Extreme Frustration; What am I doing wrong?!!

[Faub007]

I would try using a glass fermenter. I got the bandaid from my bucket. Went to glass and it never happened. Do you have any scratches on your BB that you can see? If so I'd ditch it.

 

[Rbeckett]

Ya hit all the ideas I would have put forth. I am interested in the final outcome too. One bad batch oh well. two bad and something could be amiss, three and something is definitely going wrong. If it was three different better bottles I would really lean toward infection or chloroaimines. Some folks have a very low taste threshold, so I think the control experiment and RO water is your best bet to discover the root cause of the failure. Please don't forget to keep us updated on your results. I had a dead yeast problem last week and I still have not figured out how I killed them. But my investigation leads me to believe My starter wort was too thick and it shocked them to death... Good Luck!!!

Wheelchair Bob

 

[DanH]

If it was three different better bottles I would really lean toward infection or chloroaimines.

Wheelchair Bob

It's in three of them

I will update for those interested, but I don't know how soon I will brew my next batch.

Thanks to everyone for all advice. It is very much appreciated.

 

[Shooter]

If it's happening in three different fermenters and appears during primary, it sure sounds like a water issue. Do the bad batches happen at certain times of the year? Are they bumping up your chlorine/chloramine levels during the warmer weather? This is common with municipal water sources. I know you're only using tap water in the StarSan and it seems like that wouldn't be enough to come through, but I suppose it's possible. It also sounds like you've tried both distilled and spring water. If it's showing up regardless of the source water, it just doesn't seem like it's related to your brewing water. The fact that it's showing up intermittently also seems like its not the brewing water, assuming you're always using the same brand of course.

 

[casesensative]

I feel your pain man. Ive brewed about 12 batches now and most every batch ive brewed has had a medicinal/astringent/household cleaner type off flavor in it and i havent been able to pinpoint where its coming from AT ALL. I clean everything obsessively, ive gone from plastic to glass. I now have a fermentation chamber for exact temp control. I've upgraded and do yeast starters to avoid underpitching. I just dont know. Ive tried store bought spring water. Pure tap water. And tap water cut with distilled water. Still get the taste. For some reason though i still have a suspicion that it is the water somehow. I just dont know...its incredibly frustrating. I havent made a good beer yet. Ugh.

 

[b-boy]

I'm thinking infection too, but that would mean I have three infected better bottles. I didn't think I was anywhere near that lazy with cleanliness/sanitation.

Should I trash the better bottles?

I use them without any problems. I prefer them to buckets or glass. I assumed you were getting these results from one BB.

How about racking canes or autosiphons? Could be a problem in your hose you use to transfer the cooled wort. Those can be tough to clean/sanitize.

 

[DanH]

I use them without any problems. I prefer them to buckets or glass. I assumed you were getting these results from one BB.

How about racking canes or autosiphons? Could be a problem in your hose you use to transfer the cooled wort. Those can be tough to clean/sanitize.

The problem is in three BBs and I pour straight from the brew pot, through a strainer and funnel, into the BB. Strainer and funnel get cleaned/sanitized just before use.

 

[uxo]

I know you keg but do you ever bottle a few? I wonder if the bottles make a difference.

Have you made a porter before with the same of flavors?

 

[DanH]

Yeah I bottled the first batch that had this problem. I have a porter right now with this off flavor completely dominating it. When it happens, it's completely undrinkable.

In fact, I still have the bottles in my basement (after probably 9 months). Maybe I'll try one tonight, but I'm 99% sure it won't be any better.

 

[DanH]

I went ahead and tried a sip of an 8 month old dunkelweizen and it is actually a little better, but I wouldn't want to drink more than a sip.

 

[croakerj]

Oxidation of some sort? Maybe the company making the distilled water isn't removing all the chlorine?

 

[croakerj]

Use spring water I bet the taste goes away

 

[goodgodilovebeer]

Strainer and funnel get cleaned/sanitized just before use.

I'd be looking real close to these two. Especially the strainer, there's really no way to clean those things properly. Try siphoning into your fermenter the next time you brew.

 

[DanH]

I'd be looking real close to these two. Especially the strainer, there's really no way to clean those things properly. Try siphoning into your fermenter the next time you brew.

I agree except I had bought them new on brew day. Still cleaned/sanitized. But I will be syphoning from now on anyway. I have a spout on my turkey fryer that I have used without problems but I don't imagine it would be the cleanest way to transfer to the fermentor.

