fezzman
Well-Known Member
Hey all. Brief history: Been brewing for about 2.5 years. The first two years I learned a good bit and quality was improving with each batch. Then things took a turn for the worse. My last 3 batches went bad and caused me to take 8 months off of brewing. I started brewing again last month and again I have a problem.
The first batch after my break was a special bitter from extract. I took everything apart and was as thorough (paranoid) as possible. I even took my primary bucket valve apart and boiled it. I brewed it at night and fermentation was active by the next morning. I never detected any upleasant odors or funk growing in primary or secondary. I finally cracked open my first bottle the other night and ACK! Looked good and smelled okay. But there was definitely a taste of infection that coated the back of my throat. There was also a idophor-ish taste. Upon examining the other bottles I see a fine opaque matter clinging to the bottles around the top of the beer. Infected, right? I used a bottle brush on these bottles in idophor and then the dishwasher on high heat.
I just don't get it. The only variable that changed about the time things started going south was that I switched from Diversol to idophor. Perhaps I'm just not concentrating the idophor enough to be effective??
My more immediate concern is the imperial stout I have in secondary. I am now worried about it going bad. It has only been in secondary for 5 days. Should I rack it to a keg and stick it in the fridge? Will that help preserve it, assuming there is an infection? I don't see or smell anything to lead me to think it is infected but I am just scared of having another bad batch.
Sorry for the loooong post. Thanks for any help.
The first batch after my break was a special bitter from extract. I took everything apart and was as thorough (paranoid) as possible. I even took my primary bucket valve apart and boiled it. I brewed it at night and fermentation was active by the next morning. I never detected any upleasant odors or funk growing in primary or secondary. I finally cracked open my first bottle the other night and ACK! Looked good and smelled okay. But there was definitely a taste of infection that coated the back of my throat. There was also a idophor-ish taste. Upon examining the other bottles I see a fine opaque matter clinging to the bottles around the top of the beer. Infected, right? I used a bottle brush on these bottles in idophor and then the dishwasher on high heat.
I just don't get it. The only variable that changed about the time things started going south was that I switched from Diversol to idophor. Perhaps I'm just not concentrating the idophor enough to be effective??
My more immediate concern is the imperial stout I have in secondary. I am now worried about it going bad. It has only been in secondary for 5 days. Should I rack it to a keg and stick it in the fridge? Will that help preserve it, assuming there is an infection? I don't see or smell anything to lead me to think it is infected but I am just scared of having another bad batch.
Sorry for the loooong post. Thanks for any help.