I just poured 42 bottles of HB Dunkelweizen down the drain

[IslandLizard]

I'm thinking bottles aren't the culprit, but I should step up the cleaning and sanitizing of those anyway.

Please, use a bottle brush and a (small) tub with a PBW or Oxiclean (or just plain Washing Soda) solution to clean the inside and remove any potential biofilm. It only takes an extra 10-15 seconds per bottle for peace of mind. Rinse well, of course. I always used one of those jet spray washing attachments on the faucet.

 

[jschein]

RIP dunkle

 

[mashdar]

HSA would be unrelated to making a beer undrinkable. The best case is controlling HSA could take a good beer to greatness.

Add a mash cap etc if you like, but probably don't include it in the differential.

Cold side aeration could ruin a beer, though.

 

[BrewZer]

My last few brews have had the wet dog aroma, but tasted OK.

rehydrated with Go-Ferm. I started using the Go-Ferm not too long ago.

Hmmm. Two points is a line...

 

[Hoochin'Fool]

I have no idea what happened, but I don't think oxidation is going to give you "wet dog" aroma or "hot dog water" flavors.

Did the wort taste fine? Maybe some grains were mis-labeled/spoiled/cursed...
Did the beer taste fine (well, as good as flat, very young beer can taste) before bottling?
Did you sample enough different bottles before concluding the whole batch was no good?
Did you eat hot dogs right before sampling these beers? (sorry, couldn't resist)

 

[bwible]

I brewed a hefeweizen with that yeast earlier this year. First time I used it. It was a 3 gallon extract batch, 30 bottles. I ended up pouring out about 10 of those after drinking 3 or 4 that were just not enjoyable. It’s not the same as something like 3068. It didn’t have the same esters that make that style. I don’t make hefeweizen all that often but the next time I do I won’t use that again.

 

[Broothru]

Thanks for the replies, everyone! This is frustrating, but I'm trying to work through it in my head. Something needs to change.

I pitched fresh, dry yeast, within its use-by date, rehydrated with Go-Ferm. I started using the Go-Ferm not too long ago. Could that be leaving something that breaks down into an off-flavor component? Next brew I'll rehydrate with plain water, or pitch dry.

Only plastic I have contacting cold-side beer is a bottling bucket and silicone tubing. After each use the spigot gets taken apart, cleaned, stored in a jar of Starsan until next time. On bottling day I put a gallon of Starsan in the bucket, shake it every so often, then dump it just before filling with beer. No scratches I can see inside.

The silicone tubing gets a thorough rinse and starsan rinse, but that might not be enough due to its porosity. Don't want to store it in Starsan as that corrodes the silicone. Maybe I should boil it. Same with the silicone tubing I use to rack from BK to FV.

I ferment in Brew Buckets and use a Cold Crash Guardian to collect extra CO2. I don't open the lid any time during ferm.

I try to keep bottles clean and sanitized. After pouring a beer I rinse 3 times, then another rinse with a few shakes, dump that, then squirt some Starsan inside, invert & drip-dry. I store them in boxes. On bottling day I dunk each in a bucket of Starsan, and set inverted in a FastRack. Caps get dunked in Starsan. I cap on foam with about 1/2" headspace.

Could be taste perception. My taste and smell had changed a little after I had Covid 2 years ago, so what I'm tasting and smelling could be some other off-flavor. However, commercial beer never has those off-flavors, so it's definitely something in my HB.

People I serve it to think it's ok, but they probably wouldn't comment anyway. I generally don't enter in comps, but maybe I should have an experienced brewer taste some.

My water is RO from a Buckeye system at home. Fairly new filters and TDS is around 4 ppm. I measure salt additions on a gram scale. Mash pH has always been well within range.

I've been using the LODO trifecta, but that has predated this new issue. I do a few of the LODO methods, and try to minimize stirring, splashing. I still can't help think that this is oxidation, even though this recent batch is fairly new. I found out in another thread that I can add a gram or so of AA per gallon at packaging. Might try that.

Grains and hops are fresh. I store grain in ziplocs placed inside gamma seal buckets in a cool location. Hops are vac-sealed and kept in the deep freeze. Dry yeast stays in the fridge.

There can be light at the end of the tunnel, so to speak. About 10 years ago I entered a number of beer entries in a competition. I was already into kegging and had basically abandoned bottling, except for competitions.

Several of my entries got destroyed by the judges, yet when I tasted my kegged beers on tap, I couldn’t find any of the faults that the judges did.

