Son of a gun!

[BBKing]

Just a quick venting of my frustrations on 2 ruined batches this year:

3-4 months ago I brewed a Brewers Best American Amber Ale kit. I used my usual techniques (2.5 gal boil, proper hop schedule, irish moss proper ferm temp) and ended up with a funky smelling (almost like rotten fruit but much more subdued) that tasted kind of plastic-y. Thinking I had lacked on sanitation I replaced tubings etc and went nuclear on my bucket and everything else. The beer ended up not being drinkable whatsoever and I dumped it after 2 months.

The only thing I did different on this batch was to use some washed PacMan.

Flash forward to last night....same damn problem. After AAA a few months back I tightened down on my sanititation, going as far as replacing my tubing again after my last batch (I'm going to start replacing it every 3-4 months now) and kept with the same sanitation procedure I've been going by (soap, bleach, lots of rinsing and 1 step). Popped the top off of my bucket last night and I knew immediately that this is most likely another crap batch. Again, 2.5 gal boil, proper hop schedule, irish moss, stable ferm temp etc. The only thing different was, again, I used the last of my washed PacMan.

Every beer between my AAA and last night has been awesome. Period. Nothing wrong with em. I cant help suspect that this yeast has something to do with it. It was kind of old (washed and jarred May 1st) but not that old. The only thing I can think of is that it was washed from a batch of Midwest Supplies Hop Head IIPA. Could the IBUs from the "parent cake" have something to do with it? I've read that it may but havent seen anything definitive.

I find it hard to believe that it would, but then again its weird how my 2 ruined batches both had the same harvested yeast as the only changed variable in my usual procedure.

Or maybe someone has an idea I havent thought of. But I'm 99% sure it isnt my sanitation.

Please help!

 

[Scut_Monkey]

I'd say it's probably the yeast you isolated. Most likely a bug was isolated with it. I had a similar problem with a smack pack that was not stored correctly by a homebrew shop. I doubt it's your equipment but the possibility is there.

 

[biochemedic]

Just a quick venting of my frustrations on 2 ruined batches this year:

The only thing I did different on this batch was to use some washed PacMan.

The only thing different was, again, I used the last of my washed PacMan.

Every beer between my AAA and last night has been awesome. Period.

....its weird how my 2 ruined batches both had the same harvested yeast as the only changed variable in my usual procedure.

Or maybe someone has an idea I havent thought of. But I'm 99% sure it isnt my sanitation.

I've highlighted some key lines from your post...

same yeast, same (bad) results? It's not weird, you got a contaminated culture!

 

[ElPresidente77]

I brewed Yooper's 60 minute clone in the spring using washed pac man yeast. And it tasted like ASS. Only the 2nd brew I have ever dumped. But it was undrinkable. I wonder...........

off topic. When one of your homies dies you pour out a 40oz. So, when one of your beers dies do you have to throw 40 of your homies out onto the street??

 

[Cheaton]

Are you sure you got pacman and maybe not another yeast? Some breweries use different yeast for bottle conditioning than they use for primary fermentation.

 

[Revvy]

It's not unheard of to have infected harvested yeast. I had the same issue, I think with some harvested pacman a few years back.

But it's not a total wash out, if you have some left, you could leave it for a few years and see if the mutation/infection dues out. I don't know if you know the story of Charlie Papazian's yeast (White Labs "Cry Havoc") or not. He talked about it on basic brewing. The recipes in both Papazian's books, The Complete Joy of Homebrewing and The Homebrewers Companion, were originally developed and brewed with this yeast. Papazian had "Cry Havoc" in his yeast stable since 1983.

He has used it nearly continuously since 83, sometimes pitching multiple batches on top of a cake, sometimes washing or not washing, etc. In a basic brewing podcast iirc last year he talked about how a batch of the yeast after a lot of uses picked up a wild mutation, and he noticed an off flavor in a couple batches.

Now most of us would prolly dump that yeast. Instead he washed it, slanted or jarred it (I can't recall which,)marked it, and cold stored it, and pretty much forgot about it for 10-15 years. He had plenty other slants of the yeast strain, so he left it alone.

Well evidently he came across that container of yeast, and for sh!ts and giggles made a beer with it. Evidently after all those years in storage, the wild or mutated yeast died out leaving behind a few viable cells of the "pure" culture, which he grew back into a pretty hardy strain...which iirc is the culture that White Labs actually used for their cry havoc...because of it's tenacity and survivability.

You might in 20 years have a brand new yeast, and when white labs duy it from you, of course you could name it......






"Lucille."

 

[Teromous]

of course you could name it......






"Lucille."

Nice catch

 

[Revvy]

Nice catch

Glad someone got it....