Third attempt and still no good!

Norie was right. Ignore the instructions and leave your primary alone for 3 full weeks, then bottle. BigFloyd also nailed it when he says the yeast need time to clean-up their early fermentation byproducts. As I always tell my customers, there is nothing to be gained by rushing your beer.

brewinchef_fairfax said:

I know it's overkill - but every time I brew I scrub my brew pot down with water and a sponge - no soap - and then I fill it with about 3/4 of an inch of water and boil/steam it for about ten minutes. I do it with my top-off water pots as well.

What I really want to avoid is any exposure to oils or animal fats that might have gotten on them in between brews. Call me paranoid I guess - but I like those pots to be pretty sterile when I use them.

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What do you mean by "exposure to oils or animal fats that might have gotten on them in between brews"? I am not sure by this statement if you are using the same pot to cook and brew with. I am not sure if it is necessary but I would dedicate a kettle/pot for brewing only. That way you do not have to worry about animal fats and oils. I understand if one does have space to have separate equipment. I am just a little obsessive about my brew equipment and make sure that my wife knows that no brew stuff should be used in the kitchen for cooking food. That is just me tho and it works.

unionrdr said:

Yup. Like I say frequently,patience is the first thing a noob home brewer needs to learn. Kinda like the terminator,the more you brew,the more you learn (best arnold voice).

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I just came home from a little home brew bottle share. I tried to tell someone that I thought they should leave their beer in primary for longer than a week and more like 3-4 weeks and he got so defensive. I remember how it was when I first started. But I remedied my impatience by brewing more beer and filling all my buckets and carboys. Instead of focusing all your attention on that one beer fermenting I diverted my energy to brewing. The more you brew the more you learn and the more you learn to RDWHAHB!

Norie_ said:

I just came home from a little home brew bottle share. I tried to tell someone that I thought they should leave their beer in primary for longer than a week and more like 3-4 weeks and he got so defensive. I remember how it was when I first started. But I remedied my impatience by brewing more beer and filling all my buckets and carboys. Instead of focusing all your attention on that one beer fermenting I diverted my energy to brewing. The more you brew the more you learn and the more you learn to RDWHAHB!

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Totally agree

Norie_ said:

What do you mean by "exposure to oils or animal fats that might have gotten on them in between brews"?

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Being a chef - all of my pots are multipurpose - and most of the time there is potential that there could be some cross contamination so I take the extra step. I have ABSOLUTELY no space for an extra dedicated pot. None whatsoever. At least not in the house. I'd have to bury one out in the shed somewhere.

I also don't allow any of my brewing tools to come in contact with the sink area if I can help it. I have a dedicated brewing tub that I use which holds all of my spoons, siphons, etc.. I try to keep them all away from any type of food product. The only oils I want on them are hop oils.

this thread is so strange

Just having done my first brew I didn't want to chance anything and bought 6-7 gal jugs of Poland spring water. I know my tap water is fine for drinking (besides high chlorine and its hard) but for $6-7 bucks it was worth the peace of mind in addition to the $50 I spent on my extract kit.

Just my 2 cents...

progmac said:

this thread is so strange

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+1

Pelican521 said:

Just having done my first brew I didn't want to chance anything and bought 6-7 gal jugs of Poland spring water. I know my tap water is fine for drinking (besides high chlorine and its hard) but for $6-7 bucks it was worth the peace of mind in addition to the $50 I spent on my extract kit.

Just my 2 cents...

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If your water is fine to drink it should be fine to brew. Especially extracts. Filter your water with a Brita filter or something like that or if you know you only have Chlorine not Chloramine the night before you brew pour all the water you need into your kettle, fermenter, and wherever else you think you can store it overnight and the chlorine will dissipate. As far as hardness, depending on the beer, may add some nice flavors to it depending on styles. Burton on Trent was famous for it's hard water and it's Pale Ales.

Plastic tastes come from chlorine or chloramine in your tap water, soap residue, bleach, too-hot fermentaion temps, some hops, some infections, and active fermentation.
My first few batches had this taste and those were the culprits, it is common for newcomers to experience this. Don't give up.

