Colbizle
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Dec 10, 2013
- Messages
- 332
- Reaction score
- 47
PLEASE READ!
For the past 3-4 months I have been experiencing the exact same issue this thread starter was having over in the BN forums.
All my beer regardless of the style, hop amounts (e.g. 6oz boil, 4-5 oz dry hop for 5gallon batch), yeast types, water chemistry ect, ect, came out incredibly bland tasting, stale, and lifeless. Like carbonated beer flavored water. Practically Zero malt character, hop aroma or flavor. Just tasted muddled and dirty.
This issue has started for me around April/May since that is the last time I brewed good beer and around the same time I brewed a beer that got a medal in a local competition.
I never once thought of infection because none of the beers exhibited classic infected symptoms. They never tasted tart, sour, or funk. I always hit my final gravity in relation to my mash temps and had strong fermentations and near perfect attenuation. The only other outlier was that I noticed my final beer PH taken from the fermentors were always pretty low, around 3.8 to 4.1. (I know yeast can have the biggest influence on final beer ph.) I've always been super anal about sanitation as well and never had an infected batch so I looked at other controllable fixes like recipe formulation and water chemistry ect..
After doing everything I possibly can from water chemistry and ph to trying different waters (RO vs Tap with filter and campden) and literally losing my mind and my soul, I came to the conclusion that I must have a contaminant of some kind.
So last Thursday (sept 3rd) I decided to see if I can pinpoint/recreate this issue by capturing this contaminant. I whipped up some DME with boiled distilled water and then sterilized 5 half-pint glass ball jars in boiling water for 15 minutes on the stove. Then I put the opened jars around some areas.. One jar near the sink where I immersion cool my wort, one in the fermentation chamber, one got aerated with an aeration stone (which was boiled the other day but not sanitized or sterilized today), one is on the stir plate with tin foil covering it, and the last one is the control that got a lid on it right away to avoid contamination. I let them sit out (except the control and aeration stone) for exactly 2 hours and then I recorded the brix and PH of each one. Then I capped and screwed them on with the jar lids.
Control:
PH: 5.95
Brix: 11
Taste/Aroma: tasted and smelled like DME
Near Washer:
PH: 5.96
Brix: 11
Taste/Aroma: tasted and smelled like DME
Aeration stone:
PH: 5.96
Brix: 11
Taste/Aroma: tasted and smelled like DME
Fermentation Chamber:
PH: 5.96
Brix: 11
Taste/Aroma: tasted and smelled like DME
Stir Plate with Tin foil:
PH: 5.96
Brix: 11
Taste/Aroma: tasted and smelled like DME
This morning (sept. 6th) I checked each one.
Control:
PH: 3.64
Brix: 11 (no change)
Taste/Aroma: smelled a little tart, stale bland aroma (very similar to my problem batches), no DME aroma, did not taste.
Near Washer:
PH: 3.64
Brix: 11 (no change)
Taste/Aroma: same as control ^
Aeration stone:
PH: 3.96
Brix: 10 (dropped a whole 1 Brix)
Taste/Aroma: smelled terrible, moldy sour cheesy, sour, tart. Defiantly infected. Did not taste.
Fermentation Chamber:
PH: 4.66
Brix: 9.6 (dropped 1.4 Brix)
Taste/Aroma: similar to aeration stone but way more apparent moldy sour cheese, musky. Sour. Did not taste. Def infected.
24hour Stir Plate with Tin foil:
PH: 3.60
Brix: 11 (no change)
Taste/Aroma: smelled kinda tart, a bit dme aroma, oxizided (which expected). Tasted a couple drops on the tongue. Slightly tart, slight dme taste, not funky, tasted like a finished starter with out yeast character.
So in conclusion:
-------------------
The control, near washer, and stir plate all had the ph drop below 4. BUT zero change in Brix! I don't know how the control got contaminated, I must have messed something up there but don't know what, I thought I closed it right away. Anyways the ph, tastes and smells are exactly my current issues.
The fermentation chamber and aeration stone both had higher finishing ph 4.66 and 3.96 respectively. They ALSO had a Brix change 1.4 and 1 Brix respectively. They also exhibited complete signs of infection given the ph, aromas and gravity change they are least likely correlate with the issues of my problem batches and here's why. 1.) The aeration stone was not sanitized or sterilized and I do that before aerating a batch. 2.) my fermenting beers get a airlock and are not exposed to the open air of the fridge.
WOW!!, I'm so happy (I'm not crazy! lol) that I was able to capture some great results! but at the same time super confused and little scared on what to do. So the control, near washer, and stir plate all are reflecting my exact problem with all my recent problem batches and is definitely what is contaminating my batches. Low ph but no brix/gravity change, dull flavors and aromas. What kind of airborne containment can cause this?!
As for the other stuff, I'll be throwing away my aeration stone and buying a New fridge for fermentation.