As a ‘precaution’, I convinced SWMBO’d that the only possible remedy to my situation was to dump not the offending beer, but rather the offending ’gear.’ Of course that meant replacing all those troublesome plastic fermenters with stainless steel, and “probably a unitank and glycol chilling” would solve all my problems <G>.

It must’ve worked (hee, hee). Not a dumper since! Later today I need to retrieve my ribbons from the latest comp: 6 entries; 4 First Place, 1 Second Place, 1 Third Place. Sadly, my “Best Kolsch Ever” only took Second Place in Category 5, so didn’t advance to the Best of Show round. As consolidation, the Category 5 winner was selected Best of Show.

No score sheets yet, and I’m very interested in the judge’s comments on my Kolsch, since I really felt like I went ‘all in’ on this one.

 

[bwible]

There can be light at the end of the tunnel, so to speak. About 10 years ago I entered a number of beer entries in a competition. I was already into kegging and had basically abandoned bottling, except for competitions.

Several of my entries got destroyed by the judges, yet when I tasted my kegged beers on tap, I couldn’t find any of the faults that the judges did.

As a ‘precaution’, I convinced SWMBO’d that the only possible remedy to my situation was to dump not the offending beer, but rather the offending ’gear.’ Of course that meant replacing all those troublesome plastic fermenters with stainless steel, and “probably a unitank and glycol chilling” would solve all my problems <G>.

It must’ve worked (hee, hee). Not a dumper since! Later today I need to retrieve my ribbons from the latest comp: 6 entries; 4 First Place, 1 Second Place, 1 Third Place. Sadly, my “Best Kolsch Ever” only took Second Place in Category 5, so didn’t advance to the Best of Show round. As consolidation, the Category 5 winner was selected Best of Show.

No score sheets yet, and I’m very interested in the judge’s comments on my Kolsch, since I really felt like I went ‘all in’ on this one.

Congrats!

 

[Broothru]

RIP dunkle

There should be a prohibition against such wanton destruction of cereal malt beverages!

 

[Broothru]

Congrats!

Full honors go to SWMBO’d, who graciously tolerates my brewing fantasies.

 

[Willy]

Had another idea as to the source of "wet dog" taste... Could it be something you add along the way, that went sour. ... Like yeast nutrient, (some have a lot of urea in it)... I recently dumped a yeast nutrient with urea - that replaced another variety of yeast nutrient without urea in it. So I went back to the old brand with no urea.

I am wondering if the problem is someplace you might not consider. Something in small doses? Urea, which is made from animal urine... Could smell like wet dog perhaps. Good luck on sleuthing.

 

[MaxStout]

Had another idea as to the source of "wet dog" taste... Could it be something you add along the way, that went sour. ... Like yeast nutrient, (some have a lot of urea in it)... I recently dumped a yeast nutrient with urea - that replaced another variety of yeast nutrient without urea in it. So I went back to the old brand with no urea.

I am wondering if the problem is someplace you might not consider. Something in small doses? Urea, which is made from animal urine... Could smell like wet dog perhaps. Good luck on sleuthing.

I'm starting to think that could be a culprit, if not THE culprit. Adding 1/2 tsp of Wyeast nutrient at the end of the boil, then pitching rehydrated yeast with Go-Ferm. Kind of double hits of nutrient. Going forward I might skip the Go-Ferm and just stick with the nutrient in the boil. I'll either rehydrate dry yeast with plain water, or simply sprinkle onto the chilled wort.

It's one of many things I need to be doing differently.

 

[BongoYodeler]

I'm starting to think that could be a culprit, if not THE culprit. Adding 1/2 tsp of Wyeast nutrient at the end of the boil, then pitching rehydrated yeast with Go-Ferm. Kind of double hits of nutrient. Going forward I might skip the Go-Ferm and just stick with the nutrient in the boil. I'll either rehydrate dry yeast with plain water, or simply sprinkle onto the chilled wort.

It's one of many things I need to be doing differently.

Possibly.....

• How to Avoid Go-Ferm Off-Flavors
  • Use the Correct Dosage:
    Avoid using excessively high pitch rates of Go-Ferm, as this can introduce undesirable flavors. The recommended ratio is typically 1.25 grams of Go-Ferm per gram of yeast.
    
    
  • Rehydrate Properly:
    Go-Ferm should be used during the yeast rehydration step before fermentation begins. Adding it too late can lead to flavor problems.