First post..first problem

[marmonduke]

First of all, Hello everyone and what a great site/resource. I have learned alot trolling around here for a few months. I have done about 5 batches so far of extract/Partial extract recipes and have had pretty good luck (mostly midwest kits). I'm a serial hobbiest and usually jump into stuff so in the past couple months I got a fridge, kegs, chillers, more fermenters, you know the normal progression only in warp speed.

I have had a couple batches that had some astrigency but now with my first AG batch which I think has fallen victim to Autolysis. I was kegging a boulevard wheatish clone and as soon as I popped the top of my fermentor I was taken back but a distict rubber odor. This really supprised me and immediately thought it was from my newly constructed cooler/braid mash tun. I kegged it anyway and it's in my fridge chilling/carbing. I almost don't want to drink it and have it aging hoping it gets better with time (spent 3 weeks fermenting/ 3 days in keg).

I can't find the exact recipe but here is my basic ingredients process:

5.5 gallon batch:

5lbs Pale Malt (2-row)
5lbs malt white wheat

.5 oz simco
.5 oz magnum

1.25 quarts/lb at 154 F mash (batch sparge)
170 F sparge (single infusion)

Ended up High 1.059 which is suprising and 1.010 done

SafAle 05 (just tossed in after chilling wort to about 65F)

Fermented @ solid 68 Deg F for 3 weeks



I use Starsan and Oxyclean to clean

I'm sorry if this has been covered and I know alot of these "issues" get better with time but John Palmers Chapter 10.3 on Autolysis makes me think maybe it will get worse.

I guess if it's not going to improve with time I'd like to isolate the fault in my way to correct it. I was able to take a few sips of it yesterday but still had rubbery after taste.


thanks in advance,

Ben

 

[beerkrump]

Unless your yeast was under some really adverse conditions or radical fluctuations, three weeks is too short for autolysis to be an issue.

The rubbery taste could be chlorophenols, which are almost band aid in aroma and flavor. They form when chlorine is present. Did you use bleach at any point? Was this your mash tun's first exposure to hot water, and is it a new cooler?

 

[TTB-J]

I would be genuinely surprised if you experienced autolysis after just 3 weeks. If you did, it was likely the result of some old or spoiled yeast, perhaps it had expired and no one realized it or it wasn't handled or stored correctly. You should know that Palmer has substantially revised his comments on yeast autolysis in newer versions of his book. Not so much that it sucks, because it does, but that it is not very likely in a homebrewing set up to have autolysis occur.

Nothing you can do know but see if the off flavor fades with time. If it doesn't, I'm willing to bet that it was an ingredient freshness issue, provided that you're certain your sanitation practices were proper.

 

[marmonduke]

thanks for the quick responses, it was a fairly new package of safale 05 I stored in the fridge and same shipment from LBS. I've made other batches from. the cooler and lines were brand new, I ran several runs of hot water through the cooler and lines to clean it out before I used it. I also have never used bleach...my tap water latel has smelled slightly chorine like but I have RO system that I use 50% RO/ 50% Tap water. Maybe I'm detecting a characteristic of the hops? I've never used magnum or simco. Oh well, I guess it'll be one of those wait it out things. I noticed this smell was strong on the yeast cake after racking over to the keg.

 

[marmonduke]

Oh, the cooler is Coleman Xtreme 42Qt? and I use braided SS going to vinyl hose. I probably ran 15 gallons of hot tap water through it (130F). I will say though I used the cheap mans verision using vinyl through the hole and attached braid on the vinyl with two small zip ties (couldn't find stainsteel hardware).

 

[Shake]

What is the temp rating of the vinyl hose?

 

[marmonduke]

What is the temp rating of the vinyl hose?

Home Depot stuff (supposedly food grade/rated to 175 or so I think?) I don't think it got above 168 though.

 

[malkore]

Honestly the 'rubber smell' described for autolysis isn't very good. Autolysis is dead micro-organisms...and it smells like death.

Rotting meat is a closer description I think. Its rank...its foul. A little won't be horrid but very much and its just plain gross.

Plus it takes a long time in a homebrewery (or horrible treatment of yeast) to get autolysis. Commercial breweries see it because they have hundreds of gallons of beer pressing down on the yeast cake which exponentially increases autolysis rate/potential.

But the home brewery of 5-15 gallons...can easily sit on the yeast cake over a month with no issues.

give it time. fermentation by products smell funky sometimes.

 

[passedpawn]

I read of a brewer with a similar problem. Turned out to be the garden hose he used to fill his pot. He said it was obvious when he smelled the hose. He changed to a white potable water hose and problem solved.

BTW, what do you sanitize with? Do you use bleach?

 

[marmonduke]

I use Starsan and I use RO/tap water (I brew in kitchen). I did take a sample last night and had my wife also see what she thought. her comment was it tasted lemony so it's possible there is some hop characterist I'm not used to or it's smoothing out some. Still has a bitter aftertaste but hopefully that dies down some also.

 

[Malintent]

I think you mean that you have been LURKING around the forum... not Trolling.

 

[marmonduke]

I think you mean that you have been LURKING around the forum... not Trolling.

Yeah, lol I think you're right