed) fermented for three days before turning south. It was an adaptation of an old recipe (to utilize stuff I had), smelled fine yesterday and filled my apartment with the rotten stench I’m sadly becoming used to by the time I was home from work today. I had switched to sanitizing with star-san (no rinse) and, as one might imagine, my cleaning & sanitization scrutiny has increased exponentially with every batch lost!
The only consistent factor I can see is the tap water. I have altered my cleaning/sanitization practices as this brewing nightmare has unfolded, but to no avail. However, I have topped up the primary to 5gl with tap water for all batches. I currently have no way of treating the water (charcoal filter) and I’m on transit so bringing spring water to my fourth floor walk-up is not a practical solution.
So what are your thoughts, could this be something in the water here? (I’m now in Edmonton, Alberta, Ca) I know they have cloramine in the water here but that shouldn’t cause infection. What else could it be? Something in the air?
My next brew will go directly into a glass carboy in order to avoid ANY chance of airborn contamination and I think I need to go with filtered or bottled water but I’m not sure how I can manage that.
I desperately need to find the cause of this so I can brew!
Pascal
Background: I figure I have averaged around a batch of beer a week for the last two years. I use a bucket primary and then into glass carboys after 4-7 days. I usually went with 7; Saturday to Saturday. I have lost 3 batches in the last two years, two with slow starts that became infected and one choc cherry stout that I clearly didn’t deal with the raw fruit correctly.
I have been here almost a month and I just dumped my fourth batch of beer into the toilet. I have two batches I kegged directly from the primary to see if I could save them but I suspect they will follow down the ****ter.
All 6 batches I have brewed in this apartment have turned south. This is after a very clean brewing record. This is killing me!!
What I do and what I’ve changed:
The first two batches were mini-mash recipes I’ve been using for quite some time. Used regular mash & hop scheduling, cleaning regiment, cooling with chiller, etc. Both dead. Cleaning: I cleaned and sanitized everything with sani-brew, then rinsed. Never had any issue with the rinse so had no concern. Also, since I’m doing a mini-mash, I top up with tap water to get to 5gl. Also, never had any issue so never had any concern before.
Next three batches: I was out of supplies so hit the local brew shop. Apparently they had no more supplies than I had. Lame. So I bought 4 Brew House kits. Never used these before but I had heard good things in passing. I “brewed” three of them. One was clearly f&@#$ the next day and the other two seemed questionable after around a week. I kegged the two since they seemed on the cusp. Not sure to what end, we will see. For these bathes I bought all new equipment. Like I said above, my old primaries had been used for years so it seemed like a good time to replace. Still cleaned and sanitized these with sani-brew and rinsed.
My last batch (the one I just flushed) fermented for three days before turning south. It was an adaptation of an old recipe (to utilize stuff I had), smelled fine yesterday and filled my apartment with the rotten stench I’m sadly becoming used to by the time I was home from work today. I had switched to sanitizing with star-san (no rinse) and, as one might imagine, my cleaning & sanitization scrutiny has increased exponentially with every batch lost!
The only consistent factor I can see is the tap water. I have altered my cleaning/sanitization practices as this brewing nightmare has unfolded, but to no avail. However, I have topped up the primary to 5gl with tap water for all batches. I currently have no way of treating the water (charcoal filter) and I’m on transit so bringing spring water to my fourth floor walk-up is not a practical solution.
So what are your thoughts, could this be something in the water here? (I’m now in Edmonton, Alberta, Ca) I know they have cloramine in the water here but that shouldn’t cause infection. What else could it be? Something in the air?
My next brew will go directly into a glass carboy in order to avoid ANY chance of airborn contamination and I think I need to go with filtered or bottled water but I’m not sure how I can manage that.
I desperately need to find the cause of this so I can brew!
Pascal