I Cannot Brew A Good Batch.

[eamonnfoley]

Fair enough - sounds like you know what you're doing and have the full kit to do the job properly. A club will definately point you in the right direction. Have joined one myself and brews have improved greatly. Getting someone to look over your shoulder is a good idea.

If infections are an issue, sanitise your equipment, leave it in the hot sun then rinse it all again. The sun will get rid of any residual nasties in any plastic items you're using.

Are your extracts fresh or are you storing them too long? This could make a difference too.

Pete has a point though - if your beers are tasting a bit green it might be because you're under-fermenting them? A lot of brewers will let the beer sit in a fermenting fridge for 2-3 weeks so that everything drops to the bottom and fermentation can be assured of being fully done. As has been covered many times here, airlocks lie. How long you putting them in for?

Have heard that there is a lambic beer yeast strain that can really arse up your equipment too. Numerous threads on that one. If you've been brewing any wacky belgian ales with that - then it might be an issue that no amount of sterilising will solve according to posts I've read. People who do lambics often have seperate equipment to do those brews.

Hopper.

Cheers for tips. Extract is fresh from reputable home brew shop. I went to the West Coast Brewers once, missed this month, but will go next month. I passed one of my old extract beers around and they knew it wasnt right but couldnt give a definitive answer. One guy said vegetal, possibly infection in the fermenter. this beer was about 3 months old and was starting to gush ever so slightly. I've had beer in the fermenter for 1 week primary only to 1 month using a secondary. Not a whole lot of difference. Was sure it was finished. Only time I wasnt was a bit of a high FG reading on one of my BIAB's, but it was my first and I mashed a bit too high (70C).

 

[eamonnfoley]

something else you could try is get another brewer to come over and get them to do a batch! if all works out well for them, then the finger will be pointing at you and not your gear?

just a thought.

Good idea - i wouldnt have a problem if the finger was pointed squarely at me, as long as I knew why!

 

[buttersd70]

Do you brew inside, or outside?....wild yeast, perhaps? Longshot, but just throwing it out there...

edit: I wonder if it would be worth trying to pinpoint if its part of the hotside process, or coldside process....You said that you did a kit n bit, but maybe try a kit and kilo....no tweaks, no hop boils, no nothing. Just pure cold side ingredient mixing, straight to the fermenter.....certainly not a good beer, but it will eliminate everything in the hotside process. It will either turn out good (comparatively speaking), in which case something on the hotside is to blame, or it will go crap, in which case it's something on the coldside....

 

[pint of lager]

If you could clarify, your kegged beers are also having problems?

If so, are you using a racking tube to transfer from the fermenter to the keg?

Your bottled brews are obviously infected. But usually, kegged brews are kept chilled and this slows any problem in its tracks.

HSA problems will show as the beer having storage problems and aging quickly, with loss of hop aroma first, then hop flavour and then malt flavour goes.

 

[WitWonder]

Cheers for tips. Extract is fresh from reputable home brew shop. I went to the West Coast Brewers once, missed this month, but will go next month. I passed one of my old extract beers around and they knew it wasnt right but couldnt give a definitive answer. One guy said vegetal, possibly infection in the fermenter. this beer was about 3 months old and was starting to gush ever so slightly. I've had beer in the fermenter for 1 week primary only to 1 month using a secondary. Not a whole lot of difference. Was sure it was finished. Only time I wasnt was a bit of a high FG reading on one of my BIAB's, but it was my first and I mashed a bit too high (70C).

Hmm, I didn't get to taste your beer the night of the clib meet (most likely wouldn't have been able to tell you the cause in any case) - did one of the BJCP guys at the club have a taste?

You mentioned you bought a bunch of new gear but your still using some of your original equipment? Obviously if it's an infection you can probably ignore the new stuff and focus most of your attention on your original kit. Ball valves? Take apart and clean. Airlock? Get rid of it and use gladwrap. Take a look at John Palmers how to brew website for ideas about off flavours and what they mean (if not already done so).

I'd be happy to come around on Sunday if you were brewing and take a look? Not saying I'll solve it, but it might help

 

[eamonnfoley]

If you could clarify, your kegged beers are also having problems?

If so, are you using a racking tube to transfer from the fermenter to the keg?

Your bottled brews are obviously infected. But usually, kegged brews are kept chilled and this slows any problem in its tracks.

HSA problems will show as the beer having storage problems and aging quickly, with loss of hop aroma first, then hop flavour and then malt flavour goes.

Yeah kegged beers too. I used a racking cane with plastic tubing. I took a sample of my kegged biab to the homebrew shop and he said it wasn't infected, just very bitter with no hop or malt flavour whatsoever (despite being containing cascade and some munich - an APA from the Jamil book). But I reckon it was following the same pattern as the rest of them, but just not there yet, given the slow nature of this bug.

 

[EK]

...You said that you did a kit n bit, but maybe try a kit and kilo....no tweaks, no hop boils, no nothing. Just pure cold side ingredient mixing, straight to the fermenter.....certainly not a good beer, but it will eliminate everything in the hotside process. It will either turn out good (comparatively speaking), in which case something on the hotside is to blame, or it will go crap, in which case it's something on the coldside....

I think butters has got a point here. Grab a kit and a kilo of dex/malt/whatever from a HBS and just give it a go. I know that it might seem like a throwaway but this could give you some really useful information if it comes out drinkable and is not suffering the problems you describe.

Also, as a slightly more expensive option: what about a fresh wort kit. Just use the liquid and a yeast that you can pitch dry. don't bother adding the extra 5L of water, I know it will be high gravity, but that would be a very telling test as your electric kettle (for dissolving the K&K) will not even be in the loop.

Either way, bottle the brew and get samples to other brewers and HBS staff to see if they can help point out the problem.

I have had some problems myself over the last year and a bit but have stuck with it, even though I haven't invested the cash that you have, I have now got my brewing practice under control and am producing beers with no off flavours (even though I am basically a K&K brewer).

good luck
:icon_cheers:
EK

 

[cdbrown]

Hey mate,
Are you far away from the Maylands train station? I live in South Guildford so go past that stop to and from work. Neville from Gryphon Brewing is also near me so he maybe able to help as well (as long as he's recovered from his vietnam holiday) - to be honest I'm sure he'll provide much more reliable idea as to what's going wrong.

 

[Online Brewing Supplies]

Hey mate,
Are you far away from the Maylands train station? I live in South Guildford so go past that stop to and from work. Neville from Gryphon Brewing is also near me so he maybe able to help as well (as long as he's recovered from his vietnam holiday) - to be honest I'm sure he'll provide much more reliable idea as to what's going wrong.

CDB I have recovered from Vietnam and going back in May for brewing related matters, which of course involves more beer sampling.Foles if you can get a bottle of this stuff over to me I can have a taste when the palet is right and I can put it under the microscope and have a good look.LHBS while may be good is not where I would be looking to identify a possible infection.You will need to give some info : SG , FG, type of yeast, fermentation temp etc .More info the better.I am 200m from Success Hill Station.
GB