Help

[ribsmasherau]

did you have the fermenter in a dark place? When I started I made the mistake of having the Fermenter on my kitchen benchtop, I had a couple of brews suddenly stop, after moving into very dark garage all been fine.

Nappysan, the cheap no name stuff is all i use, I tgo over the top and put 4-6 capfulls into the fermenter with very hot water, straight from hot water system almost boiling. fill to the brim and leave for a couple of days. sometimes I leave em for a week if i can't get to LHBS. never had an infection since.

how are you getting the "cold" water? is it in a jug, or straight from the tap?

Fermenter is in the laundy/spa room i guess the light is on a fair bit in there and i had a thought the steam from running a spa could that effect it? been getting the cold water from the tap into a measurring jug.

 

[pk.sax]

^ that is what a bit o healthy bread yeast with a bit of warm water and a big pinch of sugar looks like when rehydrated. Pretty easy thing to rule out if you rehydrate the yeast and make sure it's alive 'enough'

Guess I'll be baking some

 

[kocken42]

Was not game enough to taste smelt like rotten fruit real sweet off smell, guys on the other forum said never discard your brew should of left for upto a monthbut the lhbs said roughly a week and after its done 1000-1010 put the finning in and leave for another week then bottle. I have 2 fermenters 1 was given to me a few days ago going to try the corona mix again over the weekend and will also grab a kit from kmart or something and try that in the 2nd fermenter. I was spewing they did not turn out i had to drink 7 cartons of coronas over the last 2 weeks so i would have enough bottles lol

At least you got some valuable info from the guys on the other forum...generally you should never discard your brew! during fermentation there will be a lot of yeast by-products and many chemical reactions taking place which create flavours and aromas which might not be what you wanted/expected...heck, even a clean ferment and a month of conditioning and I'm still not happy with the sharpness and greeness of some of my beers. Make sure you give your beer time to become 'infected'. I'm sure hunderds of people have tipped beer because they thought it was off but was actually just going through the process.

Also, never trust your airlock as an indicator of fermentation! the bubbling in the early stages can just be the liquid change temp. and expanding and pushing air out etc. Also, you might not seal your lid properly sometimes and the airlock won't bubble at all, it doesn't mean it's not fermenting...it just means the CO2 is escaping elsewhere, and it's not a problem if the lid isn't on perfectly.

After you have mixed you ingredients together in your fermenter and topped up with water, take a reading with your hydrometer so you know the original gravity of the beer. Check it again in 24 hours, and so on. It is really the only true indicator of whether those sugars are being consumed or not.

Never give up!

P.S - Enjoy the Corona now...in a few months your palate will be so rapildy developed you will hate it and want a big ale to quench that thirst! and to stimulate those tastebuds!

 

[Ade42]

Fermenter is in the laundy/spa room i guess the light is on a fair bit in there and i had a thought the steam from running a spa could that effect it? been getting the cold water from the tap into a measurring jug.

keep in total darkness if you can, could you put a curtain on the window in the laundry? or wrap the fermenter in blankets although this will raise the temp which may not be a good idea.

I also get my cold water from the shower, it has a "pulsate" setting and i use that to fill the fermenter after the goop etc. it aerates my wort wonderfully and usualy have very good yeast "action" as a result.

when i started I used to use a mesuering jug gave it away when i learnt all about yeast and oxygen!

 

[michaelcocks]

Your fermentation is not started..
Either yeast is bad (unlikely since you had two bad kits)
The wort that's sat there unfermented will go pretty horrid quickly

As posted here by others pay attention to cleaning and sanitizing everything
Take the tap apart on your fermenter and clean it
Watch your temp control 18-22 is ideal
Get rid of your lid and airlock and use clingwrap instead jut put over the fermenter in place of lid and secure with a rubber band or the black seal from inside the fermenter lid
Proofing your yeast (described above with water and sugar) will help make sure it is alive and well
Also you might want to add a bit of air as yeast needs oxygen to start it's growth I use a sanitized whisk just whip up like buggery until you have a god frothy head:

you CANNOT be to clean and sanitary in brewing

Any Wollongong based brewers willing to help a newb ?

Don't worry it's something probably very simple

 

[ribsmasherau]

Cheers everyone for your help really looking forward to starting again this weekend

 

[petesbrew]

Welcome aboard Rocky,
Everyone's given you great advice and hints so far.
Definitely don't use dishwashing liquid, and NEVER use a scourer! Scourer's leave scratches, where bugs can hide, set up camp, and eventually organise little communities like Nimbin in. You''ll never get the infections back out.

You mentioned you opened it up to check & smell it - the only time I open mine up is to add more hops.
Honestly the krausen on top looks pretty rank at the best of times, so just don't bother.
When you take those hydrometer samples, smell and taste that instead.

edit: seriously, even if it's an average brew, you can drink your hydro sample. If the smell and taste make's you wanna spew, you know it's pretty much gone.

dammit I love hydrometer samples... who doesn't!?!?!

And yeah, as suggested, maybe drop back to a coopers kit and try to get your methods sorted.
Cheers
Pete

 

[Travo]

Mate, couple of other suggestions for you that may/may not have been considered in the above:

- Is your top up water just tap water? This could be a possible source of infection; hence I usually boil what I need the night before and let it cool overnight in a sanitised container. Some people will disagree here, but if you've had a couple of brews go off it's worth looking at every possibility.
- You mentioned something about Pride of Ringwood, I don't recall reading anything about how you add it to your brew. How are you storing your hops and how are you adding them?

