Broken brewer :(

[Curly79]

What do you mean by " I clean everything with a sanitizing solution then rinse thoroughly"?

 

[Tropico]

• Since then the infection doesnt seem to take hold as badly, however the issue may also be with me. Since I have seen & tasted so many infected brews, I cant actually remember what a healthy brew is meant to look like and how its mean't to taste pre-carbonation?

To taste, it tastes fine not much of a strong beer flavour or smell at all though. After you swallow and let the remnants sit on your taste buds you do get a slight sour taste coming through...again I cant remember if this is normal or not.

Maybe its just a perception/sensitivity thing.

Your brews may have always been like this, but the sour taste never really came to your attention. Now that you recognise it, you have become extremely sensitive to it and look for it when you try a sample.

Just a possibility.

 

[mongey]

I'll just add to the chorus

looks like beer to me

I have been dry hopping my last few beers with pellets and I have noticed a little oil slickness in the glass when the head subsides . I didnt notice before I was dry hoppnig but it may have been there and I'm just paying more attention now

I googled it all worried at first and figure its hop oils as someone else said. tatses fine so I figure why worry


I'd only dump beer it it tasted worse than sweat from beezbulbs sack

 

[shacked]

One of the basis of my suspicions was the behaviour of the yeast I use, wb-06. While I've used many Belgium whit liquid yeasts (pre infection days) ild often use wb-06 because it was cheaper and still made a nice brew. Ive used the wb-06 yeast more times than I can count. Because I live in QLD one of the tell tale signs of this yeast is your brew has a slight banana/bubblegum smell/taste. During fermentation the gas coming out of the airlock had the banana smell as it should, however by end of fermentation I would pour a glass and the smell/taste was completely gone there would be dead yeast floating in the brew and bubbles had started to form on the surface. While it didn't look as sick as the first few infected brews, it didn't seem right and didn't seem to taste right. Rinse and repeat that outcome many times with me trying different things each time and you get 9+ brews down the sink.

But now as I have stated, I can't actually remember what's right or wrong...apart from the smell/taste of the wb-06 yeast. Has anybody had experience with this yeast in warmer temperatures?

Im thinking of bottling maybe 10 bottles of the latest brew just to see how it comes out when carbonated.

Hey mate,

+1 for fine looking beer there.

I used WB06 a long time ago when I was getting started. All the properties that wouldn't phase me now really freaked me out at the time. I fermented it a little warm at 22C-24C (no temp control at the time) The yeast threw off weird smells and there was loads of crap floating around at the top at the end of fermentation. I even took a jar of wort and loads of photos to the LHBS for inspection. After a few months in the bottle the beer was OK (wasn't my best brew ever).

 

[HBHB]

Looks terribly infected with yeast.

Send it to my place. h34r:

 

[TheWiggman]

I'm a bit lost here, you're stating you have an infection based on appearance? Or taste? Because at the end of the day taste is all that really counts. What's also got me baffled is you're tipping these brews without bottling and giving them some time. Once you've fermented the beer you've got nothing left to lose except a carb drop, so you might as well see it through.
Seeing as we're in the kits an extracts section I'm also assuming you have an HDPE fermenter and brewing using kits only which you explained earlier.

I used bleach as a cleaner for years and still do on glass. HOWEVER it is not ideal for stainless as the chlorine will attack the chromium oxide layer formed from being passivated. This will lead to surface pitting and corrosion. Likewise not ideal on HDPE for other reasons. I'd encourage you to change cleaners, but I don't think that's your problem.

Most of your comments allude to issues due to appearance, but comments regarding the taste are "seems sour". Ferment out and sample, get someone else to taste and confirm your mind isn't playing tricks on you.

 

[pist]

I agree with wigg, ditch using the bleach. That stuff isn't good for you, and probably isn't the best thing for a HDPE fermenter. Possibly a source of the "off taste"? Pure sodium percarbonate is pretty cheap and available in 1kg lots at most LHBS, its relatively safe as it breaks down into harmless elements, hell I've even used coles ultra (unscented nappisan) though this is not as effective. The sodium perc will lift the toughest of soiling too. I use it in my brew kettle to scrub off beer stone. Beer looks fine to me. As already mentioned, you need to bottle it and let it condition.

 

[lobedogg]

I'd also be taking things back to absolute basics with your actual brew. Just a basic kit & kilo with minimal hops or a SMaSH brew if you're AG.

Also, I'd be changing the yeast seeing as you seem to have some concerns relating to that. Just use a pack of US05 or similar & see how you go.

 

[real_beer]

Do you do everything in the one area when you brew, crack grain, mash, boil, siphon and bottle? If you do you might have something in the air that's getting in your brew. If you use an auto siphon and had it a long time without replacing it you could be drawing air into your beer when you rack it off.

It never hurts every six months or so to use a completely different sanitizer throughout your whole brew house system to kill anything that might be building up a resistance to your usual one, Caustic Soda is a great go to solution for that problem. Use hot water to rinse away bleach, and if you've used PBW to clean your gear make sure the water you use to rinse it away with is as least as hot as when you soaked it in originally, hotter is better though.

