frustration setting in - beer getting worse

[RegionalChaos]

The temps sound like the first thing I would correct if I were you. I've also gotten off flavors from re-pitching onto worn out yeast.

 

[spiny_norman]

The wort is usually around 80 when I pitch ...

That could be your problem right there. Temp control was the cause of my issues, especially pitching too hot. Everything I've read suggests that the first 24 hours are critical and if anything you want to pitch 2 or 3 degrees below where you want it to be.

Edit: the second problem was that I wasn't pitching enough yeast. Pitching enough healthy yeast at 65 degrees and I'm regularly getting 80+% attenuation (with WLP001).

 

[kcinpdx]

Sunday I did a thorough cleaning before brewing. I boiled all fittings - ball valves, nipples, QD's, pump head and high temp hose. I srubbed them with a toothbrush, then soaked them in iodophor. Judging from the crud in the pump head and BK ball valve, I am surprised that I had any good batches. We'll see how the next batch turns out.

 

[GlenF]

Well good luck!
Keep us informed.

My Rye IPA is turning out alright (not a serious phenolic flavor or aroma)...but we'll see once it's fully carbed and the yeast has settle out

 

[BargainFittings]

Sunday I did a thorough cleaning before brewing. I boiled all fittings - ball valves, nipples, QD's, pump head and high temp hose. I srubbed them with a toothbrush, then soaked them in iodophor. Judging from the crud in the pump head and BK ball valve, I am surprised that I had any good batches. We'll see how the next batch turns out.

Well I hope you have better luck this time!

 

[JVD_X]

FWIW - I had the same issue. It came down to the fact that I was making my brewing more complicated with additional equipment and processes that - while very useful - just made my brewing days long and fatiguing.

Since I have gone back to simple batch sparging (moved away from RIMS) my beers have gotten better, my brew days are shorter, and I have a lot less to clean.

 

[shataway]

I am in this boat right now.

My problems seemed to start when I went to 10g batches. I had cooling issues (IC not big enough), equipment issues (manifold came apart), possible salt addition problems (measuring grams on a 12lbs rated scale, now using teaspoon conversions).

My house recipe, BM Centennial Blonde, which had been brewed succesfully many time as 5g, is very bitter with very little malty/hoppy taste for the last 3 attempts as 10g.

I have the painful realization that sanitation is probably my problem.

I don't think it is anything on the boil side.

It could be on the fermentation side. I don't think it is my buckets since they don't have any scratches but I bought a new one anyway. My syphon hose has been swapped out but my autosyphon has not. Plus the bend broke off several brews ago leaving a jagged edge. I have a new one which I will start using.

I think my #1 problem is not sanitizing my kegs properly. I use the autosyphon to flush Oxyclean thru my picnic tap and line and diptube at the same time. Then I seal the keg and shake to clean the rest of the keg. I use the same routine with Iodophor for sanitizing the picnic tap and line, dip tube, and rest of keg. The problem I think comes in since the kegs may sit for a month with a gallon of Iodophor but not sealed under CO2 pressure. I am going to have to plan to clean and sanitize immediately before kegging.

Do I really have a bacterial infection? I don't know. I checked my final gravity after two weeks in the keg and I am still at 1.010. If the bacteria are eating sugar, it is not measureable. If anyone has an idea, I would love to hear it.

Thanks,
Steven

 

[rugman]

I too suspect fermentation temperatures could be a problem ?


Sounds like Sanitation was a problem but you also said the I word Iodophor and that definatly can leave a funk in beer if not rinsed well

 

[cookietruck]

Chlorine/chloramine levels are typically higher in the warmer months. Has there been a correlation between the off-flavors and the time of year they were brewed? A campden tablet is easy and cheap insurance against chlorophenols.

i have a consistent phenol flavor in most beers and i'm thinking it's either mash ph, fermentation or chloramine.
i treat the mash and sparge water with campden but was not treating the water i mix with starsan.
the starsan is cloudy almost immediately after i mix it.

this last batch of beer i brewed to try and beat this phenol thing, i brewed with RO water and added back the minerals i wanted (allowing my mash PH to surely be right and i'm also not sparging with 9.7ph water...though just a single batch sparge).
used yeast nutrient or the first time.
pitched a starter that was twice the size i normally pitch.
held the temperature of fermentation to as tight a tolerance as possible.

all thats left is to wait for two more weeks to bottle.

trying to decide if chloramine in just the water i mix starsan that i sanitize the racking cane, bottling bucket and bottles with would be enough to cause phenols...i'll probably mix a bucket of RO water with starsan and try to reuse that over a few batches...

 

[cookietruck]

I too suspect fermentation temperatures could be a problem ?


Sounds like Sanitation was a problem but you also said the I word Iodophor and that definatly can leave a funk in beer if not rinsed well

also it seems mixing starsan a little strong could cause a bad flavor too.

 

[Conehead]

I have found that as I acquired more equipment, the harder it is to keep it all sanitary. Step up all your sanitation and chemicals/procedures and see if that helps.

 

[kcinpdx]

I kept the bandaid batch that drove me to this post for some reason. I began dumping it tonight and decided to give it one more taste. Low and behold the phenolic taste is now barely detectable, and overall quite drinkable. I have no clue what is going on, but I hope it is all done with. Needless to say I sealed the keg back up and to the kegerator it went

 

[CalmYourself]

Is my logic ok here:

If the phenolic flavours decrease over time this indicates to me that it's something that the yeast is capable of cleaning, such as off flavours produced by fermentation temperature.

If it was TCP, the flavour compounds wouldn't be volatile and wouldn't decrease over time.

If it was due to a bacterial infection, the off flavours would probably increase over time as the bacteria multiplies.

Does this sound right?

 

[discgolfin]

I also went into a phase of bad batches and looked at all of my practices and the big one was yeast..either washed yeast..starters that sat too long before I used them..reusing yeast over several batches..I came to the conclusion that it saves money washing yeast..but I find a good fresh starter with fresh yeast was the only way to go. I could harvest and freeze..but I do not have the equipment time or money..I do not brew that often..so all my problems linked to the yeast..usually the case with most off flavors..bad aroma

I kept the bandaid batch that drove me to this post for some reason. I began dumping it tonight and decided to give it one more taste. Low and behold the phenolic taste is now barely detectable, and overall quite drinkable. I have no clue what is going on, but I hope it is all done with. Needless to say I sealed the keg back up and to the kegerator it went

Mine also improved with age..not as much as your but a little..yeast either what went into the fermentor or during fermentation..temps..too high? or maybe the temps bounced around alot and were not stable?

just some thoughts

 

[magnj]

To pile onto a huge thread already, I've been having problems too. I could attribute them to poor sanitation, old yeast banks (and not using a starter), and high ambient temps. I would like to move away from my current process and towards something more automated, more repeatable, less variables but...$.