I have made 30 5 gallon batches of different made up recipes. I started out all right and enjoyed my brews. Then, the last 5 batches keep turning out sour. I can’t stand the taste so I have been dumping them out and trying again. Also, they were over carbonated despite using the calculator. Is it the temperature that I am storing at that is making the sourness? The sour batches were when I was fermenting during the summer months and I do not have A/C. The basement was about 74 F. I have not made a batch since August because I got fed up with the screwups. I would like to conquer this though.
Sour … what do I keep doing wrong?
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You have a colony of wild yeast and/or bacteria that keeps reinfecting your beer. Both can potentially produce organic acids, and both can typically process carbohydrates that brewer’s yeast cannot, so your sourness and overcarbonation are very likely being caused by the same thing.
You will eventually fix this with improvements in your cleaning and sanitation procedures. (It will be helpful to post your procedures for feedback.) Remember that cleaning involves removing soil and sanitation involves reducing microorganism populations, and that both are crucial: a dirty surface cannot be effectively sanitized.
You will eventually fix this with improvements in your cleaning and sanitation procedures. (It will be helpful to post your procedures for feedback.) Remember that cleaning involves removing soil and sanitation involves reducing microorganism populations, and that both are crucial: a dirty surface cannot be effectively sanitized.
- Have all the batches used the same fermenter? If it’s a plastic fermenter, consider throwing it out and getting another. (Or putting it aside and using it only for intentionally sour beers.)
- Also consider replacing other plastic parts — tubing, siphon, bottling wand — that come in contact with beer.
- Any ball valves you use (kettle or fermenter) should be disassembled, cleaned, and sanitized. If they are metal, you might be able to get away with boiling them.
fluketamer
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yeah you got an infection . it could be acetobacter. they make vinegar and i think i read they overcarbonate beer and can lead to bottle bombs.
throw anything out thats not expensive and replace . if stainless/glass, clean with diluted bleach and rinse it - like you are trying to decon Meryl Streap in Silkwood. - sorry .
throw anything out thats not expensive and replace . if stainless/glass, clean with diluted bleach and rinse it - like you are trying to decon Meryl Streap in Silkwood. - sorry .
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Have you already dumped it? If not, take a SG reading and compare it to your FG. You should let it go flat before you do so. Bubbles on the hydrometer really will mess up the reading.
When I had a infected beer, the SG went down to about 1.000. And the bottles were like small seething volcanoes of foam when opened.
I had previously done a sour beer with the same bottles and equipment. So I used chlorine bleach with everything on the next brew day. I let everything that was going to be used after flameout soak in a strong mix of bleach for two hours. Then rinsed it off well and then went right into my normal sanitizing methods with a no rinse sanitizer. Bottling day, I did the same for my bottles and everything else used.
If you have spigots or ball valves, you need to disassemble them to clean. Or if they are the cheap plastic ones, just toss them and put in new.
When I had a infected beer, the SG went down to about 1.000. And the bottles were like small seething volcanoes of foam when opened.
I had previously done a sour beer with the same bottles and equipment. So I used chlorine bleach with everything on the next brew day. I let everything that was going to be used after flameout soak in a strong mix of bleach for two hours. Then rinsed it off well and then went right into my normal sanitizing methods with a no rinse sanitizer. Bottling day, I did the same for my bottles and everything else used.
If you have spigots or ball valves, you need to disassemble them to clean. Or if they are the cheap plastic ones, just toss them and put in new.
Thank you for that detailed information! Okay, I think I can figure out my culprit. The plastic tubing that I have is about 6 years old and ut is, indeed, looking rough. I use glass for fermentation and potassium metabisulphite for sanitation. I sanitise diligently both before use and after use (cleaning up post brew). But, I can see how my well weathered tubing would harbour bacteria in the minute scratches, links, what have you that may be inside the tubing. I’ll up my game on the sanitation. Thank you very much for taking the time to help me.
Sounds good! Yes, it’s the scratches that make plastics prone to sheltering unwanted bugs. I’d definitely replace the plastics, as they’re probably cheap and it’s not worth risking even one more infected batch.
Metabisulphite should be fine for sanitation, but as far as I know it is not a cleaner at all. The concern is that if you have deposits (dried krausen, other organics, minerals, whatever) on your glass, those will also keep your sanitiser from killing the bugs like it should. Are you doing a thorough cleaning before sanitising? A good carboy brush might work, though I’d probably recommend a long soak in a brewing cleaner (like PBW) as better.
Get yourself into a good, paranoid frame of mind and try to think of every surface that the beer touches from the time it’s cooled in the kettle until it’s sealed in the bottle (or keg.)
Metabisulphite should be fine for sanitation, but as far as I know it is not a cleaner at all. The concern is that if you have deposits (dried krausen, other organics, minerals, whatever) on your glass, those will also keep your sanitiser from killing the bugs like it should. Are you doing a thorough cleaning before sanitising? A good carboy brush might work, though I’d probably recommend a long soak in a brewing cleaner (like PBW) as better.
Get yourself into a good, paranoid frame of mind and try to think of every surface that the beer touches from the time it’s cooled in the kettle until it’s sealed in the bottle (or keg.)
Don't use potassium metabisulfite as a cleaner. It works well as a wine stabilizer; it was never meant to be a cleaner. That could very well be what allowed the infection to start on the first place. Use StarSan or Iodiphor, or some equivalent. Using K-Meta to sanitize is like using hand soap to kill a mold infestation.
I definitely will. I will also buy a new type of sanitiser such as Starsan (I think I’ve seen it written on this forum). I now have a renewed interest to start again on the beer making. I was enjoying it so much but then got fed up with the botched batches. My paranoid hat will be firmly on my noggin. I thought that I was being so careful, but it just goes to show!
I am very appreciative of your help. Thank you!
Look around your area to see if something changed. I was having beers that would start out carbed fine, then gradually get more and more over-carbed. It turns out that a neighbor in this farming community just started putting up a huge pile of silage and that was the breeding ground for a wild yeast that became prevalent in the air. Once that silage pile was gone, I went back to making beer that carbonates like it should.
Okay, thank you for the information. That’s two folks now that said that so I have gone out and picked up
StarSan and new tubing. On the bottle of potassium metabisulphite it says to sanitise use 1 tablespoon per litre of water. It’s not working for me though, so StarSan it is! Thanks.
Wow! Thats wild and so interesting. I live by a conservation area but not a farm. Pretty interesting!
I think new tubing and StarSan may do it, but … you still haven’t told us about your cleaning (as opposed to sanitising) process. Cleaning matters too!
Yes, I do diligently clean the work surfaces and devices with soap and water and rinse thoroughly. I do not set anything down once I’ve sanitised it. If I check the cooling temperature, for example, I re-clean and sanitise the thermometer. I am pretty careful about that. I never had a problem for my first 25 five gallon batches. It was a new thing for the past five batches, so I really think that the suggestion of new tubing (and StarSan) is going to fix the error of my ways. My tubing was getting cloudy with use (but always thoroughly cleaned and then sanitised before being air dried and stored). My learning curve continues. Thank you.
My original recipe that I based my batches on says to clean with soap and water and then sanitise. I will look for the alkaline brewers wash instead. I have never heard of it. Good information. Thanks, again.
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