Nothing but issues since changing gear.

[TheMadKing]

I am measuring temp based on the temp strip on the fermenter. It peaked at 72ish day two I then dropped it down into 66-68 range and let it rise to 68-70 going on day 11 now. This is well within range for the strain of yeast (WY1318) and in line with past batches.

I really dont know how to describe the taste other than the burning, especially at the end. And the beer is still very murky, greenish. And the top is not clearing at all.

That really sounds like an infection. Are there any strange smells?

 

[marjen]

I popped the top off quick and tried to take a couple pics to see if people think it looks infected. The first one was taken with a flash which is why it looks shinier.

 

[MerlinWerks]

I know it might not make sense since you liked your five gallon batches and I assume your current process is similar, but it sounds to me like you still have a lot of hop particulate floating in the beer. (this is not a comment on the previous pictures, I understand that is in your current fermenter)

I have an NEIPA that I kegged two weeks ago that is still undrinkable because of too much hop material floating in the beer and I use a SS spider in the BK and a Wilserbrewer bag almost big enough to line my Speidel for dry-hopping. From past experience I know it will eventually settle out and be drinkable.

 

[zgja2]

Well I am back and don't have good news. I am honestly at a loss and beyond frustrated at this point.

I have had the beer in the Speidel for 9 days now. With my NE IPAs, when things were going well my time in fermenter ranged from 6-10 days. Usually out in 6-7. Sampling out of the fermenter always resulted in a fruity smelling good tasting beer (considering it was flat and warm). I just tried a sample out of the fermenter and it tastes gross AGAIN!! WTF.

This was a 5 gallon batch of a recipe I made before. I can't even describe the taste. It just hits your mouth and tastes terrible when you spit it out, there is a burning feeling in my mouth and it honestly makes you want to hurl.

I do not see any issues with my process. My mash temp was a little higher than I'd like but at 156 is very acceptable. My fermentation temps were in the upper 60s as usual. One thing I have noticed with all these bad tasting beers is the top of the beer is not clearing in the fermenter. Prior the top would always just look like beer. Now it just looks like it does during fermentation. Though only a thin (maybe 1/4) layer. Its just not clearing.

At this point I am going to leave it in the fermenter for a couple more days, see if anything changes. I have now wasted a ton of $$$ on ingredients and have not been able to produce a drinkable beer in about 6 weeks. 2 10 gallon batches and now this 5 gallon batch all bad. I have another one in the fermenter as we speak, it looks like its going good but I guess I can expect that one to suck as well. I just can't seem to right the ship here and I have not a clue as to why. My cleaning methods are solid, process is same as before. Just no idea what is happening.

At 6 days you had a ton of yeast still in suspension. This is giving you the hot sensation. It is like a hot pepper burn. I have experienced this in several beers that have too much yeast in suspension. Dry hop it, crash it on day 14, and package. 6-10 days is too quick for 1318 IME.

 

[marjen]

At 6 days you had a ton of yeast still in suspension. This is giving you the hot sensation. It is like a hot pepper burn. I have experienced this in several beers that have too much yeast in suspension. Dry hop it, crash it on day 14, and package. 6-10 days is too quick for 1318 IME.

I am wondering if this is correct. It is a bit like a pepper burn i guess. Today is day 13 and it seemed much better. I think I am going to leave it in there to tomorrow, move it to a keg, cold crash it then move to another keg and carb.

Strange question then, could this either A) be because of a different fermenter or B) because I hosed my starter?

I have had this issue all 4 times I have filled my two new Speidel Fermenters. Could they somehow be causing the process to slow as compared to my previous carboys? They have a ton more headspace compared to the carboys, could that slow things down drastically? Also strange I have another batch currently in a new Fermentasaurus fermenter. It is only day 6 and it is all cleared ups on top and the trub is tightly packed at the bottom. It looks like my previous batches I did in the carboys after day 6-7. Meanwhile on day 13 still lots of stuff on the surface in the speidel.

Another question if I transfer this to a keg, crash and transfer to another keg, will it just bring along any crap with it anyway?

I have an NEIPA that I kegged two weeks ago that is still undrinkable because of too much hop material floating in the beer and I use a SS spider in the BK and a Wilserbrewer bag almost big enough to line my Speidel for dry-hopping. From past experience I know it will eventually settle out and be drinkable.

This is a possibility too. Whether yeast of hops something is sticking around. My prior experience though with WY1318 was it moved quickly and cleaned up quickly. I had moved 5-7 straight batches into keg between 6-10 days and all of those prior batches tasted very good to great. So not sure why it would slow down now? Again wondering if the change from carboy to Speidel is somehow responsible.

