Sour beer

[Ragnvald]

Greetings,

Been brewing for nearly ten years now.
I have had two batches turn out sour. One, a Hefe Weiss style ale was like a Berliner Weis, but I don’t like them.
everything I read points to sanitation, but I haven’t changed my process at all.
I just brewed two beers two weeks ago. While kegging them, I typically sample a little. It gives me a really good idea what the beer will taste like when carbon.
This time, my Oktoberfest style ale came out spot on!
The Pumpkin ale, came out a touch sour. I don't like sours.
Now it is not a full blown sour, just minor sour notes.
I have done these beers in the past without incident. These last two, I followed the exact same sanitation procedures, brewing them the same day. Same water, same temperatures...

suggestions?

 

[day_trippr]

Greetings, @Ragnvald, and welcome to HBT!

So whatever is happening, it's while the beer is still in the fermentor. That cuts things down.
- How do you chill your beer prior to pitching? Have you inspected all the fittings the chilled wort passes through to get into the fermentor? Specifically, if you chill your wort in your boil kettle, when was the last time you took the drain valve apart?
- Are you using dry or liquid yeast, and if the latter, do you typically create a "starter" and use that for pitching?
- And how quickly do you pitch your yeast?

Might be a clue in there, never know

Cheers!

 

[bracconiere]

i got a great tip from @IslandLizard toput my fermenter out in the open air and sun light when i was getting sour beers....worked great......

but mine were full blown sour!

 

[IslandLizard]

First you need to find out what is causing the souring, and investigate most probable pathways, before you can fix them.

You've got nearly 10 years of brewing under the belt, and suddenly this is cropping up, seemingly out of nowhere.
To me, this seems to point to something that's being missed in cleaning and/or sanitizing.

In addition to @day_trippr's questions, what cleaner do you use for your equipment, which sanitizer?

As he mentioned, if you have a kettle drain valve, the whole assembly and connection is often overlooked. It's exposed to heat and boiling wort alright, but Pedio can create havoc there, suddenly, after years of good brewing.
Aside from souring, a weird, buttery flavor is usually associated with Pedio, due to the diacetyl she pumps out. Any traces of a weird, slick, theater popcorn-butter flavor along with the sourness?

Anything you did differently with your Oktoberfest than with your Pumpkin Ale? Anywhere in the whole brewing process, from milling grain, to pitching yeast, to the point you tasted the sourness in the Pumpkin Ale?
Which was brewed first that day?

What kind of fermenters are you using?