Coxy
Well-Known Member
I fermented 46L of IPA split across two fermenters, and one has picked up an infection, unfortunately. In my 12 years of brewing, it's the second time I've had an infection that required the beer to be tossed out. It's a little more interesting this time in that I have a 'control' as such in the un-infected beer. I'm definitely not practiced at picking up exactly what the infection is, but I would say it tastes something like acetone mixed with some soap.
To add to the mix is a 5L demijohn that I was making a small batch in of a completely different beer (a hoppy brown ale) which has also picked up the exact same off flavour.
There is no visible infection in either batch of infected beer.
My two big fermenters are just standard off-the-shelf LHBS plastic ones. All three batches were in the same fermentation fridge, fermenting at the same temperature (give or take some differences in the fridge). All three were using a 3rd (or maybe 4th) generation washed yeast which had been sitting in my kitchen fridge for quite a while.
I can probably rule out any part of the pre-fermentation process imparting off flavours such as tannins etc, as I've been using the same or similar set up for a long time now, and if this was an issue then both big batches would have the same flavour.
What do y'all think it could be? My suspicion is that two of the jars of yeast may have picked up some wild friends while sitting in my kitchen fridge.
To add to the mix is a 5L demijohn that I was making a small batch in of a completely different beer (a hoppy brown ale) which has also picked up the exact same off flavour.
There is no visible infection in either batch of infected beer.
My two big fermenters are just standard off-the-shelf LHBS plastic ones. All three batches were in the same fermentation fridge, fermenting at the same temperature (give or take some differences in the fridge). All three were using a 3rd (or maybe 4th) generation washed yeast which had been sitting in my kitchen fridge for quite a while.
I can probably rule out any part of the pre-fermentation process imparting off flavours such as tannins etc, as I've been using the same or similar set up for a long time now, and if this was an issue then both big batches would have the same flavour.
What do y'all think it could be? My suspicion is that two of the jars of yeast may have picked up some wild friends while sitting in my kitchen fridge.