Diacetyl problem - getting discouraged

jesse3474 · May 15, 2014

I found anytime I put in a keg and lose my hoppy taste I'll add 1 oz of whole hops in a hop bag with some dental floss tied to bag and it's small enough to seal the gasket on a corny keg, I buy hops from the local brew store and have had 2 ounces of magnum that did nothing while one ounce of summit completely destroyed my IPA, you never know the freshness of home brew shop hops, I've had one pound of Saaz 6.5% in freezer for a year that will out produce hop flavor of any high alpha hop, gotta love home brewing-alcohol-good friends-and unexplainable mysteries that will haunt or amaze us

Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

WDT · Jun 2, 2014

At my wits end here. New regulator and lines, problem persists.

Soak fermenters/kegs in pbw, rinse with water and then rinse with starsan right before filling.

Left a 1.045 beer on the yeast for 3 weeks and raised temps to 68 as fermentation was finishing (S05 yeast).

I do not use a secondary vessel.

I don't taste diacetyl when I keg it or as its carbonating. It happens about a week after its carbonated. I got my tank filled at a fire extinguisher place. Like several of my other homebrew buddies.

Help.... I'm desperate now.

DSorenson · Jun 2, 2014

Try bottling a batch and see what happens

Upthewazzu · Jun 2, 2014

jesse3474 said:
I found anytime I put in a keg and lose my hoppy taste I'll add 1 oz of whole hops in a hop bag with some dental floss tied to bag and it's small enough to seal the gasket on a corny keg, I buy hops from the local brew store and have had 2 ounces of magnum that did nothing while one ounce of summit completely destroyed my IPA, you never know the freshness of home brew shop hops, I've had one pound of Saaz 6.5% in freezer for a year that will out produce hop flavor of any high alpha hop, gotta love home brewing-alcohol-good friends-and unexplainable mysteries that will haunt or amaze us

Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

Well Magnum is pretty much a bittering only hop, and Summit has a HUGE alpha so that explains those two.

AerationStation · Jun 2, 2014

WDT said:
At my wits end here. New regulator and lines, problem persists.

Soak fermenters/kegs in pbw, rinse with water and then rinse with starsan right before filling.

Left a 1.045 beer on the yeast for 3 weeks and raised temps to 68 as fermentation was finishing (S05 yeast).

I do not use a secondary vessel.

I don't taste diacetyl when I keg it or as its carbonating. It happens about a week after its carbonated. I got my tank filled at a fire extinguisher place. Like several of my other homebrew buddies.

Help.... I'm desperate now.

Sounds like some pedio in the lines, I would swap those if you could. Other things to check are the QD's and maybe the regulator (if you've ever blown beer back in to the regulator that might be where the flavor is coming from)

beersk · Jul 30, 2014

AerationStation said:
Sounds like some pedio in the lines, I would swap those if you could. Other things to check are the QD's and maybe the regulator (if you've ever blown beer back in to the regulator that might be where the flavor is coming from)

He has replaced all that stuff, but didn't say he replaced the quick disconnects. Did you check the disconnects, OP? I took mine apart when I had this issue and noticed some green mold in there.

Otherwise, if this isn't happening until after packaging, it HAS to be something happening somewhere in the transferring process or the keg. Did you try replacing your racking cane and tubing as well? I had an issue recently with an unclean stainless racking cane that didn't cause diacetyl, but caused an off flavor that seemed to develop in the keg. Stopped using it, problem solved.

I hope this doesn't drive you to quit brewing. I know the feeling, believe me! Brewing is such a great hobby and is worth pursuing for life, I think. Even through all the trials and tribulations.

WDT · Jul 30, 2014

Thanks I brought in a consultant (trusted homebrew friend) to ferment something I brewed. Still trying to figure it out though.

I did replace the disconnects though fwiw

strangr419 · Sep 9, 2014

All,
I wanted to update the thread on what I've determined to be the cause of all my problems - lack of CLEANING. I dismantled all my kegs and cleaned the parts with pbw and then starsan.
I had been sanitizing everything like a madman but hadnt been as thorough with the cleaning. I have learned the hard way that killing the bugs that kill your beer is a two step process - cleaning AND sanitizIng everything at every step. I have now employed pbw/cleaning as step one and starsan/sanitizing as step two every step of the way.
I've brewed three beers since incorporating this method and the brews have been phenomenal! I hope this helps someone who is confronting the same issues which were driving me insane.
Good luck and happy brewing!

Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

WDT · Nov 14, 2014

Found the issue HERE.

TL;DR - Crusty ball valve

LLBeanJ · Nov 14, 2014

Great to hear that you finally got to the bottom of the issue.

Diacetyl problem - getting discouraged

Help Support Homebrew Talk:

jesse3474

Active Member

WDT

Well-Known Member

DSorenson

Well-Known Member

Upthewazzu

Well-Known Member

AerationStation

Well-Known Member

beersk

Well-Known Member

WDT

Well-Known Member

strangr419

Supporting Member

WDT

Well-Known Member

LLBeanJ

Well-Known Member

Similar threads

Latest posts