If you were following me, you know I have had a couple of bad batches recently. I even tough of selling all my brew rigs.
I decided to go for something secure last month and I bought a 23L fresh wort of a West Coast IPA from a Festabrew. Honestly, I did not even tough it could go bad. But here it comes again! Strong metallic taste. Bitter.. a bit sour (not much but you can taste a bit of sourness).
Now maybe I can spot the bad***. For sure it's related to fermenting and/or kegging. I also know that all of my bad batches have something in common. The use of the Brew Bucket and star san.
Well.. From the first time I used S-San and SS Bucket together I noted a strange reaction. Some of the metal seems to go away from the bucket. You can see it by applying a scott towel on the bucket after it has been soaked in star san. The towels become greyish. Can this be related?
If not, I can only see two more things. Oxydation or contamination.
Oxydation : in all the batches, the bucket lid was firmly in place. For the West coast, I made a blow of tube for the first 4-5 days of fermentation and there was a lot of action going on in my star san jug. I even noted that my beer was a little bit carbed when sampling after 10 days. So I don't suspect any air going in. The West Coast was only 2 weeks in the fermenter.
Contamination : I did a complete and thorough clean of my rig before going on with the West coast. I throw every plastic except the lid (it's pricey $$). Oxyclean for the bucket, lid and all othe pieces. Special 24 hours oxyclean for the lid. 15 min soak in a mix of water and bleach for every parts. 5-6 rinses. And I finished it with Star San soaking using the recommended mix on the s-san bottle. I am fanatic with sanitization and I star san sprey everything that touch the beer. I can't see what I am doing wrong here.
What do you think?
I decided to go for something secure last month and I bought a 23L fresh wort of a West Coast IPA from a Festabrew. Honestly, I did not even tough it could go bad. But here it comes again! Strong metallic taste. Bitter.. a bit sour (not much but you can taste a bit of sourness).
Now maybe I can spot the bad***. For sure it's related to fermenting and/or kegging. I also know that all of my bad batches have something in common. The use of the Brew Bucket and star san.
Well.. From the first time I used S-San and SS Bucket together I noted a strange reaction. Some of the metal seems to go away from the bucket. You can see it by applying a scott towel on the bucket after it has been soaked in star san. The towels become greyish. Can this be related?
If not, I can only see two more things. Oxydation or contamination.
Oxydation : in all the batches, the bucket lid was firmly in place. For the West coast, I made a blow of tube for the first 4-5 days of fermentation and there was a lot of action going on in my star san jug. I even noted that my beer was a little bit carbed when sampling after 10 days. So I don't suspect any air going in. The West Coast was only 2 weeks in the fermenter.
Contamination : I did a complete and thorough clean of my rig before going on with the West coast. I throw every plastic except the lid (it's pricey $$). Oxyclean for the bucket, lid and all othe pieces. Special 24 hours oxyclean for the lid. 15 min soak in a mix of water and bleach for every parts. 5-6 rinses. And I finished it with Star San soaking using the recommended mix on the s-san bottle. I am fanatic with sanitization and I star san sprey everything that touch the beer. I can't see what I am doing wrong here.
What do you think?