Still making bad beer after 30+ batches.

[Bassman2003]

The main thing is to not scratch the SS. I need to research but I think BKF will re-passivate the SS which is what keeps it from rusting. Removing everything is what you want! Just without any scratching. Plastic scrub brush works well for me.

Is the gray residue gone after you use BKF on the inside of the kettle?

 

[mprowland]

Is the gray residue gone after you use BKF on the inside of the kettle?

. I've never used it on the inside. When I do scrub it with a scotch-brite pad, I do it after brew day so there is time for oxide layer to build. I don't know if that helps or not.

 

[Bassman2003]

Why don't you try BKF on the inside without the pad? In all of the years of using my keggle, I have never seen any residue. SS does not give off residue as a normal course of activity.

 

[dallasdb]

No offense OP but man this would be one amazing troll if all this was a ruse!

Who the hell keeps brewing after 30 batches of bad beer and the financial investment that goes with it?!?!?

 

[mprowland]

No offense OP but man this would be one amazing troll if all this was a ruse!

Who the hell keeps brewing after 30 batches of bad beer and the financial investment that goes with it?!?!?

Very valid question! I wouldn't say they were all terrible. I would say out of the 30 batches; 4 were good, 12 were mediocre(at best), 8 were bad but barely drinkable and the remaining 6 were "pour down the drain" bad. I have yet to make a beer I would be proud of. If "you" look at the ingredients and steps to make beer, it "appears" to be ridiculously easy. Over the past couple of years I've researched and dissected every step along the way ruling out any obvious problems with my equipment and/or procedures and still can't get it right. What's even more frustrating is watching other people make AWESOME beer without being nearly as anal as I am. I'm stubborn and pissed off more than anything at this point. I have a love/hate relationship with trying to get it right. I feel like I'm too far into this thing to give up now. I have no doubt that I'm one little fix away from making awesome beer. With my luck, if this does happen, I'll probably develop Type 2 diabetes and won't be able to drink any of it anyway!!

 

[dallasdb]

I skimmed through the first 10 pages of the thread. Have you tried a simple extract recipe?

Do you like commercial beers?

Do your friends like your beers?

Just wondering, maybe you are too damn picky and you are actually brewing decent beer.

 

[mprowland]

I skimmed through the first 10 pages of the thread. Have you tried a simple extract recipe?

Do you like commercial beers?

Do your friends like your beers?

Just wondering, maybe you are too damn picky and you are actually brewing decent beer.

-I have not tried an extract recipe, not a bad idea.
-Love commercial beers
-Telling someone their beer sucks is like telling a friend that their kid is insanely ugly; it just doesn't happen. They say it's good or decent, but only have ONE beer and then switch to something else. I don't know about you, but if like a beer, I stick with it for awhile. Luckily, my friend now confirms that he tastes what I've been tasting now for awhile. The truth finally comes out!

 

[TheMadKing]

-
-Telling someone their beer sucks is like telling a friend that their kid is insanely ugly; it just doesn't happen. They say it's good or decent, but only have ONE beer and then switch to something else. I don't know about you, but if like a beer, I stick with it for awhile. Luckily, my friend now confirms that he tastes what I've been tasting now for awhile. The truth finally comes out!

Get better critics than your friends. As others have suggested, homebrew clubs, LHBS guys, or even look up a regional BJCP judge and ask for help identifying the flavor.

Rule #1 about tasting homebrew, brutal honesty! it will only result in better beer which is better for everyone.

 

[GPP33]

Just curious, where does the '15 times' number come from? The keg space is so small I can't see more than a few emptying the space. Now if you came back multiple times to get the oxygen to keep coming out of solution and emptied it would make more sense. But does the CO2 push the DO out of solution?

If you look closely at the graph in the linked thread a few posts back you'll see that the number of times is dependent on the pressure used. 15 times will get you to .01ppm at 30 PSI, at 15 PSI it won't get you close and at 60 PSI you'll be there after 8 purges. PV=nRT, double the pressure in a given volume and you get twice the gas molecules therefore purging with twice the pressure will get you the same turnover in half the purge cycles.

The question is what level of O2 is acceptable. Head space O2 does not equal DO.The problem with the chart is it assumes your purge gas has zero O2, which isn't the case. Beverage CO2 is 99.9% pure, that means .1%, or 1,000PPM is not CO2. We don't know what it is but let's assume it's "air" which has 20% O2. If this is the case then your CO2 has 200ppm O2. That's the lowest you'll ever get your head space. At 15 PSI 10 purges will get you to the lowest theoretical value you can get with Beverage CO2. Medical and industrial CO2 has 5 times the level of impurities, 8 15 PSI purges will get the job done in this case.

