TheMattTrain
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- Dec 26, 2013
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I've got an infection problem. I'm not sure where it's coming from and I'm not sure what to do about it. I'm not even sure what kind of infection it is. There are no visible signs of infection, but the beer is definitely sour. I'm meticulous with sanitizing and cleaning, so I'm not sure what to think. Here's the low down...
A few months ago I brewed an El Dorado & 2-Row SMaSH. When I kegged that beer, it smelled as I expected it to, so I used the yeast cake for an Imperial IPA I made the same day I kegged. I didn't realize that the El Dorado was infected until I went to drink it a week after kegging and it didn't smell or taste like it had when I kegged it. Going into the keg it was very rindy, lemony, almost like a lemon cleaner. It's a hop I had had before in a commercial beer and I recognized it the second I smelled it. After a week in the keg it was more tropical fruity... mango, pineapple, etc. and it smelled NOTHING like it had when I kegged it. I don't know for sure if it's infected because what I taste kind of matches the description on HopUnion.com. It's certainly drinkable, but not what I expected.
My Imperial IPA, using the same yeast cake, is undeniably infected. No visible signs of infection (still... after about 8 weeks), but it smells and tastes sour. I used about 12oz of leaf hops in the boil and there is almost no hop aroma or flavor.
Three weeks ago I brewed an Rye Pale Ale. It smells sour through the air lock. I've never brewed a Rye beer before so I'm not sure if what I'm smelling is Rye or if it's an infection, but I'm afraid to use any of my siphoning equipment on it if it's infected because I don't want to have to replace it... and I don't want to use my infected siphon from the El Dorado to siphon it because I don't want to infect it if it's not infected.
My process:
After the boil starts, I mix up 2.5 gallons of star san and soak my wort chiller. Once the chiller goes into the pot to chill the wort, I use my funnel to dump star san into my carboy, pop the bung in, and plug the whole with my finger while I shake it to sanitize the inside of the carboy. I shake it a minimum of two times, with about 10 shakes each time. I'll let the star san sit in the carboy for about 5-10 minutes. I then dump the star san out into my bucket and cover the funnel, my air lock, bung, and a fine mesh strainer. Once the wort is cool, I'll remove the funnel and strainer from my bucket, put the funnel into the carboy and pour the wort out of my pot through my ball valve and into my strainer to catch all of the hop residue and aerate my wort. Once the beer is in the carboy, I add yeast, pop the bung into the carboy, sanitize my hand, and plug the whole of the bung while I shake the carboy (this is one thing I plan to change for the future, but I've made about 8 or so batches using this method with no issues). Once I'm done shaking for 3-5 minutes, I pop the airlock on and cover the carboy with a towel until fermentation is done.
Two questions...
What type of infection tastes sour but doesn't show any visible signs of infection? This isn't he first time I've had an infection like this, but it's the first time I suspect it to be persistent.
And what do you think is causing my infections? What equipment do I need to replace/what processes do I need to change?
Thanks, as always, for your awesome advice and help!
A few months ago I brewed an El Dorado & 2-Row SMaSH. When I kegged that beer, it smelled as I expected it to, so I used the yeast cake for an Imperial IPA I made the same day I kegged. I didn't realize that the El Dorado was infected until I went to drink it a week after kegging and it didn't smell or taste like it had when I kegged it. Going into the keg it was very rindy, lemony, almost like a lemon cleaner. It's a hop I had had before in a commercial beer and I recognized it the second I smelled it. After a week in the keg it was more tropical fruity... mango, pineapple, etc. and it smelled NOTHING like it had when I kegged it. I don't know for sure if it's infected because what I taste kind of matches the description on HopUnion.com. It's certainly drinkable, but not what I expected.
My Imperial IPA, using the same yeast cake, is undeniably infected. No visible signs of infection (still... after about 8 weeks), but it smells and tastes sour. I used about 12oz of leaf hops in the boil and there is almost no hop aroma or flavor.
Three weeks ago I brewed an Rye Pale Ale. It smells sour through the air lock. I've never brewed a Rye beer before so I'm not sure if what I'm smelling is Rye or if it's an infection, but I'm afraid to use any of my siphoning equipment on it if it's infected because I don't want to have to replace it... and I don't want to use my infected siphon from the El Dorado to siphon it because I don't want to infect it if it's not infected.
My process:
After the boil starts, I mix up 2.5 gallons of star san and soak my wort chiller. Once the chiller goes into the pot to chill the wort, I use my funnel to dump star san into my carboy, pop the bung in, and plug the whole with my finger while I shake it to sanitize the inside of the carboy. I shake it a minimum of two times, with about 10 shakes each time. I'll let the star san sit in the carboy for about 5-10 minutes. I then dump the star san out into my bucket and cover the funnel, my air lock, bung, and a fine mesh strainer. Once the wort is cool, I'll remove the funnel and strainer from my bucket, put the funnel into the carboy and pour the wort out of my pot through my ball valve and into my strainer to catch all of the hop residue and aerate my wort. Once the beer is in the carboy, I add yeast, pop the bung into the carboy, sanitize my hand, and plug the whole of the bung while I shake the carboy (this is one thing I plan to change for the future, but I've made about 8 or so batches using this method with no issues). Once I'm done shaking for 3-5 minutes, I pop the airlock on and cover the carboy with a towel until fermentation is done.
Two questions...
What type of infection tastes sour but doesn't show any visible signs of infection? This isn't he first time I've had an infection like this, but it's the first time I suspect it to be persistent.
And what do you think is causing my infections? What equipment do I need to replace/what processes do I need to change?
Thanks, as always, for your awesome advice and help!