Is my gear infected?

[Scarthingmoor]

I had a bad batch maybe 6 months ago, and it seems like almost every batch I've made since then has been a bit off. Not undrinkable, but not good. Is it possible for my brewing gear to be infected, and is there anything I can do to fix it?

 

[ChaosStout]

Need More Info. Do you use plastic buckets? Do you use a Plastic Bottling bucket? If you use a bottling bucket do you take off the spigot and clean it really good and sanitize before and after every bottling? How often do you replace your siphon tubing? I replace after about 5 batches

 

[kapbrew13]

List your equipment and what these off flavors are.
That would probably help us help you.

 

[poislb]

I had a bad batch maybe 6 months ago, and it seems like almost every batch I've made since then has been a bit off. Not undrinkable, but not good. Is it possible for my brewing gear to be infected, and is there anything I can do to fix it?

Just clean your mash tun, fermentors, boil kettle out with oxy or pbw..Replace all tubing and ya should be good. Remove all ball valves and clean/soak..I replace all my tubing about once a year depending how many times I use them.

Do you use glass or plastic to ferment? I heard better bottles can scratch and bacteria hangs out in the scratches..

Check your water, what kinda sanitizer ya using? Is your beer getting infected, where ya can see something? Or just taste bad in general.

Need to know your brew day procedure before we can pin point anything.

 

[Zuljin]

Boiling water and iodine.

Scrub the hell out of it too. Be sure to use new clean rags or green scrubbies. I'm sure you are, just saying.

If your plastic gear is badly scratched, especially your fermenters, you may want to replace them. I use plastic fermenters. They are fine.

You may also want to look at where you store your gear. Keep it stored away from as much possible contamination as you can. Clean out that area too.

Sanitize after each use. Sanitize before each use. Have a bowl or bucket of sanitizer to keep things in while you are using them. If you're concerned about sanitizer being on stuff while you are using it, just rinse it off.

I got real lackadaisical with sanitation. Hot clean water will clean stuff wonderfully. Seen it work many times. But after an infection, I am back to fanatical sanitation.

 

[Scarthingmoor]

Equipment is

5 gal plastic primary
glass carboy secondary
plastic syphoning tubes/racking cane/stirring spoon.
Sanitize with starsan with no-rinse.

That's it basically. I only do partial.

Off flavour is mildly soapy tasting.

Have never replaced the tubing after about a year and a half (maybe I will do this before my next round)

 

[poislb]

Equipment is

5 gal plastic primary
glass carboy secondary
plastic syphoning tubes/racking cane/stirring spoon.
Sanitize with starsan with no-rinse.

That's it basically.

Off flavour is mildly soapy tasting.

What are you cleaning your fermentors, tubing with after use? Oxy, PBW, other?

 

[Scarthingmoor]

What are you cleaning your fermentors, tubing with after use? Oxy, PBW, other?

Iodophor solution or starsan

 

[kapbrew13]

What temps are you fermenting at?

 

[Scarthingmoor]

Around 68-70 degrees.

 

[poislb]

Iodophor solution or starsan

Those are sanitizers/sterilizers, not cleaning agents. Ya may want to use oxy or PBW and let it soak. Oxy cleans the residual bacteria left behind after fermentation. I let my fermentors soak a day with OXY after every use. Try that first, and replace tubing.

 

[poislb]

Around 68-70 degrees.

Shoot for low 60's... That could be your off flavor as well. Do you make starters? Ya may not be pitching enough yeast to make them happy in there enviroment..

 

[Scarthingmoor]

Shoot for low 60's... That could be your off flavor as well. Do you make starters? Ya may not be pitching enough yeast to make them happy in there enviroment..

Yes to the starters. Would go lower if I could. Not sure it's the temp, simply because I've had many good batches at this temp before the one (very) infected batch. Since then it's gone from good to "drinkable".

 

[poislb]

Yes to the starters. Would go lower if I could. Not sure it's the temp, simply because I've had many good batches at this temp before the one (very) infected batch. Since then it's gone from good to "drinkable".

I would try and scrub/soak everything in OXY clean and see if that helps. Still replace all tubing. Best of luck, Cheers!!

 

[Copbrew133]

Change out the tubing, its less expensive than buying materials for each subsequent batch and not having it turn out as well as expected, disassemble anything else (i.e. spigots, siphon, soak everything that contacts wort post boil in hot water and PBW for a couple of hours. Check for scratches in your plastics, i.e. buckets, stir spoon, as those can hold bacteria. Heck if necesary replace the buckets, again not terribly expensive. Afte the PBW soak in Star San for a while. This is of course all contingent on making sure the procedures in your brewing haven't changed. Also, out of curiosity are you bottling with corn sugar? Do you boil it into a solution with water prior to adding to the bottling bucket? If not I dont if bacteria can harbor itself in the bottling sugars if it is being added dry into the beer prebottle. Just a thought, good luck.

 

[duboman]

This taken from Brew Your Own magazine article:

"Yeast are incredible little chemical processing plants. Besides churning out ethanol and carbon dioxide, yeast have a pretty busy production schedule, making all sorts of things that eventually turn into beer. For example, brewer’s yeasts produce a variety of fatty acids that can contribute “goaty,” “sweaty,” or “soapy” flavors to beer. Each yeast strain produces a quantity and proportion of these acids unique to, or
characteristic of, that strain. Other acids are also produced, such as acetic and lactic acid for example."

Aside from all the above cleaning and sanitizing suggestions I would look at the yeast, pitch rate and temps you are fermenting at as the off flavor you describe is referenced in this article pertaining to the use of various yeast and the by products of fermentation.