fermenting (glass vs plastic)

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kontreren

Gluten Free Brewing
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I've been away for a while but glad to be back here. My latest brew was a chocolate and although it was slightly different from my first (which was great) I fermented in a glass carboy rather than a plastic fermenter. It was in the carboy 4 weeks, no exposure to sunlight but has some notable off flavors (I can't spell chloing?). In fact I can't even detect alcohol via my usual method :D. So I'm curious if there is something about using a carboy as a primary that causes off flavors if left in there too long. This is the first time I've been using the glass carboys as primarys and my brewing buddy who uses them more often says he normally re-racks. I've not had to in the past using plastic. Anyone have opinions or facts about this?
 
Cloying? This term is usually used "cloying sweetness". This character can come from excess unfermentable sugars. High mash temps, over use of certain specialty grains, poor hop utilization, and under fermenting can lead to this off flavor.

Chlorine? If your getting a bleach flavor or smell, did you use bleach as a sanitizing agent? With bleach, and most other sanitizers, a little goes a long way. Check Google for "sanitizing with bleach" instructions.

I haven't had any issues with off flavors coming from plastic fermenters. But, I don't use them for long term aging(more than a month). Make sure you are using food grade plastic containers as fermenters.

Good luck and good brewing.
 
Cloying? ...
Definitely some off flavors. Maybe a result of cloying. Not the sanitization process. Not sure what caused it and using the glass carboy came to mind. But it could be any of the things you mentioned that are a result of cloying. ... and thanks for the spelling by the way. I've only gotten a couple responses thus far but it appears the concensus is that it is NOT the glass carboy causing it. It is just that the only batches I've "lost" were in glass. Not lost any yet in the plastic (food grade) fermenters. Still like to have some more facts and opinions. :mug:
 
Not to be a dic(k)tionary, but just to be clear, cloying means disgusting or repulsive due to excess. Like, as brewers like to say, "The cloying sweetness made the beer like drinking maple syrup." Or, as and adverb, "I can't stand that actress, she's so cloyingly perky that she has to be fake."

Back to your regularly scheduled thread...
 
I use both glass and plastic everytime I brew. I have one 6.5 glass carboy and one 6.5 gallon bucket. I have never tasted any difference between the brews fermented in them.
 
well don't let it get you down. the flavors could mellow out with aging.

we've all made 'bad beer'...either the recipe sucked, or something went wrong.

i had a perfectly good blonde ale kegged but apparently not purged well enough (the headspace) so when I drove with it for 3 hours and then tapped it the next day, the beer was totally stale/oxidized from the travel.
 
well don't let it get you down. ...
we've all made 'bad beer'...either the recipe sucked, or something went wrong....

agreed, no worries, just wondering because brew buddy lost a batch recently and mine w/ off flavors made me wonder about the glass. stuff happens. :D
 
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