As I said, these may or may not have been covered in all the responses, but hopefully with these suggestions and the others we can sort you out

Cheers,

Travo

 

[kocken42]

Mate, couple of other suggestions for you that may/may not have been considered in the above:

- Is your top up water just tap water? This could be a possible source of infection;
- You mentioned something about Pride of Ringwood, I don't recall reading anything about how you add it to your brew. How are you storing your hops and how are you adding them?

I know you said people may disagree with you about the first statement, but water quality is extremely high in Australia, and is disinfected with chlorine from the treatment centre to your tap. Thinking about that, is there certain levels of chlorine which may kill yeast? Perhaps Rocky's tap water has high chlorine levels, but aspiration would blow a fair bit of chlorine off so I'm not sure...also, I would be more worried about handling the water, leaving it in the fridge (possibly with food/ mould etc.) than I would be if it came straight from the tap (if you keep the boiled water covered in a sanitised container then no problems).

I don't want to answer a question directed at Rocky's here, but I think he was using the can + kilo + hops combination that his LHBS recommended as part of a recipe, so it probably came with a finishing hop teabag, which I presume he steeped.

 

[bum]

which I presume he steeped.

...IN HIS POISONOUS WATER!!!

 

[Travo]

...IN HIS POISONOUS WATER!!!

Hehe, no its a fair point that you are both making, our water is excellent. I'm merely trying to offer different suggestions he may try to get things back on track. It appears that most of the usual issues have been covered off here...

One more question...you aren't putting your brew together in the room with the spa by any chance are you and then sealing it up when in that room?

 

[bum]

no its a fair point that you are both making

Obviously it is worth considering all possibilities but since he did three all close together with essentially the same method it would be unlikely that his water quality would change so suddenly and severely. Unless of course he's using rain water but even then it is such an outside long shot that it probably isn't going to be the case - him and his family would probably be getting sick before his beer would.

 

[kocken42]

One more question...you aren't putting your brew together in the room with the spa by any chance are you and then sealing it up when in that room?

I think it's a great idea to put the brew together in the spa-room...maybe light a candle a sprinkle some rose petals around, a great environment for those yeast to get it onnnnnn.

Also one of Rocky's favourite drinks (Corona) was actually inspired by bath/spa brewing which re-used water which the entire Corona family (9 members) had bathed themselves in, at which point the bath water was 4/5ths urine. Padre Corona, you little genius!

 

[Travo]

...a great environment for those yeast to get it onnnnnn.

You paint a clear image, I can already hear the Marvin Gaye playing in the background while all the little yeasties do their thing....

 

[kocken42]

You paint a clear image, I can already hear the Marvin Gaye playing in the background while all the little yeasties do their thing....

I believe that you mean, do their THANG!

 

[rendo]

Hey Rocky,

Here is a great how-to thread on "cleaning the fermenter tap"....have a read.

My guess from all the above is that you have a sanitation problem SOMEWHERE or maybe something to do with the location you are brewing..(or both... )...anyway, unscented napisan is your best friend...get some, put a good capful in your fermenter, fill it up with hot hot water and let that baby soak for a day or two. Rinse super well. For the brew day, get some no-rinse sanitiser and use it as per instructions, in one of those spray bottles is best....hell even spray yourself with it too

Brew in a dark location, got a laundry cupboard you can brew in...OR even better do you have a second fridge that you arent using, just leave it off, put the fermenter in there and whammo...perfect fermenting location....(also...if the fridge is working then we will talk later and you will learn that brewing in a temp controlled fridge is the ducks nuts....anyway...that is for another day...lets get the basics right first)

Fantastic suggestion from someone about getting a standard kit (keep the costs low) with BE2 from somewhere like BIGW where the kits move faster. Get the one with the longest expiry date. I recommend Coopers canadian blonde, dont get the Euro lager as that is a REAL lager yeast and you want to stay away from that for now as it is trickier to brew with and takes longer to mature....(details for another day)

Let us know how you go....welcome to AHB...I have learnt SO MUCH from this site...and my beer just keeps getting better

Rendo

 

[mwd]

:icon_offtopic: I have been gifted some of those thin latex gloves like medics police and dentists use.
If you are really anal about steralisation and sanitisation they are great to avoid any chance of bad bacteria from your hands getting into anything. I sanitise bottles in a bucket of 9litres of iodophor solution and of course you have to keep putting your hands in. :icon_offtopic:
( yes I do wash my hands before doing any brewery duties )

 

[Mobbee007]

Hi Rocky welcome to AHB,
I also live in the Gong and am more than happy to head round and have a look if you're interested? Just pm me if you're keen and if I can I'll drop in and share my limited experience.
Or head to the northern brew in Wonoona and speak to the guys there they know their stuff and are more than happy to give advice ( and a free sample of whatever he's got in kegs!!)
Cheers
Steve

 

[JestersDarts]

Also one of Rocky's favourite drinks (Corona) was actually inspired by bath/spa brewing which re-used water which the entire Corona family (9 members) had bathed themselves in, at which point the bath water was 4/5ths urine. Padre Corona, you little genius!

?????????????????

 

[Malted]

Just a thought, could the fruity smell have been the aroma of the hops? There was 12g in the brews.