I have been all-grain brewing for about two years now. Recently every batch I have made has been borderline undrinkable. Only my stout is still drinkable. All my other beers have a strong yeast quality to them. I batch sparge and do a 90 minute boil. Cooled with an Immersion chiller and pre chiller(IC in ice bath running to chiller in beer). I aerate with a drill fitting and pitch my yeast at a temp well below 80 degrees. I have tried pitching with out smacking the smack pack. I have tried the normal approach of smacking the pack and letting it swell. I have made starters the day before. I have made starters a week early and poured of the clear beer on top to pitch the slurry. Also, I use a chest freezer with a johnson control set to the low end of my yeast's range. I stick the temperate control probe in between a piece of bubble wrap and the side of the glass fermenter. I grab a taste after a week when I check the gravity and it is awful. Never gets better. I have let a normal gravity (1.054) sit for a month and the off flavor is still there.
If the beer is not a dark dark beer this off flavor is too dominate. I am very conscious of keeping my brew gear clean with PBW, and I sanitize with iodophor. My next beer will be an extract kit to see if the problem lies in my mashing technique.(If there is no off flavor in my extract beer than the problem must be in my mash.)
Do you guys have any clue what I could be doing wrong? I have made great beers in the past with out this problem but, I just can't seem to get past it now. And if you live in the south jersey area please come by and try this beer. Maybe we can figure this out together.
If the beer is not a dark dark beer this off flavor is too dominate. I am very conscious of keeping my brew gear clean with PBW, and I sanitize with iodophor. My next beer will be an extract kit to see if the problem lies in my mashing technique.(If there is no off flavor in my extract beer than the problem must be in my mash.)
Do you guys have any clue what I could be doing wrong? I have made great beers in the past with out this problem but, I just can't seem to get past it now. And if you live in the south jersey area please come by and try this beer. Maybe we can figure this out together.