" Ditch's Stout " Master Class .....

[wally]

Just out of interest, what are you blokes paying for the Coopers stout kits. I live in the city where they are produced and they vary in price from $11.50 to $16+ at home brew shops. That's about £5.95 to £8.25 in your money. There are sometimes available for around £5.00 in supermarkets.

Cheers,
Wally

[Ditch]

Wally; A Coopers Stout kit would cost me €14.95, in Eire. That's before delivery.

I expect that'll sound pretty outrageous? But, as said; You live in the city they produce it. I'm halfway round the world. And it doesn't just teleport itself here

[Ditch]

Okay; Well, I've slept on last nights absolute f**king nightmare and I'm guessing the TCP thing is a straight infection? (I'm guessing because no bugger's answered me and hitting the Search just shot me off into outer space)

On that basis then; When I trip into town, to pick up a weeks wages worth of f**king Karpacki, I shall also grab a brand new artex stirrer and a bottle of bleach

This is because, to my thinking, there can only be two possible causes of all this continuing grief.

1/ That the rust on my paddle ~ caused by me having left it in bleach and that blowing the silver coating off ~ has finally reached some critical point and is now poisoning my brews. Or .....

2/ I s'pose it's always possible that my bleach bath itself has somehow become diluted to its own tipping point. Where by it's simply not strong enough to work any more?

Either way, that's the only culprits I can spot. I'll replace them both and pray like f**k when I get my next lot of kits and put one on. Yes, ONE! I'm not risking two of the f**king things until I've sorted this!

I'm in for a very tight month here

[wally]

Wally; A Coopers Stout kit would cost me €14.95, in Eire. That's before delivery.

I expect that'll sound pretty outrageous? But, as said; You live in the city they produce it. I'm halfway round the world. And it doesn't just teleport itself here

Wow, that's an unbelievable price. The supply chain is certainly adding some markup to that.

Do you have local producers to supply similar kits?

Prior to myself going all grain I would use two Coopers stout kits (commonly referred to in Aus. as a toucan brew) plus a little dry malt extract and some hops to produce a 20 litre batch of stout. I can't see that taking off where you live, even though it produces a nice beer.

I bet that in reverse when we use Thomas Fawcett, or Bairds Maris Otter that we pay bucket loads more. A 25kg sack would cost me $65.00 or €45.00 roughly.

Cheers,

Wally

[WalesAles]

WTF Is It?!?!?

Why was one FV great, last time. One Drain Cleaner?

Why is one, this time, a shade less disgusting than the other???

Ditch,
I thought you had narrowed it down to the dodgy heater boiling your brew!
Is that what produced the TCP taste?
Good luck on your next brew!

WA

[Ditch]

Wally; Eire is extremely well recorded as the most expensive country in Europe. I live within reasonable distance of the border with the north and I know people who regularly make that trip. What ever it costs them for a hundred mile round trip in fuel, they seem to still come out on top.

Getting anything into Eire ~ or out, for that matter ~ through the postal system is excruciating. I guess ye just suck it up. I've learned to live with the limitations. The pay back, in How I now live is absolutely worth it! I couldn't live any other way.

Only fly in the ointment are those two, four gallon buckets of f**king TCP!!!

[Ditch]

Ditch,
I thought you had narrowed it down to the dodgy heater boiling your brew!
Is that what produced the TCP taste?
Good luck on your next brew!

I'd thought that, initially, mate. But, last night I found they've Both gone over!

F**king taxi's on his way .....

[WalesAles]

Congrats Ditch!
That last post to me took you over the 10000 mark, you Busy Little Bee!

WA

[Aleman]

Chlorine or ped infection! my thoughts are infection. I'm not reading the entire thread but the bits I've read suggest that you store you bleach sanitiser and reuse it . . Your last two brews have the taste and you normally use half a CT in the kit? The CT will treat 3 ppm of chloramine in 8 n half gallons, more if it's standard chlorine. . . Any extra may be enough to neutralise residual bleach if you didn't rinse properly.

Iron from the mixer . . Will add a metallic taint to the beer . . . Indeed it can be said to taste like blood if it's really bad. So that's a no go.

I really don't like suggesting it but ditch the bleach solution clean out the FVs well swill boiling water round them. Then bleach them and allow them to drain and air dry . . Don't forget to sanitise them again before use (with a a fresh sanitiser solution!!!!)

[Exiled Bradfordian]

Ditch, I can't help you with what is causing the problem any more than the previous posters, but wish you well with resolving it without losing any more beer.

Wally, can't speak for Ireland, but in the UK our cheapest one can kits start at around £10 in Wilkinson, a national discount store, though they have frequent 25% off sales which makes the cheapest kit £7.50. That's for a kit that's markedly lower in quality than a Cooper's — though I guess your toucan recipe would work with the Wilko stout. Coopers kits can be got as low as £10 in the sale but I haven't seen them any lower than that. Normally £14/15 sterling. It's only a couple of pounds more to get a two can kit requiring no further fermentables (except for priming), so I don't normally bother with Coopers kits.