I usually toss a couple more in, 12 purges at 15 PSI gets it done for me

 

[dallasdb]

OP,

Try this blonde ale kit from www.RiteBrew.com

It's a great recipe and it's CHEAP!!!

Go with the dry yeast and its $20.58

http://www.ritebrew.com/product-p/851080.htm

The cream ale is also very good and only $20.58

http://www.ritebrew.com/product-p/851054.htm

When I'm low on beer and need to get something quick and easy that most everyone likes I go with these two!

 

[RoadKing]

If you look closely at the graph in the linked thread a few posts back you'll see that the number of times is dependent on the pressure used. 15 times will get you to .01ppm at 30 PSI, at 15 PSI it won't get you close and at 60 PSI you'll be there after 8 purges. PV=nRT, double the pressure in a given volume and you get twice the gas molecules therefore purging with twice the pressure will get you the same turnover in half the purge cycles.

The question is what level of O2 is acceptable. Head space O2 does not equal DO.The problem with the chart is it assumes your purge gas has zero O2, which isn't the case. Beverage CO2 is 99.9% pure, that means .1%, or 1,000PPM is not CO2. We don't know what it is but let's assume it's "air" which has 20% O2. If this is the case then your CO2 has 200ppm O2. That's the lowest you'll ever get your head space. At 15 PSI 10 purges will get you to the lowest theoretical value you can get with Beverage CO2. Medical and industrial CO2 has 5 times the level of impurities, 8 15 PSI purges will get the job done in this case.

I usually toss a couple more in, 12 purges at 15 PSI gets it done for me

Way off topic. You guys should start a new thread, and for what it's worth, I've been kegging beer for 23 years and I have never needed a spread sheet to purge head space. Geez

 

[Bassman2003]

If you look closely at the graph in the linked thread a few posts back you'll see that the number of times is dependent on the pressure used. 15 times will get you to .01ppm at 30 PSI, at 15 PSI it won't get you close and at 60 PSI you'll be there after 8 purges. PV=nRT, double the pressure in a given volume and you get twice the gas molecules therefore purging with twice the pressure will get you the same turnover in half the purge cycles.

The question is what level of O2 is acceptable. Head space O2 does not equal DO.The problem with the chart is it assumes your purge gas has zero O2, which isn't the case. Beverage CO2 is 99.9% pure, that means .1%, or 1,000PPM is not CO2. We don't know what it is but let's assume it's "air" which has 20% O2. If this is the case then your CO2 has 200ppm O2. That's the lowest you'll ever get your head space. At 15 PSI 10 purges will get you to the lowest theoretical value you can get with Beverage CO2. Medical and industrial CO2 has 5 times the level of impurities, 8 15 PSI purges will get the job done in this case.

I usually toss a couple more in, 12 purges at 15 PSI gets it done for me

Thanks. Please see post #295 I just don't see it but I am still thinking about full kegs right after transfer when I hear the word "purge". Popping the blowoff switch two or three times.

I won't post anymore about this to stay on topic...

 

[ncbrewer]

This article is about care of stainless - it might help:
https://byo.com/stories/item/1516-tlc-for-stainless

 

[GPP33]

Way off topic. You guys should start a new thread, and for what it's worth, I've been kegging beer for 23 years and I have never needed a spread sheet to purge head space. Geez

I think it's safe to say that all of the on topic advice has been given over the past 31 pages. Just sayin.....

 

[DaWhip]

I think I read every post in this thing over the last few days. My 2 cents - Try some small batches. I have been having a lot of fun doing 1 gallon batches between bigger batches and I feel like it has helped me as a brewer too because I get to focus a lot more on what I'm doing. You can do a simple BIAB recipe on the stove top and eliminate a lot of variables. It is a lot easier to find the time to do all the little things and check on your ferment throughout the process.

 

[sikkingj]

What commercial beards do you like? Do you like your friend's homebrew.

I think you may be overly critical of your home brews - I seem to be able to taste any flaw in my beer that I would not-detect / ignore in someone else's.

My beer has improved from having my brew club taste and critic them. Go for the best club you can and they will help you pin point your pain point.

Without a sample, I'm unsure what else we can do for...

That being said, try brewing on a friend's rig and see if you have the same taste.

 

[modifier]

For how long you're boiling the DME starter wort? how are you cooling it?

 

[normonster]

Is there a place where I can send off a couple bottles and have them tell me what's wrong with my beer? I've made 30+ all-grain batches now and almost everyone of them has been barely drinkable. I have yet to make a beer that I would pay money for. I'm done trying to troubleshoot as I've tried just about everything(too long to list here). I've tried a few brewers locally and they couldn't tell me. I'm at wits end and am sick of dumping gallons upon gallons down the drain. Thanks for any input......Mark

Man, you started a thread of epicness.

