Been brewing for about three years and switched to all-grain this summer. All my partial mashes went great - no infection problems and some decent beer. Then I switched to all-grain
. The first all grain went great and then next three have been infected. You may ask how I know I had infections
well it became pretty obvious as all three beers ended up tasting like vinegar, sour nasty, etc
My mild, ipa, and porter all turned out tasting terrible and went down the drain - I thought about somehow saving them, but once I almost gagged from the smell, I knew I was never drinking that beer. (I actually bottled one porter, left it sit about two months just to be sure - terrible!)
The good news is that I think I have things figured out. Some more background. I brewed my first all grain and the immediately the next day my second. I waited about three weeks and did my 3rd and 4th on the same day. About three days after brew day, the smell from the carboys starting changing form a pleasant fermentation smell to a nasty sour smell. By the time I was ready to rack or bottle the smell was overwhelming. At this point I really started examining my brewing technique, sanitation, and what changed after my first all grain batch to my second and successive all grain batches. There must have been something that happened after that first all grain batch the was now infecting my beer .
Then I took a part my brew kettle and think I found the cause of the problem . My ball valve. After my first brew I never took the ball valve off and cleaned inside that area, never did before my 3rd and 4th batches either. When I took it off, my gosh, it was full of trub and gunk all the way through the ball valve and back into the coupler. So I am thinking that is the cause of the infection issues. I rack from my kettle into my fermentation carboy by opening the kettle ball valve with tubing attached and draining into the fermenter. I guess I assumed this area was getting sanitized by the rinsing associated with cleaning the kettle and then the heat associated with the boil.
My other thoughts are the tubing I am using to rack to the carboy with, but I used new tubing after batch two. I have also thought about my immersion chiller, but I am careful with the sanitation of that and place it into the boiling wort 30 minutes from the end of the boil as recommended.
Thoughts? Have I figured it out? Is it the dirty ball valve and I am getting the bad guys as I rack to primary through that ball valve as I suspect?
The good news is that I think I have things figured out. Some more background. I brewed my first all grain and the immediately the next day my second. I waited about three weeks and did my 3rd and 4th on the same day. About three days after brew day, the smell from the carboys starting changing form a pleasant fermentation smell to a nasty sour smell. By the time I was ready to rack or bottle the smell was overwhelming. At this point I really started examining my brewing technique, sanitation, and what changed after my first all grain batch to my second and successive all grain batches. There must have been something that happened after that first all grain batch the was now infecting my beer .
Then I took a part my brew kettle and think I found the cause of the problem . My ball valve. After my first brew I never took the ball valve off and cleaned inside that area, never did before my 3rd and 4th batches either. When I took it off, my gosh, it was full of trub and gunk all the way through the ball valve and back into the coupler. So I am thinking that is the cause of the infection issues. I rack from my kettle into my fermentation carboy by opening the kettle ball valve with tubing attached and draining into the fermenter. I guess I assumed this area was getting sanitized by the rinsing associated with cleaning the kettle and then the heat associated with the boil.
My other thoughts are the tubing I am using to rack to the carboy with, but I used new tubing after batch two. I have also thought about my immersion chiller, but I am careful with the sanitation of that and place it into the boiling wort 30 minutes from the end of the boil as recommended.
Thoughts? Have I figured it out? Is it the dirty ball valve and I am getting the bad guys as I rack to primary through that ball valve as I suspect?