Can humid air infect beer as you transfer it?

[joeyjojojr]

My beers are always sour and I have eliminated anything i have done in my methods. I have bleached everything and still they turn sour.

In a carboy at 20c beer has turned sour.

Could it be the 95% humidity, 35c (95c) air that is infecting it as I coil cool the beer?

 

[myndflyte]

What are you using? Extract, all grain? Did you mill grain yourself? What are your procedures during a typical brew day?

 

[joeyjojojr]

I am using all grain.

I sometimes buy them precrushed but last time I blended them lightly.
After sanitizing with bleach, everything 20 mins, 1tbsp per gallon.
I do the mash for an hour at 66 in a cooler I also sanitized.
Boil and cool with cooler and pour into fermenter.
Left it for 2 weeks after it went completely dry with belle saision yeast.
Tasted it, seemed ok but not tasty.
Tried it after 3 weeks in bottle, soury. Fair amount of yeast cake in bottom of bottles, maybe quarter inch.
Smelled washed yeast, also soury. This was a first time use on the yeast.
Seems maybe the tubes infected it except I bleached them as well.

 

[Saboral]

It's the bleach switch to Starsan or some other sanitizer. When I started I used bleach and I could never get rid of the awful chlorine/sour flavor. Switched to Starsan and beer has been great since.

 

[joeyjojojr]

But I have only used bleach this last time. All the other times it was k meta and they all had this problem,

 

[Saboral]

What kind of yeast and how are you preparing it before pitching?

 

[ram5ey]

Go with Star San. It's no rinse so that helps...also make sure everything is clean as you can't sanitize dirty equipment.

 

[Saboral]

Also another thought, what condition is your fermenting bucket/carboy in? Are they plastic? Is the interior surface roughened or scratched up?

 

[govner1]

It's the bleach switch to Starsan or some other sanitizer. When I started I used bleach and I could never get rid of the awful chlorine/sour flavor. Switched to Starsan and beer has been great since.

^^^^This! Do a thorough cleansing w/ B-Brite or similar in hot water then rinse thoroughly. Sanitize w/ StarSan. Empty container(s) but do not rinse. You should sanitize everything that comes in contact w/ your wort.


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[IslandLizard]

+1 ^ +1 ^ +1 ^ +1 ^

Anything that touches your chilled wort or beer needs to be sanitized.

Please switch to Starsan. It's a no-rinse sanitizer.

Items need to be clean before you can sanitize them.
Good cleaners are, in order of preference, PBW, Oxiclean free (or dollar-store off brand), and washing soda.
Use brushes, sponges, soft scrubbies or clean rags to clean your equipment. Don't scratch it.
Replace your tubing when in doubt. Although you can clean it, it may not be worth the risk.

Rinse all the cleaner off and soak in Starsan for at least 30 seconds, 1 minute preferred. Longer won't harm, though some metals may start to dissolve or discolor. You can keep the Starsan working solution for a long, long time, as long as it stays well acidic, pH 2.5-3.0. Put some in a spray bottle too. Very handy.

So check and recheck all the steps you do carefully and find out where you're overlooking something.

Also, don't mill grain where you ferment.

 

[LuckyBeagleBrewing]

Crazy question. Are you using a water softener? Have you had your water tested? I used to have similar problems but now that I am using absolute clean water and controlling PH it has been good.

 

[flars]

I am using all grain.

I sometimes buy them precrushed but last time I blended them lightly.
After sanitizing with bleach, everything 20 mins, 1tbsp per gallon.
I do the mash for an hour at 66 in a cooler I also sanitized.
Boil and cool with cooler and pour into fermenter.
Left it for 2 weeks after it went completely dry with belle saision yeast.
Tasted it, seemed ok but not tasty.
Tried it after 3 weeks in bottle, soury. Fair amount of yeast cake in bottom of bottles, maybe quarter inch.
Smelled washed yeast, also soury. This was a first time use on the yeast.
Seems maybe the tubes infected it except I bleached them as well.

What kind of fermentor do you use?
What are you using to cool the wort? If it is a plate chiller, has the inside been cleaned immediately after each use? If it is an immersion chiller, do you put it in the boil kettle for at least 15 minutes to sanitize it?

 

[joeyjojojr]

Hmmmm. I use water filtered through a 3M tap. Goes through packed cotton and then through charcoal and silver ion filter. Would that make a problem do you think?

I use an immersion chiller. I wash it before use and also I spray with 95% ethanol, let dry, then put it in the pot for 10 minutes or so of boil time.

 

[Gameface]

You spray your chiller with 95% ethanol?

Has every batch you've ever made been sour?

Let's work out some more details.

What do you ferment in?

How do you transfer from boil kettle to fermenter?

What are some examples of recipes, especially yeast and hops?

What chemicals do you typically use to clean?

Do you do anything to treat your water?

Do you control fermentation temps?

What are your typical fermentation temps?

When do you first notice the sour flavor?

Is the sourness just not what you're looking for or is it basically undrinkable?

Describe a typical brew day from start to finish.

We can help, I promise.

 

[rocketsan]

What's with the ethanol spray? If you are following proper cleaning and sanitizing, that's an unnecessary step...could be giving you off flavours even with evaporation...


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[Saboral]

I doubt your using a 95% ethanol solution, did you mean rubbing alcohol? If so its really isopropyl and it could definitely leave off flavors. If it doesn't fully evaporate prior to hitting the wort.


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[RachmaelBenApplebaum]

Bleach is the culprit, definitely. It can be used for beer making, but just in TINY quantities and everything has to be washed and aired out thoroughly (think days) before use.