Instead of dumping, my advice would be to bottle anyway. Let is sit for a month, or two, or three, then refrigerate for 1 week. No matter how horrible your beer is, this will improve it significantly.

I recently tweaked a Blond recipe, mashing higher, and I blew it and ended up with some thick sweet stuff that I hated. Gave most of it away within a month, then about a month later I decided to lager what I had left, tried that 2 weeks later and it is a really good beer. So about 3 month of age made a world of difference.

 

[normonster]

For how long you're boiling the DME starter wort? how are you cooling it?

Haha, he says in the opening post that he is all-grain, not DME.

You just added to the epic nature of the thread with a totally off topic post.

 

[treacheroustexan]

Haha, he says in the opening post that he is all-grain, not DME.

You just added to the epic nature of the thread with a totally off topic post.

key word, "starter wort". You (typically) use DME for starters, not grain.

 

[TheMadKing]

Dear everyone, please read the thread before asking new questions. He's probably answered them at least twice.

Man what a monster thread. Haven't you fixed the problem yet?!?!?!

 

[paulshe]

I've had what probably is the same taste lately in some of my beers. Have not nailed down the culprit. Since restarting this hobby I probably have over 70 batches in the last 2 years or so. All was good until about 4 months ago when a slew of these had this taste. Threw out like 4 out of 6 batches one month. My first thought was first a problem with not rinsing my fermenters well when I switched from oxiclean to PBW. I think this may have contributed to this. But now I'm in a run where I've done about 12 beers and only 1 or 2 have this taste. I dont do any water treatment and have good fermentation temp control. My current guess is yeast viability and under pitch. But that has been mostly a constant so I'm not convinced. The last 3 batches. Two with a good SD yeast starter and one with a single pack of s-05. The s-05 seems to have a trace of the flavor. And it was slow to get going.

The thing I hate is rather than all my batches having this it seems random. Lately getting better. So my one thought is maybe stressed yeast somehow.

My suggestion is like others have mentioned. Do the hotside brew on someone else's gear and ferment in your gear. Then do the other way around. At least I'd try to get those two big variables figured out.

 

[mprowland]

Man what a monster thread. Haven't you fixed the problem yet?!?!?!

Sorry for the monster thread, definitely not my intention. Before I even started this thread I researched anything and everything that could possibly cause this. Again, I appreciate everyone's input! Even if your suggestions didn't correct my problem, I have no doubt that my beer will eventually be better for it. I've had a couple of people reach out and offer to taste the beer. Having someone accurately describe the off flavor will help me pinpoint the problem.

I may do 1-gallon batch of this recipe with my friends gear/water to rule everything out except my procedures. I may also try this recipe and try adding the specialty grains in the last 10 minutes of the mash. Process of elimination

 

[treacheroustexan]

Sorry for the monster thread, definitely not my intention. Before I even started this thread I researched anything and everything that could possibly cause this. Again, I appreciate everyone's input! Even if your suggestions didn't correct my problem, I have no doubt that my beer will eventually be better for it. I've had a couple of people reach out and offer to taste the beer. Having someone accurately describe the off flavor will help me pinpoint the problem.

I may do 1-gallon batch of this recipe with my friends gear/water to rule everything out except my procedures. I may also try this recipe and try adding the specialty grains in the last 10 minutes of the mash. Process of elimination

Feel free to send me a bottle. I'd gladly accept 😂

 

[dallasdb]

Do an extract batch.

 

[TheMadKing]

Do an extract batch.

Already suggested, accepted as a good suggestion, and planned on... RTFT (read the f thread)

 

[dallasdb]

Already suggested, accepted as a good suggestion, and planned on... RTFT (read the f thread)

I know... I made the suggestion already earlier in the thread.

Don't assume I didn't read compadre

Reminding the OP that extract would be a simpler way to diagnose the problem. If extract yields good results... all signs point to his mash being an issue.

EDIT:

The OP should change the name of the thread to Still making bad beer after 30+ pages into this thread

 

[ncbrewer]

OP: You have great perseverance - I salute you. And I'm not joking.

 

[modifier]

Haha, he says in the opening post that he is all-grain, not DME.

You just added to the epic nature of the thread with a totally off topic post.

Thank you for pointing me out so i can reinforce my question.

I was asking about starter wort, which OP prepares with DME as he stated on post #290.
Also i began following this thread about 20 pages ago so I might not remember every little detail discussed, but i sure do know he is all-grain. Peace.

 

[dallasdb]

OP: You have great perseverance - I salute you. And I'm not joking.