Anything obviously wrong?

[Scobieb]

Hey guys,

Will give the no shaking a try in the next batch this weekend.

As for bottle storage, I was keeping them in a wardrobe but this year I've been keeping them in the wine cooler with the fermenter so they hold a certain temperature

 

[DJ_L3ThAL]

Don't stress, cupboard is fine unless you live in a Sauna or Boiler room.

 

[Scobieb]

It can be saunaish in the summer Pat. The apartment gets the afternoon sun on its windows and its not unusual to come home to 30c+. This time of year its much better...sitting at around 17-20c

 

[yum beer]

Stroage temp doesn't seem to be the issue then.

Try the gentle, tube in the bottom of the priming vessel, no splashing after fermentation and keep the oxygen out avenue and you should see an improvement.

Unless there is something else completely unrelated going on......

 

[hoppy2B]

Hi Scobieb,

You said your bottle went crazy when you opened it didn't you? By that did you mean it is gushing? Gushing is normally caused by infection. Sometimes AG beer will do it when fresh and then quieten down some with ageing but normally it would be due to infection.

 

[peas_and_corn]

Yeah from everything you've said it sounds like an infection, possibly a lactic acid producing one- they ferment what yeast cannot, creating too much co2 and thus gushing.

If it is, I would recommend replacing your fermenter to be on the safe side, because sometimes you just can't get an infection out of a fermenter. But that's just me.

 

[wynnum1]

Dry malt extract how do you buy and how fresh ,

 

[Tropico]

How old are the grains that you are steeping, and how long has it been since they have been milled?

I used some grains that had been milled for some time before I steeped them and I ended up with a very sour beer. It may have been coincidence but I still put it down to the fact that this caused the only sour beer I've ever made.

 

[Scobieb]

Hi guys,

I tend to buy ingredients just before I make up the next batch. The dry malt is packaged in 500g or 1kg bags and I tend to grab it from Cellar Plus because they are close by. Grain wise I either have it ground 2 or 3 days before in the shop or I have some bags with various grains which I crack myself with a rolling pin as I make up the brew on the day.

New fermenter maybe the way to go.

 

[yankinoz]

Yes, at bottling, stir, do not shake.

Apart from that, sour tastes and poor body could mean wild yeasts are eating up your low-fermentable sugars. Your sanitising sounds fine, but the transfer to secondary could be the problem, especially in warm weather when the critters fly in droves. If all bottles have that flaw, the infection, if any, probably occurs before bottling.

If you're making ales, try skipping the secondary. Give it three weeks in primary, including if possible a day or two up to 20 or above, and then bottle directly. If you still have a problem, your primary fermenter and connections become the leading suspects.

Taps can be a source of infection. Can yours by dropped in boiling water or taken apart? Long soaks of taps, hoses and fermenters in Napisan and the like are good. In subsequent sanitizing, iodophors have an advantage in that iodine vapour has penetrating power, but they stain plastic if contract is long.

 

[pat86]

Yeah, I was just thinking - whats the background of your FV? I've seen quite a few threads where people who clean religiously still have to replace a plastic FV because something somewhere has gotten in. They report the same kind of off-flavours which persist in different brews so it is a possibility. Doesn't mean it is an infection, but did you ever brew anything weird or funky in it or does it have a smell to it?

As above, I am overdue for cleaning the tap on my FVs - there is a thread on here somewhere about how to pull them apart easily.

Also, if you wanted to narrow things down, you could skip bulk priming altogether, bottle from your primary after a CC and then use carb drops for a batch. This doesn't really allow any extra chances for oxygen...

 

[manticle]

Whereabouts in Melbourne?

 

[TheWiggman]

I'm with oxidation and/or lacto infection. One mistake I made early on was to forget to remove the tap and clean the threads on the fermenter. 3 frustrating brewing efforts later, I found the source. Don't lash out yet without confirming/doing the easy stuff. Also, remove the O-ring in the lid and give it a good clean to rule it out.

Oxidation is invetiable but its effects can be minimised. There should be zero splashing when bulk priming and bottling should be done as soon as possible. Next time, bottle one or two straight out the the fermenter and use carb drops or similar, and bulk prime the rest. No difference = not the problem.
Leaving the lid off shouldn't introduce extra oxygen because there will be 19% in there beforehand anyway unless you purged with CO2. Just don't do it in a cyclone.

I don't think there is any problem with splashing prior to pitching yeast. This has been discussed at length - it's good for the yeast, not necessary if rehydrating, and if anything should have a positive effect on the beer.

 

[Scobieb]

I'm in North Melbourne

 

[Scobieb]

On the priming point it's something I've considered the issue I have is that I use a mix of 330, 500 and 568 bottles hence why it was bulk priming.

The 330 are my testers in the first few weeks

 

[manticle]

I'm in North Melbourne

If you want another palate to try it and give you an opinion, I work in NM. Could drop around or you could drop a bottle off and I could taste it in my own time.

I can't promise you I can definitely identify the issue but there's a reasonable chance I will have an idea. It does sound like infection.

PM if you think it's of any use.

 

[Scobieb]

What does interest about the Pale is that while I was taking hydrometer readings I was tasting what was poured into the container, and it tasted great. So the problem does seem to be in the priming/bottling process I think.

 

[hoppy2B]

Did you clean the tap after taking your hydro samples? Its recommended that you squirt some sanitizing solution into the tap nozzle as not doing so will cause an infection through the tap when you transfer to your bottling setup. The hydro samples will taste fine because they have only just come out through the tap but the infection will have time to build up in the bottles.