- Joined
- Oct 13, 2013
- Messages
- 32
- Reaction score
- 1
Well, I was starting to feel cocky confident after 5 or 6 successful brews, three winning local awards, and two my first all-grain attempts...(see Hard Way IPA in recipes for one of the successful Citra based batches) I read Palmers book several times, read a lot on this forum, listening to podcasts, etc - yeah, I'm addicted.
But, then I attempted to clone Arrogant Bastard from a recipe on this site. Split into two 6.5g Better Bottles, one on previous yeast cake and the other a healthy WPL007 starter. Combination of curiousness and cheapness. Both turned out sweeter (overshot mash temps, super active fermentation so those temps were above 70 until ferm cooler kicked in, and whole hops were homegrown and probably low a levels) but one I would describe as sour... Almost like a bitter.
So, I tried gelatin and cold crashing hoping it was by-product related and could be saved but to no avail. It did clear nicely BTW.
I drank as much as I could stomach and moved on the the next batch, an American Pale Ale from my LHBS wort share. Although it tasted OK (perhaps a sour hint which I originally wrote off as from the SG cylinder) when measuring FG, it gradually took on the same sour notes.
More info: I did use the same corny for both, but I follow PBW cleaning and IO-star sanitizing recommendations. Cleaned, but did not replace gaskets since they were new prior to AB clone. I also thought I'd get organized and began storing all homebrew equipment, including my racking cane, in a closed plastic bin. Prior to use, I pumped some of the same PBW mix and IOstar used to clean/sanitize the cornys. Similar with the thief. I always purge equipment with CO2 and try to keep agitation to a minimal. Beer line was cleaned with LLC. Perlick faucet soaked in same solution. Finally, two better bottles are new and two have less than six brews on them (unfortunately I did not mark them).
Does this sound like a contamination/infection issue?
If so, what caused it and what can I do to either save current batch and/or prevent from future?
Thanks in advance.
But, then I attempted to clone Arrogant Bastard from a recipe on this site. Split into two 6.5g Better Bottles, one on previous yeast cake and the other a healthy WPL007 starter. Combination of curiousness and cheapness. Both turned out sweeter (overshot mash temps, super active fermentation so those temps were above 70 until ferm cooler kicked in, and whole hops were homegrown and probably low a levels) but one I would describe as sour... Almost like a bitter.
So, I tried gelatin and cold crashing hoping it was by-product related and could be saved but to no avail. It did clear nicely BTW.
I drank as much as I could stomach and moved on the the next batch, an American Pale Ale from my LHBS wort share. Although it tasted OK (perhaps a sour hint which I originally wrote off as from the SG cylinder) when measuring FG, it gradually took on the same sour notes.
More info: I did use the same corny for both, but I follow PBW cleaning and IO-star sanitizing recommendations. Cleaned, but did not replace gaskets since they were new prior to AB clone. I also thought I'd get organized and began storing all homebrew equipment, including my racking cane, in a closed plastic bin. Prior to use, I pumped some of the same PBW mix and IOstar used to clean/sanitize the cornys. Similar with the thief. I always purge equipment with CO2 and try to keep agitation to a minimal. Beer line was cleaned with LLC. Perlick faucet soaked in same solution. Finally, two better bottles are new and two have less than six brews on them (unfortunately I did not mark them).
Does this sound like a contamination/infection issue?
If so, what caused it and what can I do to either save current batch and/or prevent from future?
Thanks in advance.