Hey all. I've got a strange infection that I can't get rid of. Any advice or suggestions welcome as I've dumped 6 out of the last 8 beers I've made. I'm not a new brewer by any means and I've brewed over 300 batches so I'm confident to say that my sanitation is fine.
So... What the infection looks and smells like...
I'd describe it as a sulphur smell which ranges from mild to strong and seems to get stronger the longer the beer is kegged. I've also noticed some small white clumps floating on top of the beer in fermenter. Although they don't look like mould, I initially just put it down to some yeast that hadn't flocced out yet. Another thing that I have noticed that it completely destroys any hop aroma. Also I thought that it could be yeast derived as I've used BR97 which can be a bit Sulphur like if you under oxygenate.
Process
I usually ferment in 6 gal buckets with airlock in a temp controlled chest freezer. Although at times I use 5 gal better bottles (which I feel is important later) leaving as little head space as possible and I try to keg within 10 days or so.
So you say 2 batches were fine... What was different?
The first was a kettle sour which I can hypothese that the pH played a part?
Also both beers were racked into better bottles narrowing down exposure to the environment of the chest freezer.
Steps I've put into place.
I've threw away all hoses and syphons and bought new. Fermented the last batch for 7 days in a new better bottle with minimal outside air contact.
Stripped everything and cleaned with pbw and boiled if possible.
Cleaned out the chest freezer with bleach 3x and made sure as much condensation was wiped up each day.
What I think it is.
I think I have a mould in the freezer that I can't see. Although I have cleaned it 3 times. and I can't see any other solution other than starting again and buying a new one - which obviously I don't want to do.
Any ideas?!?
So... What the infection looks and smells like...
I'd describe it as a sulphur smell which ranges from mild to strong and seems to get stronger the longer the beer is kegged. I've also noticed some small white clumps floating on top of the beer in fermenter. Although they don't look like mould, I initially just put it down to some yeast that hadn't flocced out yet. Another thing that I have noticed that it completely destroys any hop aroma. Also I thought that it could be yeast derived as I've used BR97 which can be a bit Sulphur like if you under oxygenate.
Process
I usually ferment in 6 gal buckets with airlock in a temp controlled chest freezer. Although at times I use 5 gal better bottles (which I feel is important later) leaving as little head space as possible and I try to keg within 10 days or so.
So you say 2 batches were fine... What was different?
The first was a kettle sour which I can hypothese that the pH played a part?
Also both beers were racked into better bottles narrowing down exposure to the environment of the chest freezer.
Steps I've put into place.
I've threw away all hoses and syphons and bought new. Fermented the last batch for 7 days in a new better bottle with minimal outside air contact.
Stripped everything and cleaned with pbw and boiled if possible.
Cleaned out the chest freezer with bleach 3x and made sure as much condensation was wiped up each day.
What I think it is.
I think I have a mould in the freezer that I can't see. Although I have cleaned it 3 times. and I can't see any other solution other than starting again and buying a new one - which obviously I don't want to do.
Any ideas?!?