Bad after taste

[togodoug]

No problem pouring wort from brewpot to fermentor, that is good for the yeast.

It sounds like fermentation temperatures are your issue, which is possible to fix without chemicals.

Is there somewhere nearby that sells Safale/Nottingham yeasts? Those are far superior to Munton yeasts.

thanks again. But as to the pouring, I now airating is good, but I've read it can caouse souring if its done befre the wort cools to below 80 degrees. Not True?
I can get Nottingham ale yeast. Thanks.
If my problem is bacteria and I have a scratch in my fermenter, am I just screwed, need a new fermenter?

 

[togodoug]

I'm not sure I understand what you're saying. Sanitation comes into play every step of the game after the boil: the cooling of the beer, cleanliness and chemical sanitation of the primary fermentor, pitching of yeast, racking the beer at various stages, bottling, etc. One-step is not a sanitizer, it's a cleaner. Wild yeast and bacteria are growing in the beer you make if you don't use a sanitizer like iodophor/starsan. Infected beer has off flavors like "sourness" and "harshness." There may be some variation in your bottles, but if you have an infected batch in the fermentor, every cubic centimeter of beer is going to have infections microbes floating in it, and thus every bottle will be "infected." Your observation that the beer tastes better at bottling than it does after 2 weeks in the bottle also points to infection. The slow, cumulative effects of an infection can take a little while to reach the threshold of your taste buds once the major activity of your intended (pitched) yeast strain tapers off. Make a batch and sanitize everything besides the boil kettle with iodophor and see if that doesn't fix your problem... this isn't bad luck or evil magic -- something is wrong with your process and you need to assess it.

Lets assume sanitation is my issue and I have scratches inside my fermenter collecting bacteria. What to do?

 

[jollytim]

Your problem may indeed be sanitation, but don't be so quick to throw One-Step under the bus. Contrary to advice given in this thread it IS a sanitizer. It's not labelled as such due to governmental red tape, but it absolutely is a sanitizer.

That being said, nothing wrong with StarSan (my preferred sanitizer), Iodaphor, or even bleach. I've used them all, and along with One-Step would recommend them all.

If you've got scratches (and not just scuffs), you have basically two options.
1. A long soak in the sanitizer of your choice, then hope for the best.
2. Throw it away, or use it as your sanitizer bucket and get a new fermenter.

I also wouldn't overlook water. Though you've stated that you use filtered, or store bought wate, this probably isn't he culprit. Just be aware that Ph isn't the only factor in water to look out for. There is chlorine, chloromine, and alkalinity. I have very alkaline water here, and until I went with bottled water.... all my beer was very bitter. Not hop bitter, but bitter. When I lived on the East Coast, the tap water made wonderful beer.

Also, as has been stated already, freshness of ingredients can cause problems. Or should I say LACK of freshness. Try to get the freshest possible and store accordingly.

Temp control during early fermentation is critical... already covered though.

Looks like the key elements have been covered. Don't worry about he souring because you aerated at or above 80. There is such a thing as hot side aeration, that causes problems, but it's all but negligible for the home brewer. 80 is not he magic threshold. The cooler the better, but you have quite a bit of wiggle room there. I wouldn't even worry about that.

Good luck.

 

[togodoug]

Your problem may indeed be sanitation, but don't be so quick to throw One-Step under the bus. Contrary to advice given in this thread it IS a sanitizer. It's not labelled as such due to governmental red tape, but it absolutely is a sanitizer.

That being said, nothing wrong with StarSan (my preferred sanitizer), Iodaphor, or even bleach. I've used them all, and along with One-Step would recommend them all.

If you've got scratches (and not just scuffs), you have basically two options.
1. A long soak in the sanitizer of your choice, then hope for the best.
2. Throw it away, or use it as your sanitizer bucket and get a new fermenter.

I also wouldn't overlook water. Though you've stated that you use filtered, or store bought wate, this probably isn't he culprit. Just be aware that Ph isn't the only factor in water to look out for. There is chlorine, chloromine, and alkalinity. I have very alkaline water here, and until I went with bottled water.... all my beer was very bitter. Not hop bitter, but bitter. When I lived on the East Coast, the tap water made wonderful beer.

Also, as has been stated already, freshness of ingredients can cause problems. Or should I say LACK of freshness. Try to get the freshest possible and store accordingly.

Temp control during early fermentation is critical... already covered though.

Looks like the key elements have been covered. Don't worry about he souring because you aerated at or above 80. There is such a thing as hot side aeration, that causes problems, but it's all but negligible for the home brewer. 80 is not he magic threshold. The cooler the better, but you have quite a bit of wiggle room there. I wouldn't even worry about that.

Good luck.

thanks

 

[togodoug]

No problem pouring wort from brewpot to fermentor, that is good for the yeast.

It sounds like fermentation temperatures are your issue, which is possible to fix without chemicals.

Is there somewhere nearby that sells Safale/Nottingham yeasts? Those are far superior to Munton yeasts.

Any thoughts on Cooper's Ale yeast?
Nottingham seem to come in 11 gm pouch and I think I should be using about 6 gm. It also makes the rehydration process seem complicated and easy to mess up.