SS Brewbucket problems

[kenack]

I have a problem with several of my beer batches. I do all grain and have been since 2009 with a 20 gal Spike brew pot, 15 gal cooler mashtun and a 10 gal igloo cooler for HLT and it's always worked great and produced award winning beers. I changed from plastic brew buckets and carboys about 3 years ago when SS Brewtech offered the initial offering of their brewbuckets. I bought 4 and have been using them exclusively and don't use a secondary anymore. I brew 12 gal batches and split them into 2 fermenters and usually do 2 batches in a day (long day). We use PBW cleaner and Starsan sterilizer and bar keepers friend occasionally. We keg only even when entering competition using a beer gun to fill bottles.
Now the problem: I had one corny out of two cornys in the same batch have bad beer in February, it smelled OK but had this sour metallic taste, according to my wife and friend, but to me it almost tasted like it had some cleaning solution in it! Next batch I had 3 out of 4 cornys out of two batches have the same taste!

One thing that I haven't done is take apart the drain valves on the fermenters and clean them separately until yesterday. I only ran cleaner then starsan thru them. I do the same thing with my cornys, I run cleaner thru them into the next one using CO2 and they same thing with the starsan. Other than taking apart the drain valves on the fermenters any other advice?

Thanks,
Ken

 

[Resonator]

Are you not rinsing the pdw or bar keepers friend out with water before using the star san? I'd shake the keg with water in it and make sure it's all out before using star san if not

 

[kenack]

Thanks but we always rinse with water very well before we Starsan. My taste buds are different from other people because of head/neck radiation so I guess the off taste is more like my wife and friend say, sour and metallic.

Thanks,

Ken

 

[Resonator]

How long do you leave your beer in the primary?

"If you leave the beer in the primary fermentor for a relatively long period of time after primary fermentation is over ("long" depends on the style and other fermentation factors), soapy flavors can result from the breakdown of fatty acids in the trub. Soap is, by definition, the salt of a fatty acid; so you are literally tasting soap."

Good place to start for taste issues
http://www.howtobrew.com/section4/chapter21-2.html

 

[kenack]

Most of my IPAs, APAs and blondes I leave in fermenter 12 to 14 days, never longer than that.

Ken

 

[donbrew]

I think PBW or BKF is the culprit, sometimes some of will get left behind. Like some water evaporates above the water line leaving crystals behind, or some chemical is reacting with the metal.

I've had a sort of "soda" (lime not Coke/Pepsi) kind of taste before from various cleaners. Sometimes rinsing is not enough, you need to scrub with clear water.

 

[kenack]

I'll try using a sponge on it with clean water next time. Also, my Star San was about 4 years old and think maybe it wasn't sterilizing anymore. Got a fresh batch and am using that today in a batch Amarillo red rye ale.

Ken

 

[daksin]

Hard to say- PBW tastes soapy and weird to me, not exactly metallic, but the taste threshold of that stuff is CRAZY low. I can taste a single grain in 4oz of beer.