new home curse...6infected batches and counting

[boswell]

May be the pipes in your apartment, I've had water taste completely different from house to house in the same town.

 

[billtzk]

I've never seen water grow reddish slime before either. I've had filtered tap water in quart drinking bottles sitting on my counter or in the bottle rack on my bike or in my car that still looked and tasted great when I drank them days later.

So how is that current batch progressing? Should be about done fermenting.

 

[KraphtBier]

Your apartment water lines would be where I would start looking. To me, sediment and slime growth indicate old pipes or fixtures with possible bacterial/fungal infestation. Sucks royally, but you could approach the landlord about having your lines inspected and/or get some money knocked off the rent. Also, do NOT drink the water coming out of those lines till you know what exactly is going on.

edit: how's that latest batch coming along?

 

[bigbeergeek]

Your apartment water lines would be where I would start looking. To me, sediment and slime growth indicate old pipes or fixtures with possible bacterial/fungal infestation. Sucks royally, but you could approach the landlord about having your lines inspected and/or get some money knocked off the rent. Also, do NOT drink the water coming out of those lines till you know what exactly is going on.

edit: how's that latest batch coming along?

Something tells me that if the OP won't haul water up stairs on the occasional brew day he isn't going to haul water for daily drinking.

 

[nukinfuts29]

Man that is NASTY

Sent from my Galaxy S 4G using Home Brew Talk for Android

 

[Komodo]

Invest in a strong filter, boil all water regardless of its use, mix Starsan to recommended ratio, don't rinse it. I would bet that would work regardless of water quality. If I was unsure of air quality, I'd use sealed fermenters, and careful sanitation of those and bottles (ie. Cover them after sanitizing)

 

[kh54s10]

Move to another city or country ASAP!

 

[bigbeergeek]

Move to another city or country ASAP!

Yeah! If you don't like 'Merican water you CAN GET OUT!!!!

 

[Pascal]

so the Brew House kit is doing fine. The american wheat, not so much. Brewed the kit last saturday and the AW last sunday. All was fine until I think thursday. Came home, gave the beer a sniff and all seemed good. Watched the hockey game. We won. Go Canucks! By the end of the game the entire apartment stunk of the same smell I have described before. No visual sign of infection. I don't know why there was no smell one minute and it filled the apartment by the end of a hockey game (3 hours max). However, the batch was as exuberant as I described before. Not sure if a pic will work since it's hard to photo exuberant fermentation but one is attached for good measure.

I do have a hunch, actually more of a major miss I've realized I previously overlooked. There has been one other constant that I had not even thought of: temp. In my old house the temperature in the basement was almost perfectly constant so I watched it for a year or so and then it completely fell off my radar as a variable. I'm now in a fourth floor apartment and the temp is 24 C (75f) without turning the heat on. I believe it is still in the range for Nottingham yeast but it is definitely on the high side and MUCH higher than what I was brewing at before. I was brewing between 16-18c.

So I've been opening the patio door now and again in order to bring the overall temp of the place to around the 20c mark. For the AW brew, I've let it be for now (even though it stinks) to see if my issues may actually be at least partially due to fermentation temps. That, and I'm not dumping a batch without visual that I can post. Both the brews I have on the go are with boiled water, nothing direct from the tap. Not sure what's up with the water here but definitely investing in a tap filter as soon as possible.

 

[Pascal]

Something tells me that if the OP won't haul water up stairs on the occasional brew day he isn't going to haul water for daily drinking.

I usually brew about a batch a week. That's a lot of water! :cross:

 

[ChillWill]

75 is too hot for Nottingham. 72 should be the max and ideally below 70.

Also if the apartment is at 75, the beer could be above 80 easily.

 

[Pascal]

The temp in this place has been at least 75f. Having things too hot has never been an issue before! This is why I'm thinking it is at least an issue, if not the culprit.

 

[billtzk]

Build a temperature-controlled fermentation chamber in some unused corner. Lots of builds on this forum you can copy.

 

[EROK]

The temp in this place has been at least 75f. Having things too hot has never been an issue before! This is why I'm thinking it is at least an issue, if not the culprit.

Do you re-hydrate your yeast ? I would not, given this problem.

My suggestion is to throw out any suspect plastic items such as fermentor, airlocks, auto-syphons (if you use one to transfer to the fermentor)

Use star-san at regular strength and DO NOT rinse it off.

I turn my fermentor sideways (better bottle) about 1/4 filled and rotate it about 90 degrees every 10 minutes or so. I also splash the star-san all over in there to make sure all surfaces are sanitized.

My guess is it is brewing practices and not the water.

Try this (above) and if it does not work THEN it IS your water.


On another note:

I have well water with high iron content and cannot use it. It sucks to have to buy 10 gal of water every brew day, but for $10 or so, you know the beer will come out good. Cost for my average 5 gallon all grain batch is about $30 but that's still about $.54 per beer. Cheaper than going out where I pay $4-5 in my area at the clubs. Good luck !

 

[Pascal]

Thanks for the thoughts Erok,
My recent issues may VERY well be brewing practice, but it is not sanitation. I seriously question the water in this place (as noted) but I'm now thinking the temp of this place is likely more my issue. Not a problem I've had before. I have a few brews on the go and have been leaving the windows open to lower the temp. Will see and will let you know how things work out. With the thermostat off and window open the temp was 19c when I got home from work. Still a bit high but better then the 24c my apartment seems to rest at.

Thanks again and happy brewing.

 

[Pascal]

Also Erok, a pint around these parts is $6.75!!! I was used to $4 or $5 and didn't expect the price of beer to go up when I shifted Provinces.

I will be happy to haul water in the new year, I pick up my truck over Christmas!