Tart/sour taste

[Scobieb]

Morning guys,

Been a while since I've been on. Having just started brewing again in my new place, I'm finding similar problems to which I've had previously. That is a sour / tart after taste to the completed beer.

I've tried to make the process as simple as possible so as to remove as many variables as possible to make it easier to identify what has gone wrong. My first recipe was simply a can of coopers stout and 700g of LDME. I split the brew into two fermenter and dry hopped one with East Kent Goldings and the other with Fuggles (about 30g each).

I bottled into coopers plastic bottles and used carbonation drops.

I'm thinking my problem can only lie in a few places:

- the fermenter I use
- the temperature I'm pitching at
- cleaning and sanitising

Any thoughts where the problem may lie guys?

 

[wereprawn]

How do you clean and sanitize? What cleaning and sanitizing products do you use? How old is your fermenter? Does the off flavour get stronger with age?

 

[menoetes]

It might be a few things but my guess is that it might be something in your fermenter. How long since you last removed and cleaned the tap? Don't forget to clean the thread the tap screws into as well. Those are both classic places for a bug to hide.

Remove the tap, pull it apart if you can and soak everything in a unscented bleach solution for an hour or two. Rinse in hot tap water a few times to get any residue off and put it all back together then fill the fermenters with a strong napisan (or generic laundry soaker) solution to soak overnight. In the morning drain and rinse it back out again (with house water, please don't use the garden hose) and you should be good to go.

That's my 2c anyway. Also, re-examine your sanitizing process, are you missing anything? If you're absolutely confident in that and if the big clean doesn't cut it then you might need to start replacing equipment. It sucks but most experienced brewers have been there.

 

[Scobieb]

Hi Guys,

Thanks for your quick replies. In response to the questions:

- I clean with fermenters usually with hot water and a cloth, removing everything I can see. I then soak the fermenter in Napisan over night and run it out through the tap the next day. I sanitise with Phosphoric sanitiser from Grape and Grain
- The two 15 litres fermenter I have may be a year old
- Traditionally the off taste has got worse the longer I leave the beer, although I did notice, if i let these beers warm up a little it does soften it but its still there.

I have recently just bought a new fermenter (the Coopers DIY one with the krausen collar) and done the first batch in that (the RIS recipe from their website). Its not ready to taste yet.

One other thing is that the beer doesn't taste bad when I draw the final hydrometer reading from the fermenter before I bottle. So my thought would be its something after the fermentation and before tasting.

 

[luggy]

Do you clean the tap after taking samples, bugs could be hiding in there and infecting your beer as you bottle

 

[Scobieb]

Hey luggy,

I never clean the tap after taking samples. That's a good point. Do you think that could cause the taste?

 

[menoetes]

Gotta clean your tap sir. I keep a spray bottle of Phosphoric sanitizer on hand to clean my taps after taking samples. A very useful thing to have around. Just give it a blast or three right up the tap nozzle after taking your sample, it generally does the trick.

 

[Scobieb]

I shall give that a try!

 

[rude]

Gotta clean your tap sir. I keep a spray bottle of Phosphoric sanitizer on hand to clean my taps after taking samples. A very useful thing to have around. Just give it a blast or three right up the tap nozzle after taking your sample, it generally does the trick.

plus one I do the same but with a different no rinse sanitiser

 

[warra48]

My first thought is that the tap is a likely source of your problems, and would be my first go to for a fix.

I always remove my tap after every batch. As already mentioned, the thread in the hole is a good source for nasties to hide. Make sure to really clean it on both sides.

Also, I use a piece of doweling to break my taps apart. After you remove it, open it half way, then insert the dowel, and with the spout between your fingers tap the dowel against a brick etc wall. The tap will eventually come apart. Then give it a good clean, and reassemble. You could always use one of those taps you can unscrew and dissemble.

 

[Vini2ton]

So what is it that causes the sour/tart taint? Acetobacter, Brettothingo? I never used to sanatise my taps after samples for ages until I thought better of it. No issues thankfully. New taps are cheap but every so often I do the dowel trick and give it a hit of sod-met, even a wee tad of silicon lube. But the tap comes out ever brew and the thread gets the once over. I sod-met the thread.

 

[Cloth Ears]

If you've ever had a lambic beer you'll recognise the same sour/tart taste. Wild yeast, man, that's wild! In conditions other than an open fermenter (where you WANT the wild yeast), it's generally caused by a lack of proper cleaning. Not blaming the OP, probably just something missed. I clean after each brew, pulling all the bits off and using household bleach to do the sterilize. I don't bother with sanitizing, as nothing survives the bleach anyway. But I do rinse a few times, as it can leave a taste if you're not careful. But I don't do anything during the brew as it's never been necessary.