Things to think about: I think you are fermenting too hot (use a swamp cooler at least). Stop scrubbing and soaping items that will be boiled (pot and spoon). Use camden
tablets to kill chlorine/chloramine in your tap water. Don't aerate hot wort with your mixer, wait till it cools. Monitor the temp of the wort to ensure it is cool
enough prior to pitching. if you've scratched your bucket by scrubbing, get a new one and use the old one to hold a starsan solution. Ensure that your 5 gallon
batch actually turns out to have 5 gallons. And wait at least 2 weeks prior to mucking with it. And don't use cinnamon. Yuck.

Most kit instructions are written to get you to purchase the next kit as soon as possible. Throw them away. Find a process that works for you. Everybody has a cleaning and sanitization regimine that works. If it works don't change it. If it doesn't work, make adjustments. Sounds like you are not happy with yours. Here's mine. When I complete a brew day, I rinse out each vessel and then rub the inside with a hand dipped in clear water. If there are stuborn stains, I will then put a little clean water in the bottom of the vessel and shake in some PBW, which is a no-rinse brewing cleaner. Then I upend it to air dry and put them away. I store them with a paper towel in each vessel to absorb any remaining moisture. On the next brew/bottling day, I bring them out and mix up 2.5 gallons of star san in a spare fermenter. Drop all the small parts into it (tubing, disassembled airlock, autosiphon, racking cane, bucket valve) I also pour a cup of starsan into each vessel that will not see a boil, swish it around to coat the entire inside, and let it sit until I'm ready to use. At the end of the day, repeat. Some people do with good results using a secondary. I'm not one of them. You have described your brew equipment sanitization, but you did not describe your bottle process. In my experience, bottles are much harder to clean. Whenever I share brew with others that dont brew, there's crud at the bottom that I need to scrub out. Do you look in the bottle before you put it away to be sure its clean and dry?

nutty_gnome said:

And don't use cinnamon. Yuck.

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You lose a little credibility with your last sentence haha. Thanks for the advice!

EDIT:

Ditch the soap. Use your Oxy or PBW to clean your stuff.

1.5oz, or a little more as you say, of Star San per 5 gallons is at least 50% too much. The correct ratio is 1oz per 5 gallons. You do not need to use more. Likely not your problem but it is a cost savings and a process improvement.

As others have said, it looks like you are way short on your post boil wort volume unless it's a ~10gal carboy in the pictures. The Midwest kits I've made needed a bit over 5 gal total volume in the fermenter to be at the kit's target OG. What ever you have after the boil is done needs to be 5 gallons. If it is not you need to add top off water until it is 5 gal or a little more. Best is to check the OG with a hydrometer but I have found that the OG is pretty much spot on when you are at 5-5.25 gallons in the fermenter (boiled wort + top off water).

Don't bother transferring to the secondary unless it needs to age/condition for a long time (or you need your fermenter to start another batch).

It's amazing how many times the same thing has been said in this thread.

Lol at liking cinnamon in a beer. You guys crack me up.

Brulosopher said:

It's amazing how many times the same thing has been said in this thread.

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And in lots of other threads!

Brulosopher said:

It's amazing how many times the same thing has been said in this thread.

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It is, isn't it? Smurfing amazing.

If you find the responses repetitive, why are you reading the thread? It's possible somebody here has come up with a new and revolutionary cleaning method you weren't previously aware of, but (especially in a forum designed for those new to the hobby) it's more likely the OP just needs to learn the same basic lessons we all had to learn.

The only thing I'm finding more repetitive than the advice are the posts complaining about how repetitive it is. If it's so repetitive, post a new idea.

I found this thread useful. I've been using unscented liquid dish soap with no dyes or fragrances to clean. After this, I'm an Oxyclean Free man all the way!

Enoch52 said:

If you find the responses repetitive, why are you reading the thread? It's possible somebody here has come up with a new and revolutionary cleaning method you weren't previously aware of, but (especially in a forum designed for those new to the hobby) it's more likely the OP just needs to learn the same basic lessons we all had to learn.

The only thing I'm finding more repetitive than the advice are the posts complaining about how repetitive it is. If it's so repetitive, post a new idea.

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I... just... can't... stop!!!!!

I'm going to be repetitive here as well. DON'T USE SOAP! Just scrub the crap off and rinse after brewing.