 

[JJ900]

Interesting theory about the speidel. Definitely sounds like it's just not done and giving it time will fix it. But my recent NEIPA that wasn't completely finished when I bottled it was done in a speidel whereas it's brethren I was basing my timing off of had been carboys. A day or two after bottling the yeast settled and it turned out well.

 

[zgja2]

I am wondering if this is correct. It is a bit like a pepper burn i guess. Today is day 13 and it seemed much better. I think I am going to leave it in there to tomorrow, move it to a keg, cold crash it then move to another keg and carb.

Strange question then, could this either A) be because of a different fermenter or B) because I hosed my starter?

I have had this issue all 4 times I have filled my two new Speidel Fermenters. Could they somehow be causing the process to slow as compared to my previous carboys? They have a ton more headspace compared to the carboys, could that slow things down drastically? Also strange I have another batch currently in a new Fermentasaurus fermenter. It is only day 6 and it is all cleared ups on top and the trub is tightly packed at the bottom. It looks like my previous batches I did in the carboys after day 6-7. Meanwhile on day 13 still lots of stuff on the surface in the speidel.

Another question if I transfer this to a keg, crash and transfer to another keg, will it just bring along any crap with it anyway?




This is a possibility too. Whether yeast of hops something is sticking around. My prior experience though with WY1318 was it moved quickly and cleaned up quickly. I had moved 5-7 straight batches into keg between 6-10 days and all of those prior batches tasted very good to great. So not sure why it would slow down now? Again wondering if the change from carboy to Speidel is somehow responsible.

do you have the ability to crash in you fermentor?

 

[marjen]

do you have the ability to crash in you fermentor?

Unfortunately no. I did move it into a keg and put it in the keezer last night. Today I will transfer to another keg, figure it can't hurt, then carb it up.

The good news is my next batch is looking good. It is not in a Speidel, so still thinking somehow its related to the Speidels which makes no sense, but it would rule out any issues with the hot side new gear.

 

[VagueSkunk]

Dang, that's weird as hell. Can't say that I've heard of off flavors being caused by a particular fermenter. Not saying it's not possible...just that I've never heard of it.

 

[Moose_MI]

I don't have any answers but I made a major move in equipment in early December and am just now getting back to making the mediocre/good beer I was 7 months ago. I'm really excited about my new capacity but it has been frustrating getting it dialed in

Hang in there.....

 

[marjen]

So its been a loooooong time since I last posted in this thread but figured it was time for an update.

It took a long while but I finally got to the heart of the problem and have rectified the issue and have now made 4 straight very good batches of beer and the 5th seems well on its way.

So the rest of last summer into the fall did not go much better. I got a couple decent batches but most still had the same issue. I finally kind of gave up in mid November. I took a few months off and finally got the itch again in February to start over. During that time I purchased a glycol chiller.

Bottom line the issue I was having was the hops were not dropping out of suspension in all the bad batches. With no ability to cold crash I was moving all the junk over into the keg and therefore it never really cleared all out. I think that even though it should have, it all collected at the bottom of the keg and got pulled into pints and not realizing at the time what was happening I would eventually dump the keg. In hindsight if I had poured though several pints I might have ended up with some decent beer, but I didn't know at the time.

Once I started using the chiller this year and could see a beer go form a murky green mess and turn into an excellent beer after crashing for a couple days and seeing all the hop matter come out when I dumped my unitank it all made sense. Additionally I added a clear beer draught system to my kegs so even if some makes it into the keg I won't be sucking it up.

So for me some better equipment, unitank, chiller and clear beer draught have really gone a LONG way to helping me put out consistently good NE IPAs. Other ways to get there of course, but I am just glad I understand what the issue was and now have a way to deal with it and making beer is fun again. Thanks to everyone who tried to help.

 

[str1p3s]

Just read your whole saga. Glad you're back to making stuff you like! One question though, and maybe I missed it, but how was this not a problem before your new equipment?

 

[marjen]

Thats a good question, luck I guess. Also I did have a LOT of explosions in my carboy fermenters due to the nature of WY1318 so maybe a lot of the hop matter was ending up on my walls, floors, ceiling etc and therefore was not as much left to cause an issue in those batches. That was one of the reasons I started trying new fermenters, to get more headspace.

 

[kh54s10]

Glad you found your issue. It sounds like you are back on track.

I'm also glad that your new fermenters have more headspace and you don't have to clean the ceiling.
Did these "explosions" happen more than once? Did you not use a blow off tube.

I have yet to try a NEIPA since I have only tried a few commercial ones and didn't like any of them. I will have to remember your hop problems if I ever make one.

 

[marjen]

Yeah they happened more than once. 3-4 times. After the first couple I tried a blow off tube but that got all jammed up and still ended up oozing all over the place. By that point I was placing the fermenter in a 20 gallon tote and covering it with a towel to minimize the cleanup effort, lol. Not a fun time. Headspace is key with certain yeasts.