[Ditch]

I really don't like suggesting it but ditch the bleach solution clean out the FVs well swill boiling water round them. Then bleach them and allow them to drain and air dry . . Don't forget to sanitise them again before use (with a a fresh sanitiser solution!!!!)

I Like ye suggesting it. Because it sounds like a plan! Thanks!

Typicle f**kin bloke, of course; I went into town and came back with a new shelf unit for my work room. Bleach? Never entered my f**king head!

Never mind. My kits weren't there either. Courier can't work weekends then. Pity. I'll get them, and the new bottle of bleach, next week. When I go in to pick up another case of Karpackie

Funny ~ in a rottenly ironic way, of course. I was in a shop today, asking the guy about various fittings. " What are ye up to? " He asked. I explained I make my own beer and wanted to make a better tap for the kegs.

Cue; Twenty minutes hunkered between the shelves, giving this guy the answers to his myriad questions about what he'd long considered doing himself.

But, yeah, the irony wasn't lost on me when his first question was, " What beer do ye make? " And I, being me, answered him brutally honestly: " I make shit that tastes like f**king TCP!!! "

[Ditch]

Oh, jesus f**king wept! This couldn't have helped at all ....!

Okay, so I've just slung out the two buckets of TCP, yeah? Only, before I did, it just occurred to me to ~ just for the sake of it ~ check the temperature of the second one, before it went down the shower drain.

Now, understand this: I have the Fluval heater, yeah? That one's always gone off first. It'd brain hours before the other FV. Almost twelve hours before. So, obviously, that's the higher heat setting.

Well, at some recent point, I adjusted the Other heater, just tapped it up a shade, hoping to match it to the Fluval.

Result? It now surpasses the Fluval! So, I've obviously tweaked it to an even higher temperature than the bench mark Fluval. Have we all got that crystal clear in our minds now? If not, read it again and let it sink in .....

So, having slung out one FV, I noticed the other ones heater was still plugged in and switched on. Nice little opportunity to grab a look at the true reading. In with the thermometer .....

The Horror!!! As I watched, it reared up from about 19. Rushed past 20. 21. 22. 23! Muvva f**ka actually edged just above 24!!!!!

And then, the true, abject horror ..... When I pulled the heater out? It Was The F**king FLUVAL!!!!!

What that Other f**ker's now set then is anybody's guess. 26? 27? God knows!

Is it not entirely possible though that Ditch has now, unwittingly, conducted some Frankenstein type experiments with his beer? And paid a hell of a price (In Karpackie!) as a result of it?

Dunno, to be honest with ye. But, I have a brand new bottle of thin bleach out there now. I have a brand new mixing spinner ~ enamelled, this time. Not chromed. And it won't be seeing any bleach! I may well be buying some fresh FV's ..... All mine now have irremovable brown shadows in them.

One damn thing I forgot to get? New pair of rubber gauntlets. I threw the last pair away as holed and dirty. Now, I can't feel my f**king hands, the water's so cold! (My water flows straight out of a mountainside reservoir. It's Arctic f**king cold! Very hard to scrub buckets under that tap)

Anyway; I've had a break from it. Maybe now I'll soldier on and try to get some more done. I need to soak those heaters clean and get them re set and tested. FFS.

What ever I manage today; I'll only make one kit. I just want to taste good beer again, before I commit to industrial production.

[WalesAles]

Ditch,
Just read the Coopers Stout website, they say Fermentation Temps to be kept between 21deg - 27deg.
Your Heaters are in that range, so it could be something else!
I know you like to ferment about 20 - 22deg, I just can`t think why your Brews are going bad!

WA

[Ditch]

Just read the Coopers Stout website, they say Fermentation Temps to be kept between 21deg - 27deg.

F**k Me!!! At 26/7 I could 'Ferment while ye wait'! That's just f**king mental! Like; " Oh, hullo, Wales! Wasn't expecting you. Let me just bung a kit in at 26 C. We'll get a taxi into town and have a couple of pints of frozen piss in the pub. Time we get back? This shit'll about be ready! " Madness!

Anyway; Today, I got as far as thoroughly scrubbing my FV's. Still showing that brown shadow. Never bothered me before. Now? Everything's f**king bothering me! Buy new FV's?

I also thoroughly soaked (in water) and minutely scrubbed both heaters. Then set them each to 23. My preferred ~ when all's said and done ~ temperature.

Tomorrows job then will be to sling out the old bleach bucket and refresh that. Knowing that'll be up to strength.

Then, I thoroughly resanitise an FV and knock up a kit, using my new paddle ~ which I'll sanitise with a freshly made up pisher of Viodene.

In a word? Pretty much go back to square one. Do what I did when Shane dropped all my gear off that day. The only thing that won't be 'as new' here will be those FV's.

If I manage to knock out another bucket of TCP? Sweet! I'll just order a couple of fresh FV's and hit them with the boiling water and caustic soda crystals. Then sanitise with thin bleach solution.

If That doesn't work .........? I'll f**king shoot myself!

[Ditch]

Okay. Keep Everything crossed! Today, I found my cleanest FV and scrubbed That out with a fresh, strong bleach solution. Hosed it thoroughly and so on.

Fluval heater's in it. Yeast is in it. Few days or so time will tell .....