breeves2245
Active Member
- Joined
- Jul 31, 2014
- Messages
- 34
- Reaction score
- 6
Returned to brewing last year after a decade or so away. I am an extract brewer and brewed maybe six batches or so last year. Getting results from this may be bad to this is fairly good. So this year I upped my game and make improvements. Got a great basement/patio for brewing, plenty of room, 20 gal utility sink, etc.
Improvements were made on the cool side. Bought two dual star controllers with 12" probes, Big Mouth dual port lid with valve and the fermwraps to keep fermentation temp constant. Also a bought a diffusion stone setup. Controllers/fermwraps worked very well, so I was getting excited about tasting the first batch of Dead Ringer IPA. After a few days in kegerator and getting some CO2 I gave it a try. Borderline not drinkable. I know conditioning plays a role so I will wait another week to see if it improves to drinkable. Got the SMASH IPA dry hopping now and will be in the keg tomorrow. So another one coming soon.
It this one does not come out good, I may be done. I am extremely careful with sanitation. I have a large plastic tub, I think Sterlite from Wally World, to use for sanitation. It's an under the bed storage type plastic tub, very nice to put in 2.5 gal and .5 oz of starsan for a sanitation bath for all my equipment. Plus a handy bottle spray for any situation I think I may need. Very focused during the brew, no distractions. These last two batches went smooth. Wort cooled quickly with immersion chiller, OG looked right, new oxygen diffusion stone worked great, yeast took off on time and aggressive. Controller hooked up with probe to keep it at 67°, and stored out of sunlight. Racked to sanitized keg using the Big Mouth valve and sanitized tubing. Purged the keg a bit to pull out any oxygen. Four days later, first taste is not encouraging. Just tastes very bad. If the next batch goes this same route, I really don't know how it makes any sense to continue. Don't know what else to do short of hiring a brewing consultant to come to my house and watch every step I do.
Improvements were made on the cool side. Bought two dual star controllers with 12" probes, Big Mouth dual port lid with valve and the fermwraps to keep fermentation temp constant. Also a bought a diffusion stone setup. Controllers/fermwraps worked very well, so I was getting excited about tasting the first batch of Dead Ringer IPA. After a few days in kegerator and getting some CO2 I gave it a try. Borderline not drinkable. I know conditioning plays a role so I will wait another week to see if it improves to drinkable. Got the SMASH IPA dry hopping now and will be in the keg tomorrow. So another one coming soon.
It this one does not come out good, I may be done. I am extremely careful with sanitation. I have a large plastic tub, I think Sterlite from Wally World, to use for sanitation. It's an under the bed storage type plastic tub, very nice to put in 2.5 gal and .5 oz of starsan for a sanitation bath for all my equipment. Plus a handy bottle spray for any situation I think I may need. Very focused during the brew, no distractions. These last two batches went smooth. Wort cooled quickly with immersion chiller, OG looked right, new oxygen diffusion stone worked great, yeast took off on time and aggressive. Controller hooked up with probe to keep it at 67°, and stored out of sunlight. Racked to sanitized keg using the Big Mouth valve and sanitized tubing. Purged the keg a bit to pull out any oxygen. Four days later, first taste is not encouraging. Just tastes very bad. If the next batch goes this same route, I really don't know how it makes any sense to continue. Don't know what else to do short of hiring a brewing consultant to come to my house and watch every step I do.