Off flavors are seriously bringing me down

[fezzman]

You can also boil all of your water too to eliminate that as a factor.

Do you keg? If so when was the last time you cleaned out the beer lines and took a part the taps?

Several of my friends who keg have found that their beer lines where infecting their beer.

From NB;

The two beers on tap are actually the first two beers I've ever had on tap...all new equipment. I flushed the lines with Star San prior to using. This off flavor was affecting previous batches that were bottled so it isn't in the keg procedure.

I'm pretty much now convinced that it is an infection, spreading from batch to batch. Again, there is nothing visible to show as much. However, the taste of one of the kegged batches is getting worse, tart and puckery. An older bottled batch has been in the fridge for a good 6 months because I never threw it out. Today I opened it up, off flavor was still there but the carbonation had increased despite being in the fridge. It didn't foam like crazy or anything but it was still over-carbed. That can be a sign of infection, right?

My next course of action is going to be replacing my siphon and hose. Then I will soak my new fermentor in a bleach solution and then sterilize. Then I am going to brew a batch using a burner outside (to eliminate kitchen concerns). Primary only...then keg. Speaking of, I will replace all keg seals in the event that the infection (wild yeast??) spread to those. Sound like a viable plan?

 

[Schlenkerla]

Have you ever purposely made and sour beers? Belgians or Berliner? Wondering if that could be a source.

 

[fezzman]

Have you ever purposely made and sour beers? Belgians or Berliner? Wondering if that could be a source.

Nopers. Maybe I should start. lol

 

[Schlenkerla]

Fezzman - Critically look at whatever is difficult to clean. Put extra effort at looking for debris that doesn't belong.

• Spigots
• Auto syphons
• Hoses
• Wine thief
• Turkey Baster+the bulb
• Oxygen/Aeration Stone
• Wort Chiller
• Carboy Caps
• Blow-Off Hose
• Seals on bucket lids remove large o-rings
• Airlocks
• Draw tubes in kegs
• Pin/Ball Lock Fittings

Make a list like this and systematically go through all of the items.

I'd use an old toothbrush or a gun barrel brush on these parts. Maybe boil some of these items (the non plastic parts). You might be able to soak them in a bleach water too (2oz bleach: 5 gal water). If you are wanting to be really aggressive you can go the route of ammonia or TSP soaks, but wash/rinse really, really good. I'd start with the bleach since I know it works on my carboys and it won't screw up my plastic parts.