Hey guys - I posted this in the beginners forum as well but thought I'd bring it here for your input as well. Thanks in advance for any help you offer. It's much appreciated.
I'm still a beginner at this, but I do have 8 extract brews under my belt. But I have noticed a trend with all of my beers to this point. All of them develop a sour kind of taste in the bottles. It's probably there prior to bottling, but for whatever reason it really comes out after being conditioned for a while in bottles.
All have been kits bought from either Midwest or NB. I use liquid yeast with a starter. I am pretty meticulous about sanitation. I have a 5 gallon container of Star San solution mixed with distilled water. I usually just reuse this for sanitation. I have a chest freezer for temperature control and keep fermentation temps at about 68 for ales. I have used several different fermentation vessels and all of them have produced a pungent beer regardless of style.
The one exception to this was an IPA I did. I didn't notice it as much. I think the hoppy profile either covered it or perhaps the hop oils from dry hopping protected it from any infection.
I want to transition to all grain, but before I do so is like to figure out where my process is wrong.
One thing that has come to mind. I don't aerate very well. I usually just pour in the yeast after some shaking of the fermenter. Could that be a big problem?
I'm still a beginner at this, but I do have 8 extract brews under my belt. But I have noticed a trend with all of my beers to this point. All of them develop a sour kind of taste in the bottles. It's probably there prior to bottling, but for whatever reason it really comes out after being conditioned for a while in bottles.
All have been kits bought from either Midwest or NB. I use liquid yeast with a starter. I am pretty meticulous about sanitation. I have a 5 gallon container of Star San solution mixed with distilled water. I usually just reuse this for sanitation. I have a chest freezer for temperature control and keep fermentation temps at about 68 for ales. I have used several different fermentation vessels and all of them have produced a pungent beer regardless of style.
The one exception to this was an IPA I did. I didn't notice it as much. I think the hoppy profile either covered it or perhaps the hop oils from dry hopping protected it from any infection.
I want to transition to all grain, but before I do so is like to figure out where my process is wrong.
One thing that has come to mind. I don't aerate very well. I usually just pour in the yeast after some shaking of the fermenter. Could that be a big problem?