Band Aid Creep

[br33zy]

Hi SB,

We had a similar problem with two of our batches. Tasted fine out of the fermenter; then awful out of the bottle after conditioning. Depressing!

We changed our bottle sanitising regime so that we now follow up the final rinse for each bottle with two squirts of Brewshield (which is the Brewcraft brand no rinse sanitiser) before it goes onto the bottle tree. The bottle tree also gets misted with a fine spray of Brewshield too. That seemed to do the trick - we haven't had any problems since.

One of our guys is paranoid about taps (sorry Benny) so we haven't had any issues there

Cheers

Breezy

 

[crundle]

A spray or Starsan or similar around the brewing area is good practice also. It's a bit like an operating theatre, you are trying to make the area as sterile as possible, devoid of life other than your tasty yeast cultures. But waiting in the wings are lots of lifeforms who would like to colonise the area, so not only do you have t nuke your equipment, but the area they are in also.

Crundle

 

[pint of lager]

Keep everything clean in your brew area. Also clean up any wort splashes. Clean the outside of your fermenter where you are almost gauranteed to have a few splashes. Leaving wort residue around is a prime breeding ground for infections and wild yeasts. You end up with colonies that can thrive on wort, grown and ready to go, just waiting for the oppurtunity to feast on your brew.

Change your cleaner and sanitiser around to keep your house nasties on their toes.

 

[Swinging Beef]

Lots of good advice here.
Im thinking I will just use all of the avice at the same time, and try to get back to clean brews.
The Christmas holidays and three failed brews have really put a dent in my beer reserves.

 

[~MikE]

I normally rinse all gear immediately.
THen a bleach/vinegar combo.
Then a rinse.
Then Idophor

maybe the taste is actually some sort of chemical cocktail, now if only one could pinpoint the source, hmm.... :lol: - just a theory, if you wanna try my cleaning method it is as follows:

once my gear is clean, i do a bleach wash, which sterilises EVERYTHING (imo no need for vinegar, but you may know something i dont)
after a couple of rinses, i do a sodium metabisulphite rinse (that's right, it's useful for something) which neutralises the bleach, but also keeps it sanitary.... DONE!

 

[WitWonder]

When people say 'band aids', could it also be described as 'minty'? I have one keg at the moment which exhibits this flavour. Wasn't there initially but has developed and I've also noticed the beer seems to be less than ideally carbonated now, even after being on the gas and all cardbed up.

 

[Hutch]

I'm a big fan of the sodium percarbonate (clean) and Starsan (no-rinse sanitiser) combination.
The Sodium percarbonate can be bought at the supermarket as either unscented nappy-san, or in a purer form in the homebrew section (Coopers Sanitiser). You mix a teaspoon up with a litre or 2 of BOILING water, and let this work its magic in your fermenter (fizzes like crazy). Shake it up, let it get into everything, scrub yeast ring with a brush, then rinse it off after a few minutes. This will clean away all visible signs of gunk (if you want an even better cleaner, "PBW" by 5-Star is the best, but not so readily available yet).

Cleaning is followed with a few cups of Star San (or any other phosphoric-acid based sanitiser). Give it a good shake with the lid on, and let drain upside down. Any remaining sanitiser froth will not taint your brew in any way, and will leave your fermenter completeley sanitised (assuming you have cleaned out your tap as per advice above.

Many many moons ago I used to use Sodium met, and still got infections with that (dreadful stuff). IMHO StarSan or iodophor are the best options for no-rinse, and you don't end up with a brewery/beer that smells like a pool.