 

[goodgodilovebeer]

If it's the spigot on your kettle, I wouldn't worry about it as long as you give it a good cleaning (so there's no dried up wort from the last batch). It's going to be at boiling temps for an hour. That's enough time at a high temp to sanitize it. I did it that way for years. After chilling in the kettle, let it pour into the fermenter, it'll aerate at the same time.

 

[mvcorliss]

Lots of ideas, all over the place.

The first thing I would do is to take some of the beer, each of them if possible, to someone familiar with beer and beer problems. Maybe your LHBS or a brew club. What you are describing could be something different just because your palate or your vocabulary might be not "calibrated".

 

[Aspenextreme]

I would use some campden tablets. My water is GA made my beer taste funny until i started using campden tablets. They are cheap too.

 

[goodgodilovebeer]

...What you are describing could be something different just because your palate or your vocabulary might be not "calibrated".

Good point. Is there a common ingredient to the batches you mentioned earlier? Since you could list the batch numbers, I'd bet you keep pretty decent records. Similar yeast, adjunct, specialty malt maybe?

 

[DanH]

They were...


Dunkelwiezen
Heffeweisen
Honey Porter
Amber Ale

 

[user 19629]

You could try a Wort Stability Test to see if it's contaminantion or the water.
http://byo.com/american-amber-pale-ale/item/765-home-lab-tests-advanced-homebrewing

 

[BreezyBrew]

I would use some campden tablets. My water is GA made my beer taste funny until i started using campden tablets. They are cheap too.

Yeah not a bad idea. Just make sure you are using the right amount of Campden, or you can get sulfur aromas in your beer. Had that happen after reading the instructions wrong.

 

[naga77777]

I had it pretty bad in a couple batches. LHBS tried one of the not-so-prominent ones, and said oxidation. The only thing I could think of was that my tubing from the auto-siphon wasn't extremely tight, and let little air bubbles into the stream of beer when racking to bottling bucket or keg. I tried a smaller diameter tubing, one that I really had to FORCE onto the racking cane, and it did not let any bubbles into the stream while racking. I haven't had it since (knock on wood).

Main thing that bugged me, was it was my darker, and less-hoppy beers that had it. All my IPA's and pale ales didn't have it. I noticed the styles you listed weren't heavily hopped, so it jarred my memory. Just a thought, but if you see little bubbles where the racking cane and tubing meet, and they're going downstream with the beer, it could be oxidation.

 

[DanH]

Just a thought, but if you see little bubbles where the racking cane and tubing meet, and they're going downstream with the beer, it could be oxidation.

Thank you, but this happens during fermentation, so before I use an autosyphon. I really think it's infection but I feel like everything gets very clean and then sanitized. But now I hear that I may want to mix up a full 5 gallons of StarSan, so I'll try that in a new betterbottle. It won't be very soon before I have a chance to brew again though.

 

[naga77777]

^ah. Big ol' detail the noggin didn't process when I was reading your posts

 

[MoldMan]

What water are you using to mix your StarSan with? When I hear band aid I think chlorine.

 

[DanH]

What water are you using to mix your StarSan with? When I hear band aid I think chlorine.

Tap water. And I only mixed 1 gallon to use for everything. I was told to use 5 gallons and to mix it with RO or distilled water. Hopefully this is my problem cuz it's an easy fix.

 

[Varmintman]

I never make more than a gallon of starsan and that lasts me forever. it is a contact sanitizer meaning you can put a couple of cups in your better bottle and swirl it around then dump it back into the gallon jug.

If your problems are coming from a infection try bleaching everything and then rinsing very well with hot water. Hoses are cheap but if you want you can boil those first as well.

 

[raymondim]

One thing no one has mentioned yet is the bungs/airlocks that are used on the better bottle. Are your bungs really tight? Are they old? Sanitized well? Maybe they aren't properly closing off the air and you are getting oxidization after the fermentation finishes before you open it to see what happened. It's a bit of a stretch but maybe??? All that also for air locks

 

[DanH]

One thing no one has mentioned yet is the bungs/airlocks that are used on the better bottle. Are your bungs really tight? Are they old? Sanitized well?

Not a bad idea... Most of them are discolored at the bottom so I could probably clean them better. They usually soak in the bucket of StarSan while I sanitize the BBottle.

 

[uxo]

Are you buying your grains and yeast from the same place? Try a different shop and fresh yeast. Order online even.