Something had happened to my brews

[SimoB]

Hey all,

I'm hoping someone can help me out - The last couple of brews I have had some issues.

Brew one.

Standard IPA, nothing too crazy. Ale Malt, Crystal and that's about it. (and a range of hops). I used US05 for this one, I racked to the keg and it was great for a day then had a major diacetyl butterscotch start to come through. Tipped it and made sure the next brew I left on the yeast cake a bit longer after and primary fermentation was complete.

Brew two.

I brewed a spiced Saison. This one was all sorts of wrong, way too yeasty, I was trying to get some funk going with increasing the temp and it was awful. I also put way too much spice in there and the nutmeg or whatever it was screwed that up. I put this down as trying too hard.

Brew 3.

Went to a standard IPA again. Ale malt, Carapil, Crystal. Hops. This one I used WLP090, from a starter, for some reason it didnt kick off at all and 3 days in I chucked a packet of US05 in. Fermentation kicked and it went hard blowing through the blow-off tube yeast everywhere.

Everything tasted fine, except tasting a little yeasty or even sharp on the tongue, not overly strong though. I have kegged it and had some last night - It's drinkable but the flavour is just not right... there is a sort of tang that you get prominently with the first sip. gets easier to drink but still not right. Tingle on the tongue, the smell is not right... i can't pin point it, maybe yeast or something.

I don't think my process was that bad. Any advice here guys? I'm thinking I do a massive overall of the brewery, clean it all up real good. Do a simple recipe that's been tried and tested. back to basics to try and reset because this is not doing wonders for my confidence.

Cheers,
Simon

 

[Nizmoose]

Your last paragraph is exactly what I'd suggest. Give everything a sodium percarbonate soak and then star San from a spray bottle (it's overkill but not hard and rules out any weird bugs) then simplify things. Don't make a starter just get a dry sachet of us05 to rule out any bad starter practices. Then brew a really simple recipe like an English Bitter with a lone 60 minute bittering addition, maris Otter and maybe some crystal but keep it simple. Brew it well, ferment it properly and then keg and taste, if it's an improvement then add ONE layer of complexity at a time. This might be more mash steps or late hop additions, a dry hop, a yeast starter. Just make sure it's only one of these things so that you can know where you have made a mistake should something go wrong

 

[dkaos]

I've had some similar issues to your last one recently mate, I left it in the fermenter for 3 weeks, and then it had a bad smell and taste. Just strong yeasty smell like it was fermented too hot. I think it was the fermenter, so I've put it outside for now.

The other thing was I cleaned my taps and lines last night and it knocked off a fair bit of the strong taste off. The taps were absolutely gross, so much gunk up there. Once clean it tasted almost like a different beer. When was the last time you cleaned your taps?

 

[vr4king]

Yup get back to basics.....I had the same issue then came up with a recipie I called "Taking It Back" in thought of getting my brewery back to where I wanted it, A simple simcoe smash beer and it came out great, Good enough to win me a concial fermenter even.

Sometimes you just got hit the reboot button.......sure glad I did

 

[Danscraftbeer]

Reboot that's probable it. Boil silicon hoses? Or replace. Total cleaning overhaul or?

My worst mistake is overconfidence sometimes. You make a few cracker good beers in a row and you think your invinsible
and cant do anything wrong so go wacko with experimental and then ewwwww. :unsure: drinkable only to a broad acceptance pallet.
Get pulled back down to earth and back to basics. Brew a can of Coopers Pale Ale for eg. Something in the (cant go wrong) range.

 

[Newy]

Don't forget to clean the tap on your kettle, take it apart (if possible) and clean it right up, a lot of crap can build up in there and cause infection.

 

[Danscraftbeer]

Damb I waffle sometimes. I meant to mention:
Spices can be fraut with dander IMO. Its so easy to over do it.
Aging also. I've made ales and lagers with up to 20% wheat that when a green beer it has a tart flavor. That flavor goes after a week
carbonated in the keg. Give at least a month in the bottle then 1 week in the fridge before the tartness mellows to something better.
$0.02

 

[Danscraftbeer]

Don't forget to clean the tap on your kettle, take it apart (if possible) and clean it right up, a lot of crap can build up in there and cause infection.

yeah and the odd cockroach or earwigs too. They seem to like crawling up challenging structures just to bunk out in places like that, stuffed if I can work out why. That got me once. Took a test sample from the keggle to see a cooked cockroach come out. :icon_vomit:
That actually turned out a good beer tho, go figure.

 

[Vini2ton]

Or just accept that, deep down, just a chance, that maybe you really don't like brewing and drinking beer. Relax, have a vodka! Or else go with the sod-per and simplicity solution. What do I know. SFA.

 

[panzerd18]

How long are you leaving the beer to condition? Sometimes green beer sucks.

 

[manticle]

Clean everything, including lines and taps. Then put the spices back on the shelf and leave that saison alone next time.
Nutmeg? I'm tempted to suggest you deserve it.