I'm done brewing

[nyer]

I have another damn infection. I think this is number 5 or 6. This one was an arrogant bastard clone and it tasted good after 10 days in primary. I kegged it after 5 more days and it smells like bandaids. I have 2 kegs of bad beer now in the basement that I have to dump. I'm sick and tired of spending a day brewing $40-$50 worth of ingredients for nothing. I can't figure it out so I'm throwing away anything thats plastic or rubber and I'm taking a few months off. My brutus 10 plans are also on hold until I get enthused about brewing again. I will probably do a few batches of cider so at least the taps aren't empty.

 

[PseudoChef]

I have gotten bandaids twice now and from both times I would bet money that it was the initial yeast culture + fermentation temperature. What types of yeast are you using and what kind of pitching rate are you following? What are your fermentation temperatures?

Just trying to help as I threw 4 gallons of Saison down the drain this summer because of bandaid-syndrome, so I can relate in part.

 

[nyer]

I originally thought it was from nottingham yeast, this last batch was WLP007. Temps were 65-68. I'm starting to think my turkey baster I use to take samples is infected or I shouldn't keep star san in a spray bottle.

 

[Revvy]

You ever think that MAYBE the infection is in your kegging system and not he brewing side???

 

[IrregularPulse]

Isn't bandaid oxidation?

 

[flyangler18]

Isn't bandaid oxidation?

Nope, it's a phenolic, usually indicating wild yeast or bacterial contamination.

 

[nyer]

You ever think that MAYBE the infection is in your kegging system and not he brewing side???

It always starts before I keg it. I can smell it while it's in the carboy.

This last batch was fine when I checked the gravity. Thats why I think it could be the turkey baster or star san in the spray bottle. Thats the only stuff that touched the beer.

 

[phillc]

Tell us about the water you are using...

 

[walther]

I read somewhere on the net, that bandaid taste often comes from Chlorine somewhere in your process,.... usually cleaning,...

good luck,

 

[Irrenarzt]

it's chlorophenol which is has chlorine in the molecule. I would try a test batch with distilled water and add minerals and see if the problem goes away. I have a well with no chlorine so I never have this issue.

 

[Brewers Hardware]

I know how much it sucks to get a bug in your brewery. I had some issues lately with a very tart green apple flavor that would creep up. Not so bad you couldn't drink the beer but definitely an infection and not an off-flavor and really annoying.

I found I'd gone too long between breaking down the threaded fittings on my rotating racking arms for my conicals. Nasty in there.

Anyway, try not to get too discouraged. Give your brewery a good break-down:

Unscrew anything that's threaded and clean the threads with a toothbrush.
Bake anything that is all metal in the oven at 300* for about 30 minutes.
Bake your ball valves in the oven at 250* for about 2 hours. (remove the plastic handle covers)
Throw away anything that's plastic or rubber: Tubing, stoppers, gaskets, o-rings etc.
Replace all the o-rings on your kegs and flush them with as hot of water as you can stand but be careful you don't melt off the boot or top.
If you use carboys, fill them with a bleach solution, then rinse really really well.

Take a day to just go through everything and take it apart as far as you can, clean it, bake it or replace it and then put everything back together with new teflon tape.

Good luck!

 

[Bowtiebrewery]

Derrin good advice. I had the same problem... I was consistantly getting infections in the primary, which for me was unheard of... Then I figured out what it was...

I never thought to completely disassemble all the fittings and valves on my conical... You would be really suprised to see all the disgusting mess that gets stuck between valves and threads... and even worse any bulkheads... Those o-rings attract just about any kind of mold/bacteria that you can think of...

I didn't have to bake min however I would use this technique if I really had to...

 

[paledragon]

i read somewhere that unless made with distilled water, the starsan in a spray bottle will eventually become ineffective. i got tired of making up sanitizer every time i wanted a gravity sample, so i started washing my wine thief with plain tap water and soap. i've done that for 3 batches now (an altbier, belgian strong, and IPA) and haven't detected any signs of infection. i'll give this method a YMMV, but it's worked well so far.

p.d.

 

[phillc]

i read somewhere that unless made with distilled water, the starsan in a spray bottle will eventually become ineffective. i got tired of making up sanitizer every time i wanted a gravity sample, so i started washing my wine thief with plain tap water and soap. i've done that for 3 batches now (an altbier, belgian strong, and IPA) and haven't detected any signs of infection. i'll give this method a YMMV, but it's worked well so far.

p.d.

Although still important, sanitizing becomes less important as the beer ferments due to the increase in ethanol, which is basically a sanitizer.

 

[Walker]

I read somewhere on the net, that bandaid taste often comes from Chlorine somewhere in your process,.... usually cleaning,...

good luck,

Yup. The bandaid taste is chlorophenol. If you use bleach to sanitize things and don't rinse well, this can happen. Or, if you use unboiled tap water that has chlorine in it (boiling removes the chlorine).

But, some places use chloramine in tap water and not chlorine. Chloramine is odorless and tasteless and will not boil out like regular chlorine will. I don't know if chloramine can lead to chlorophenol or not, but perhaps it can.

