Ditch my fermenter
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wavemaker
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I have 9 fermenters and cycle through them. I put a new tap in each time( I know, blows my environmental position, but I'm pretty good otherwise) they are $1.98 at bunnings. I tried all sorts of ways, some very inventive, involving screw clamps and hose fittings, of cleaning them but in the end I figure that it's worth it to ditch them.
Well, just finished a beer with my new fermenter, and it tastes shit again. A real pain and i am thinking of giving up. Maybe a slightly grassy flavour, and the head aint lacey, more fizzy and feels a bit harsh on the stomach. Bottles been in for 10 days. God knows what the issue is. I do a small hop boil, and then throw in dry hops in after 4 days. Have temp control at 20 degrees, use saf 05. Was very careful clean new fermenter and bottles and hop strainer.va real pisset. Think i might try one basic kit without any additions to eliminate the pissible causes. Could it be the pot i boil the hops in? But the boil and hops are pretty safe regardleas i thought?
good4whatAlesU
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Very early, two weeks you say? Give it some more time.
Put a simple kit batch down while you wait.
Put a simple kit batch down while you wait.
good4whatAlesU
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How'd you get it to ferment and in the bottles so quickly? Most stuff I'm reading on the forum suggests 3 weeks in fermenter (s) primary and/or secondary prior to bottling?
Is your water good? You are not using a garden hose, are you? If your water has chlorine, you need to remove it somehow, because if you don't you will produce shit beer no matter what you do.
It could be an airborne infection too. Is your fermentation chamber free of contamination? Does your wort end up being exposed to anything. Could be as simple as doing a task, such as aerating or pitching yeast under a tree.
It may help a lot if you can get the fault identified. That way you know which areas to look at in more detail. If you don't know what the off flavour is, try to find someone who can help. A homebrew club, homebrew shop or even a beer enthusiast staff member in a good bottle shop might be willing to taste your brew and give opinion.
It could be an airborne infection too. Is your fermentation chamber free of contamination? Does your wort end up being exposed to anything. Could be as simple as doing a task, such as aerating or pitching yeast under a tree.
It may help a lot if you can get the fault identified. That way you know which areas to look at in more detail. If you don't know what the off flavour is, try to find someone who can help. A homebrew club, homebrew shop or even a beer enthusiast staff member in a good bottle shop might be willing to taste your brew and give opinion.
B
Brewnicorn
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I'd personally like to see some experienced brewers comment on this too. I've been using the base tap to move the brew to the secondary vessel - mainly because I've already got so many brewing toys I didn't think I 'needed' another. Happy to buy it if the flavour results say it's a good thing!hopnotic said:
good4whatAlesU
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A bit of plastic hose from Bunnings is very cheap as a make shift siphon. It's okay to use the tap though if the inlet is above the dead yeast and not drawing off sediment.
I bought an autosiphon thing from lhbs without realising it set me back a good $25. Mentally kicked myself for a while but sure beats leaking taps on those shitty plastic fermenters where thread gives and you end up with an endlessly spinning tap trying to tighten it.
I'm happy with the siphon now and use it with every brew, however I wish it came with a stopper like my old one did.
I'm happy with the siphon now and use it with every brew, however I wish it came with a stopper like my old one did.
TheWiggman
Haters' gonna hate
Krausen collar, a la the new style fermenters. The biggest consequence from not doing this is risking a mess with a big krausen.
My 3 fermenters are over 10yrs old. For the first year trying on and off with the older style coopers fermenter I never had a good beer.
Got a new coopers fermenter a year or two later, still bad beer. Bought a 25L pail for a third fermenter a year after that, still bad beer. Half my brews were infected and foul so I gave up on brewing.
This year I started brewing again and the first few were also not very good brews on all three fermenters that are now 10+ yrs old. I bought new taps, grommets and lid O rings.
Still had a 50% chance of a bad brew.
Then using the same fermenters, beers started to become better, but I stopped brewing again due to high temps. While waiting for cooler temps one even got that pink mould on it. But that one and the two other 10+ year fermenters that have made some very bad and infected beer are now making good beer.
Change taps, o rings, grommets, air locks and sanatize well is all I needed to do. Scratches and stains haven't had any effect.
More chance of a beer going bad due to the bottles/bottling IMHO. The bad beers I made early this year were all in equally old plastic bottles. Once I switched back to glass bottles, most of my problems have gone away. In fact 10 years ago, most of my bad beers were in those PET bottles that gave me trouble this year. Those things are almost impossible to clean.
E: I have a habit of saving the trub for yeast, and even in the brews that ended up bad the sample saved for yeast was still good, so it didn't go bad for me in the fermenter most of the time, but rather the bottles/bottling. That is, these days that is the case. Back in the old dark days, things went bad in the fermenters, but the point is I'm still using those old fermenters now just fine and getting decent beer out of them.
Got a new coopers fermenter a year or two later, still bad beer. Bought a 25L pail for a third fermenter a year after that, still bad beer. Half my brews were infected and foul so I gave up on brewing.
This year I started brewing again and the first few were also not very good brews on all three fermenters that are now 10+ yrs old. I bought new taps, grommets and lid O rings.
Still had a 50% chance of a bad brew.
Then using the same fermenters, beers started to become better, but I stopped brewing again due to high temps. While waiting for cooler temps one even got that pink mould on it. But that one and the two other 10+ year fermenters that have made some very bad and infected beer are now making good beer.
Change taps, o rings, grommets, air locks and sanatize well is all I needed to do. Scratches and stains haven't had any effect.
More chance of a beer going bad due to the bottles/bottling IMHO. The bad beers I made early this year were all in equally old plastic bottles. Once I switched back to glass bottles, most of my problems have gone away. In fact 10 years ago, most of my bad beers were in those PET bottles that gave me trouble this year. Those things are almost impossible to clean.
E: I have a habit of saving the trub for yeast, and even in the brews that ended up bad the sample saved for yeast was still good, so it didn't go bad for me in the fermenter most of the time, but rather the bottles/bottling. That is, these days that is the case. Back in the old dark days, things went bad in the fermenters, but the point is I'm still using those old fermenters now just fine and getting decent beer out of them.
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