A RANT:
I'm still amazed at all the YouTube videos that show people with fantastic equipment and setups costing thousands and thousands of dollars that then make a ******* video showing the first ******* thing they ******* do is cracking their ******* grain in the same ******* area that they're ******* wort is ******* cooled, bottled or kegged in. I must thank Gordon Ramsey for getting that one off my chest even though I probably have a ban coming my way. seriously though crack your grain as far as you can away from your brew house, it's just plain uncommon sense.

:icon_cheers:

 

[kaiserben]

When the infection first popped up it appeared as big brown bubbles and dead yeast on the surface of the brew with a slight "oil slick" looking film and had a sour after taste.

"Brown bubbles and dead yeast" without seeing it this might have just been remnants of krausen and live yeast that hadn't dropped out yet.

"Slight sour taste that you can't remember if it's normal or not": Slight sour taste sounds a lot like a wheat beer to me. There's usually a bit of tartness there.

Maybe you've just gone off wheat beer a bit (I have, after brewing loads of it and coming back to brewing after a 10 year break). Try brewing something else?

 

[Colo]

and confirm your mind isn't playing tricks on you.

This...

I think because I had three brews in a row that were heavily infected (I was close to growing mushrooms) I think it increased my paranoia ten fold. So in my mind I was looking for signs of infection when theres a good chance the beer wasnt infected at all. So you have all convinced me that I probably did tip perfectly good brews over the garden, which I may be going to brewers hell for such a sin.

So I will fully bottle this latest back to basics brew and while it may not be as tasty as previous brews I will drink it all the same and hopefully this can signal the start of not having to buy beer again from the local.

Thank you to all for your advice and I suppose...counselling (ha ha). I will be more forgiving of my brews and stop over analysing, will let them ferment out, bottle and judge from that point.

Cheers

 

[pcmfisher]

What's wrong with bleach and HDPE?

 

[bconnery]

Colo, Another point related to this is to definitely find some people to taste the finished beer you think is infected, especially if you can get a few involved.
Some people are better than others at picking up certain characteristics and/or flaws, so it is good if you can find more than one.
If you can get along to a homebrew club, not sure where in Brisbane you are but there's a few around, then you have a chance of getting some experienced homebrewers and judges to have a taste and see if there are issues in there.

This...

I think because I had three brews in a row that were heavily infected (I was close to growing mushrooms) I think it increased my paranoia ten fold. So in my mind I was looking for signs of infection when theres a good chance the beer wasnt infected at all. So you have all convinced me that I probably did tip perfectly good brews over the garden, which I may be going to brewers hell for such a sin.

So I will fully bottle this latest back to basics brew and while it may not be as tasty as previous brews I will drink it all the same and hopefully this can signal the start of not having to buy beer again from the local.

Thank you to all for your advice and I suppose...counselling (ha ha). I will be more forgiving of my brews and stop over analysing, will let them ferment out, bottle and judge from that point.

Cheers

 

[cspencer]

definitely find some people to taste the finished beer you think is infected

I agree with bconnery. I had a stage that I had a couple of infections in a row and got hyper-paranoid about everything being infected. Now I get the Wife to taste the beer from the FV if I suspect there is an infection, if she throws up then the beer is fine, If it kills her then I'll dump the beer (She is not a beer drinker, so all the more for me)

Bottom line get someone else to taste

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

What's wrong with bleach and HDPE?

Nothing. Considering bleach comes in HDPE containers

Also agree with real brewer about changing your sanitation regime every few months.

Brewers need to remember that Star-San is not only sanitizer that can be used.

Anyone remember Idophor B)

 

[Goose]

yes I remember iodophor, though tendency is to use too much and taint your beer if so, as well a stain your lovely white plastic fermenter and utensils.

Anybody tried hydrogen peroxide ? It decomposes to water and oxygen. Hardly nasty radicals....

 

[Tropico]

I must be a slacker. I don't go to anywhere near so much work to sanitise, just a soak with sodium percarbonate, a quick rinse with the hose and that's it.

Maybe any infection is happening post pitching

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

yes I remember iodophor, though tendency is to use too much and taint your beer if so, as well a stain your lovely white plastic fermenter and utensils.

Anybody tried hydrogen peroxide ? It decomposes to water and oxygen. Hardly nasty radicals....

Peroxide is AWSOME. Prob the best of the lot.

Rather hard to get. Used to use it a lot when I could get it by the liter. Would make the skin on my hands turn white.

I would use peroxide over anything if I could get it in a high enough concerntration. The stuff from the chemist is only about 4-7%

 

[yankinoz]

Do you have a tap on your fermenter or do you siphon?

Describe the odour. Musty? Rotten eggs? Vomit? ****?

At what point in the process did you decide das bier vas kaput?

 

[Tropico]

Looks terribly infected with yeast.

Ah yes, explains everything. All the brews are turning out female, and are much more susceptible to yeast infections.