I'm a fan of OneStep though instead of StarSan. Mix 1 Tbsp with 1 gallon of water. As long as the liquid contacts, it'll sanitize in 30 seconds (although they recommend 2 minutes). I usually keep a spray bottle on hand to spritz my equipment as I'm using it. Of course, it will not work very well if you have crusted on gunk.

From what I have read xHeight in your post. Is that you never mentioned adding water to wort after cool down to make 5 gallons. Was the kit a 5 gallon Kit? Transfering the wort to a secondary only after your final gravity has been met, in the instruction or close to FG. Time is various for each brew made. Typically the secondary is is used for conditioning and clearing the beer before bottling.

pearseam said:

From what I have read xHeight in your post. Is that you never mentioned adding water to wort after cool down to make 5 gallons. Was the kit a 5 gallon Kit? Transfering the wort to a secondary only after your final gravity has been met, in the instruction or close to FG. Time is various for each brew made. Typically the secondary is is used for conditioning and clearing the beer before bottling.

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I had this thought also. He says he used kits for 5 gallons and there is certainly not 5 gallons in the carboy in the photo!

sidepart said:

I'm a fan of OneStep though instead of StarSan. Mix 1 Tbsp with 1 gallon of water. As long as the liquid contacts, it'll sanitize in 30 seconds (although they recommend 2 minutes). I usually keep a spray bottle on hand to spritz my equipment as I'm using it. Of course, it will not work very well if you have crusted on gunk.

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Hate to tell you this, but OneStep is NOT a sanitizer...just a cleanser. I think many folks are tricked into thinking it is due to the clever name that could be construed to mean both cleaning and sanitizing. And if you don't believe me (as often happens...) check their website...no mention of sanitizing. Better get that StarSan back out! http://www.ecologiccleansers.com/cleaning.php

Why don't more people use the dishwasher to clean pots and fermenters?

After rinsing and wiping with a sponge the dishwasher cleans really well.

Maybe I'm just lazy.

P.S. The third photo in the OP looks infected to me and that carboy in photo 4 is only half full?

GoldMiner said:

Why don't more people use the dishwasher to clean pots and fermenters?

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I live in a small apartment with no dishwasher. I really wish I had one.

I Dont think he added water to make the wort 5 gallons. It probably would taste off and super concentrated. Plus all the other things he messed up on. Read a brewing book homie!

Ogri said:

Are you using tap water for brewing and/or topping up after the boil?

If your tap water contains Chlorine and/or chloramine those can lead to plasticky, or band-aid, type off flavours/smells.

Leaving your brewing (tap) water in an open vessel overnight before a brew session will allow the chlorine to dissipate but chloramine is a bit more stubborn. You can, however, use Campden tabs to remedy that.

Either that or use bottled water to do a batch and see if that makes the required difference.

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Huh. I always use tap water fresh from the city supply. No noticable chloriune taste or smell, but I assume they are there. No off tastes in any of my 25 or so beers. (of course Murphy is probably listening)

william_shakes_beer said:

Huh. I always use tap water fresh from the city supply. No noticable chloriune taste or smell, but I assume they are there. No off tastes in any of my 25 or so beers. (of course Murphy is probably listening)

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Can't really comment on the the chemical composition of the water you're using, as it would appear you are getting favorable results, but the OP mentions plasticky type flavours after using bleach to clean and also after leaving the bleach out of the equation and getting the same results. That's why I brought up the chlorine/chloramine possibility in tap water, which seems to get mentioned quite a lot on here as a possibility for those type of off flavours/smells.

xHeight said:

This is my third time brewing on my own so far and none have turned out well.

Tonight I transferred to the secondary. The primary has a very short krausen ring and a very pungent smell. Almost chemical. It's exactly how my other two have smelled.

The flavor of my previous two has been plastic-y and makes your mouth feel dry (and smooth? if that makes sense?). I looked it up and saw that a lot of times it has to do with cleaning solutions you use to sanitize. I was using a very mild bleach solution. I changed it up this time and went with Oxy Clean and some Star San. Same results.

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Have also heard that sometimes a wild yeast infecting the brew can result in similar type smell/flavour but have yet to experience it myself.

The water I've used for most of my brewing so far has been bottled but the last couple I've used Campden tabs in my tap water, as I know, for a fact, that it's pretty heavily chlorinated and possibly treated with chloramine too, so still waiting to see the end product.