 

[Brewers Hardware]

Yup. The bandaid taste is chlorophenol. If you use bleach to sanitize things and don't rinse well, this can happen. Or, if you use unboiled tap water that has chlorine in it (boiling removes the chlorine).

But, some places use chloramine in tap water and not chlorine. Chloramine is odorless and tasteless and will not boil out like regular chlorine will. I don't know if chloramine can lead to chlorophenol or not, but perhaps it can.

My understanding is that chloramine can lead to chlorophenol.

You can crush 1/2 a campden (sp?) tablet per 10G or water and it will remove both chlormine and chlorine almost instantly.

 

[Walker]

My understanding is that chloramine can lead to chlorophenol.

You can crush 1/2 a campden (sp?) tablet per 10G or water and it will remove both chlormine and chlorine almost instantly.

Sweet. I wasn't aware that campden would remove chlorine/chloramine. I thought it was just for bacteria and other buggers.

Good info... :rockin:

 

[remilard]

Tell us about the water you are using...

Chlorophenol from brewday chlorine would be apparent before day 15.

Chlorophenols are not the only medicinal or band-aid like phenols.

This sounds like wild yeast.

 

[olllllo]

Sweet. I wasn't aware that campden would remove chlorine/chloramine. I thought it was just for bacteria and other buggers.

Good info... :rockin:

Do you still brew?

:cross:

 

[Walker]

Do you still brew?

:cross:

Sure do, buddy. Was on hiatus for a while, but I'm back now.

 

[olllllo]

Sure do, buddy. Was on hiatus for a while, but I'm back now.

Awesome!

Welcome back!

We use propane these days. Not wood fires like when you used to brew.

I use the campden tablets for chloramine even though our system is not known to have chloramine. Cheap insurance.

 

[Brewpastor]

WOW, welcome back. Glad to hear they aren't carbon dating your fossilized remains as had been rumored.

Your post count is still higher then mine...

 

[KellyK]

"Chlorophenol from brewday chlorine would be apparent before day 15." remilard what do you base this on, I'm curious?

As I understood, depending on the levels of the chlorine or chloramine in the water, the chlorophenol reaction can take some time to develop. Of course, I do concur that medicinal/plastic taste can come from a wild yeast infection. However, wild yeast or bacterial infection usually causes more than just one flavor problem, I am curious if there were other signs of infection in the beer or just the bad flavor isolated to the plastic taste.

If is was just the plastic taste, one thing not everyone remembers, brew day water isn't the only source of chlorine water. You can also pick it up from unfiltered water you use to mix your sanitizer or use to rinse your equipment. My guess is some chlorine or chloramine is probably getting picked up from the likely unfiltered/unboiled water being used to create the sanitizer / rinse the carboy on brewday or in the keg cleaning process.

Just my 2 cents, but I had been plagued by phenolics in my brewery and through double water filtration (house filter and charcoal brew day filter) and some more careful attention to sanitization I've all but eliminated them.

 

[Kauai_Kahuna]

Sure do, buddy. Was on hiatus for a while, but I'm back now.

Wow, I have made your Walker's IPA back when massive hops were affordable.
Welcome back.

As for chlorine/chloramine, I crush up 1 tablet and add it to my water as I'm heating it for my mash/sparge. Much cheaper than a filter system. Getting straight answers from the State on my water is like talking to a brick wall.
It taste good, and otherwise I have no problems with it, but as mentioned earlier, it's cheap insurance.

 

[nyer]

I have a well and I double filter the water. I never use bleach to clean anything. I'm leaning hard towards bad star san, the stuff in my spray bottle is months old. I thought it was ok to keep it in a closed bottle until it was gone.

 

[flyangler18]

I'm leaning hard towards bad star san, the stuff in my spray bottle is months old. I thought it was ok to keep it in a closed bottle until it was gone.

Provided the pH is below 3, it remains effective.

 

[nyer]

Well, I didn't even make i a month and I was itching to brew again. I studied every piece of equipment and cleaned everything really well. I decided to try something simple so I made the hard cider called "graff". I kegged it last week and it tastes pretty good and no infection. I was sitting in a tree stand the other day and I started reading the home brewers companion for about the 3rd time. I opened the book to page 21 and I saw "sanitizing contaminators", hhhmmm. I read down and it talked about using a wire mesh strainer to strain the hot wort. It also said that the wire mesh is a breeding ground bacteria. I started using a strainer right about the time my issue started and I only soaked it in sanitizer which the book says doesn't work. The bacteria lives in the nooks and crannies. When I got home I looked closely at the strainer and it has rust and other crap deep in the cracks. So, with this new information I was excited to brew again. Yesterday morning I brewed 5 gallons of Austins holiday ale and I didn't use the damn strainer. It felt really good to brew again and hopefully in a few weeks I'll have some good homebrew again.

 

[Spyd3r]

I have a well and I double filter the water. I never use bleach to clean anything. I'm leaning hard towards bad star san, the stuff in my spray bottle is months old. I thought it was ok to keep it in a closed bottle until it was gone.

Do you keep it refriderated? I've read that you can keep a mixed solution for months in the refridgerator.

I keep a mixed 5 gallons of Starsan in a corny keg, and simply dispense it into my spray bottle when I'm running low.