Please help!!!
For the past 3-4 months I have been experiencing the exact same issue this thread starter was having over in the BN forums.
All my beer regardless of the style, hop amounts (e.g. 6oz boil, 4-5 oz dry hop for 5gallon batch), yeast types, water chemistry ect, ect, came out incredibly bland tasting, stale, and lifeless. Like carbonated beer flavored water. Practically Zero malt character, hop aroma or flavor. Just tasted muddled and dirty.
This issue has started for me around April/May since that is the last time I brewed good beer and around the same time I brewed a beer that got a medal in a local competition.
I never once thought of infection because none of the beers exhibited classic infected symptoms. They never tasted tart, sour, or funk. I always hit my final gravity in relation to my mash temps and had strong fermentations and near perfect attenuation. The only other outlier was that I noticed my final beer PH taken from the fermentors were always pretty low, around 3.8 to 4.1. (I know yeast can have the biggest influence on final beer ph.) I've always been super anal about sanitation as well and never had an infected batch so I looked at other controllable fixes like recipe formulation and water chemistry ect..
After doing everything I possibly can from water chemistry and ph to trying different waters (RO vs Tap with filter and campden) and literally losing my mind and my soul, I came to the conclusion that I must have a contaminant of some kind.
So last Thursday (sept 3rd) I decided to see if I can pinpoint/recreate this issue by capturing this contaminant. I whipped up some DME with boiled distilled water and then sterilized 5 half-pint glass ball jars in boiling water for 15 minutes on the stove. Then I put the opened jars around some areas.. One jar near the sink where I immersion cool my wort, one in the fermentation chamber, one got aerated with an aeration stone (which was boiled the other day but not sanitized or sterilized today), one is on the stir plate with tin foil covering it, and the last one is the control that got a lid on it right away to avoid contamination. I let them sit out (except the control and aeration stone) for exactly 2 hours and then I recorded the brix and PH of each one. Then I capped and screwed them on with the jar lids.
Control:
PH: 5.95
Brix: 11
Taste/Aroma: tasted and smelled like DME
Near Washer:
PH: 5.96
Brix: 11
Taste/Aroma: tasted and smelled like DME
Aeration stone:
PH: 5.96
Brix: 11
Taste/Aroma: tasted and smelled like DME
Fermentation Chamber:
PH: 5.96
Brix: 11
Taste/Aroma: tasted and smelled like DME
Stir Plate with Tin foil:
PH: 5.96
Brix: 11
Taste/Aroma: tasted and smelled like DME
This morning (sept. 6th) I checked each one.
Control:
PH: 3.64
Brix: 11 (no change)
Taste/Aroma: smelled a little tart, stale bland aroma (very similar to my problem batches), no DME aroma, did not taste.
Near Washer:
PH: 3.64
Brix: 11 (no change)
Taste/Aroma: same as control ^
Aeration stone:
PH: 3.96
Brix: 10 (dropped a whole 1 Brix)
Taste/Aroma: smelled terrible, moldy sour cheesy, sour, tart. Defiantly infected. Did not taste.
Fermentation Chamber:
PH: 4.66
Brix: 9.6 (dropped 1.4 Brix)
Taste/Aroma: similar to aeration stone but way more apparent moldy sour cheese, musky. Sour. Did not taste. Def infected.
24hour Stir Plate with Tin foil:
PH: 3.60
Brix: 11 (no change)
Taste/Aroma: smelled kinda tart, a bit dme aroma, oxizided (which expected). Tasted a couple drops on the tongue. Slightly tart, slight dme taste, not funky, tasted like a finished starter with out yeast character.
So in conclusion:
-------------------
The control, near washer, and stir plate all had the ph drop below 4. BUT zero change in Brix! I don't know how the control got contaminated, I must have messed something up there but don't know what, I thought I closed it right away. Anyways the ph, tastes and smells are exactly my current issues.
The fermentation chamber and aeration stone both had higher finishing ph 4.66 and 3.96 respectively. They ALSO had a Brix change 1.4 and 1 Brix respectively. They also exhibited complete signs of infection given the ph, aromas and gravity change they are least likely correlate with the issues of my problem batches and here's why. 1.) The aeration stone was not sanitized or sterilized and I do that before aerating a batch. 2.) my fermenting beers get a airlock and are not exposed to the open air of the fridge.
WOW!!, I'm so happy (I'm not crazy! lol) that I was able to capture some great results! but at the same time super confused and little scared on what to do. So the control, near washer, and stir plate all are reflecting my exact problem with all my recent problem batches and is definitely what is contaminating my batches. Low ph but no brix/gravity change, dull flavors and aromas. What kind of airborne containment can cause this?!
As for the other stuff, I'll be throwing away my aeration stone and buying a New fridge for fermentation.
Please help!!!