Judochop
Well-Known Member
So, I have this friend who is making bad beer. Seriously
I really do. We brew together, and we split the wort, at which point we ferment at our respective homes with our respective yeast starters and do our own packaging/serving. Come tasting time, my beers are clean and as delicious as the recipe allows, while his, lets say 3 out of 4 times, are bad.
By bad, there is a signature nail polish remover aroma to start things off. Side by side with mine, his beers taste dead (flat, lifeless). Malt and hop flavors seem beaten down and obscured by a general flabbiness. And finally there is an unpleasant bite in the finish; that all too familiar it tastes like beer in most ways, but I just dont want another one bite.
The wort is good, so, its something hes doing during fermentation or packaging/serving. We both sanitize with starsan. We both do yeast starters on a stir plate, generally according to the recommendations given by MrMaltys yeast calculator. We both oxygenate with a diffusion stone. We both ferment with temp-controlled environments. We both keg, force carb and serve from a keezer fitted with Perlicks.
To complicate matters, he is terribly impatient, refuses to accurately measure his PBW or starsan concentrations, and generally looks to cut corners whenever possible (or not possible, as the case may be).
These are the troubleshooting steps he's already taken:
I made him buy a new O2 diffusion stone, as I didnt trust the old one.
I made him replace his draft lines.
I made him promise to cool his starter wort to room temp before pitching. (Pretty sure he was pitching while the starter was still warm to the touch. 90+?)
So, Im trying to figure out where else the source of the troubles might lie. I dont know if the following are actually happening, or if they would lead to the issues hes experiencing.
His starsan concentration is too strong and hes picking up excess acid in the fermenter/kegs.
Hes over-oxygenating. (How could we know?)
His CO2 is crap quality. (Is this really a concern?)
One or more of his CO2 regulators is harboring some nasty funk. (Is this fixable? Or is replacement necessary?)
His temp controller on his fermentation freezer is busted and hes fermenting too hot.
Does anything jump right out as the most likely culprit? Are there any other things it might be that I havent thought of?
By bad, there is a signature nail polish remover aroma to start things off. Side by side with mine, his beers taste dead (flat, lifeless). Malt and hop flavors seem beaten down and obscured by a general flabbiness. And finally there is an unpleasant bite in the finish; that all too familiar it tastes like beer in most ways, but I just dont want another one bite.
The wort is good, so, its something hes doing during fermentation or packaging/serving. We both sanitize with starsan. We both do yeast starters on a stir plate, generally according to the recommendations given by MrMaltys yeast calculator. We both oxygenate with a diffusion stone. We both ferment with temp-controlled environments. We both keg, force carb and serve from a keezer fitted with Perlicks.
To complicate matters, he is terribly impatient, refuses to accurately measure his PBW or starsan concentrations, and generally looks to cut corners whenever possible (or not possible, as the case may be).
These are the troubleshooting steps he's already taken:
I made him buy a new O2 diffusion stone, as I didnt trust the old one.
I made him replace his draft lines.
I made him promise to cool his starter wort to room temp before pitching. (Pretty sure he was pitching while the starter was still warm to the touch. 90+?)
So, Im trying to figure out where else the source of the troubles might lie. I dont know if the following are actually happening, or if they would lead to the issues hes experiencing.
His starsan concentration is too strong and hes picking up excess acid in the fermenter/kegs.
Hes over-oxygenating. (How could we know?)
His CO2 is crap quality. (Is this really a concern?)
One or more of his CO2 regulators is harboring some nasty funk. (Is this fixable? Or is replacement necessary?)
His temp controller on his fermentation freezer is busted and hes fermenting too hot.
Does anything jump right out as the most likely culprit? Are there any other things it might be that I havent thought of?