Hello potential beer issues

[gboyce71]

Hello,

I have a few question concerning a batch of pale ale I just brewed. First a little history been brewing for about a year and a half now and stopped for a bit because bottling was a PITA. Got to talking to my neighbor across the street and found he also home brews and kegs so I got started again with alot more equipment much to my wife dismay smile.gif Did a IPA that came out ok (rushed it ) My second batch I just did was a Pale ale. I tried some new things this time and as I put it in the secondary today it smells and taste like crap. Here are the changes I made.

Used Regular tap water instead of bottle water. ( used a Camden tablet for Chlorine)

When putting into fermenter used a paint straining bag and strained the hops out for what I had hoped would be a cleaner beer.

Pitched a dry yeast using a stir plate (was warmer than wort so threw stir plate in freezer running to bring temp down quickly)

OG was 1.054 and when I put into secondary today it was 1.020 and has a vinger/cidery smell and taste. Now one thing I did notice was a fruit fly in my fridge and from what I have read in John Palmer book this batch is basically hosed. Is this correct or is it a time heals all things issue? Also any ideas what would have caused this. It was a extract kit from brewing store.

 

[duboman]

Vinegar and cidery would lead to an acetobacter infection and obviously something with you sanitizing process. It could have cropped up anywhere from the original starter all the way through to the primary.

 

[gboyce71]

Ok think I narrowed it down to the fermenting bucket. I cleaned the hell out of it but thought I could still smell last batch I fermented in the bucket so cleaned it again. Used PBW and Sanstar both and thought it was fixed. After this batch went bad I filled bucket with bleach water and let it soak for a day then dumped it and let it dry can still smell bad batch in it. I am thinking the bucket has scratches in it that I can see and it permeated the bucket. Will be going to 6.5 glass carboy next and therm wraps for colder weather brewing.

 

[biggmatt]

you might use it as vinegar. Depends on taste. Put it in jars or fancy bottles with garlic, onion, peppers, etc let it set and mellow. Great on fish

I couldn't do it every bad batch, but I had some turn out real nice.

 

[dogbar]

I've used the same plastic bucket for almost every batch since I started brewing. I do an oxy clean soak and a starsan soak before every batch.

I had a couple infections early on, but none since I switched to starsan as a sanitizer a few years ago.

All of which is to say, if you've carpet bombed that bucket with PBW, bleach and starsan, it should be good to brew with. Look at your other equipment. How's your racking stuff looking? Tubing is easy to replace and can be a ***** to clean.

 

[SteveM]

I'm suspicious of using a straining cloth. Let your beer sit in the primary for four weeks and siphon carefully and it should be adequately clear. Any time you introduce anything into the process that touches your beer, you raise the risk level.

 

[ballsy]

The bucket staying stained and faint "smell" doesn't mean it's not clean. I soak in oxyfree overnight after each batch and stains and smell never go away...instead of straining the hops after cool, keep a mesh bag in the pot, wrap end around handle, and put hops additions into bag. When boil is done, remove bag w/ hops gunk.