Help! tired of chucking beer...

[BrotherBock]

My specific cleaning process is 2-3 tablespoons of starsan and about 1/4 gal of water in what ever vessel I am cleaning, I then make sure I have thorough coverage with this concentrate and rinse 3 times. I clean the carboys in the same manner, although for the last several batches I have pulled the spears and washed with concentrated starsan and then rinsed. I starsan when finished and starsan when I start with a vessel.

Not related to why you'd dump a batch but you could simplify your cleaning. Your process seems unnecessarily complicated to me. Just clean, rinse and sanitize with normal starsan dilution (1oz/5gal). No need to make some super concentrate. You're just wasting starsan.

My problems usually arise during secondary fermentation, where I can sometimes see a dry film on 10-15% of the surface of the carboy.

Film doesn't necessarily mean anything. I get a film a lot. But I'd skip secondary entirely unless you can think of why is absolutely needed. The more transferring you do the higher risk you take for oxygen, off-flavors or infection.

Otherwise your process (as far as you've outlined) sounds fine to me. If its just off flavors it may be related to yeast health or water profile. Using starters? Pitching too low? Too hot? Chlorinated water?

If it's infections you should replace all plastic/vinyl. Especially if there are scratches. Bugs can hide. Then deep clean everything else.

 

[3toes]

BTW, my primary bucket does not have an airlock, has a top that kind of clips on and allows gas to evacuate all around the perimeter - do you guys that leave it in the primary have such free flow or are you airlocked? Image is of the style I have:

Is it a food-grade plastic bucket?

 

[kh54s10]

As noted I would work on cleaning procedure.
Then start doing small batches while searching for your problem.
Your fermentation temperatures are too high which will give some off flavors. But, I think you are also experiencing infections or something else.
Try store bought spring water.

Starsan has already been discussed......

Clean well, then sanitize.

Replace most if not all your plastic brewing items that come into contact with the wort after the boil. Plastic can harbor microbes especially if scratched.

 

[sudbuddy]

Star san comes with a convenient measuring device right on the bottle, use that at the recommended dilution and DO NOT RINSE! Also, get some PBW for cleanup, star san is just to sanitize. If your beer is tasting "green" (young, unfinished, usually has some acetaldehyde) it is because you are only leaving it in primary for 5 days. Never move your beer unless you have hit your projected final gravity and that has remained stable for 3 days.

From your description it sounds like a typical lactobacillus infection. This can often be caused by improper sanitation (see above) and old tubing. How are you racking your beer? Racking cane, autosiphon, spigot? God forbid, a funnel and a screen? Whatever the method, make sure you sanitize your racking equipment really well. Also, just to be safe, replace all of your tubing. It is a great place for bugs to hide and it is a lot cheaper than 5 gallons of beer.

Random question, but is it very dusty in your brewing/fermentation environment? Wort spoilage bacteria loves to hide out in or as dust, and it can be pretty hard to spot when it gets into your wort when you rack. Try just leaving your beer in primary for 3 weeks and then kegging and see if that helps. Between that and new tubing you might be in pretty good shape, but as other commenters noted you should probably do a deep clean of all of your valves too. Good luck!

 

[joshesmusica]

you people aren't reading:

Some of these batches have become quite nasty - when dumping last nights, I had to open a window and door to air out the room...

sour... so nasty one needs to air out the room... this doesn't wreak of anything other than infection.

 

[sudbuddy]

BTW, my primary bucket does not have an airlock, has a top that kind of clips on and allows gas to evacuate all around the perimeter - do you guys that leave it in the primary have such free flow or are you airlocked? Image is of the style I have:

That is a wine fermenter. Fermenting wine in one of those is a whole different ball game. You need a beer fermenter, and unfortunately that means you need to split your 10 gallon batch unless you want to spend big bucks. The good news is that it is pretty easy to try 2 yeast strains per batch this way. That 12 gallon bucket will be great for storing bulk grain, but you do not want to ferment beer in it.

 

[MerlinWerks]

As mentioned, I would scale back your batch size until you have it figured out.

And if you have never disassembled your ball valves it would probably be worth the time. I know I was surprised at what was in there after a dozen batches or so, fortunately it was not nearly as bad as THIS...