Gloopy beer!

[stu1001]

I'm getting a tad frustrated at the moment. I can't remember the last time I actually made a beer that was drinkable! I have proven recipes that are liked by friends but something seems to be going wrong.

The last two beers have gone gloopy after bottling and have an off sticky smell. I admit that Wilkos Gervin Engish ale yeast isn't the best but have used before!
When I say gloopy I mean like wallpaper paste!

Basic brew day. 1/2 Camden tablet to liquor. - mash 60 mins. Flysparge. Boil for 60 mins. 1/2 protofloc tablet for the last 15 mins. Whirl with a spoon and stand for 30 mins to cool.
Decant into fv, let cool overnight and add yeast.
Am brewing in the shed and have a fish tank heater keeping at 20c and doing a good job in these old months.
When og hit remove heater so beer chills and I bottle at 48 hours.
All equipment/bottles are sprayed with Star San.
1/4 teaspoon sugar to carb.

New fvs are 33l SS Berglund pots.
Yeast seems to do its job and no malicious odours eliminate when I lift the lid.

Any help would be great as I am having to buy beer in bottles!!

Cheers, Stuart.

[Sadfield]

Sounds like a pediococcus infection during bottling, causing ropiness. Could be in the sugar, if you are not sterilizing that. Dissolving and boiling the sugar solution, then batch priming will eliminate that as a possible cause.

[guypettigrew]

Definitely an infection.

Decanting into your FV and leaving to cool overnight could be allowing the infection to get in.

Have you always used this method and, if you have, has it always worked for you?

Better to cool very quickly after the boil and get the yeast in asap.

Guy

[jaroporter]

or go nochill route, with a hdpe jerrycan. but i agree with guy that leaving it overnight is it's the one obvious opportunity for infection. sounds like pedio could be your offender. a lot of homebrewed beer has been shown to have pedio infections in some small degree (though unnoticeable above analytical level). ya could always chuck some brett in to eat through it and get a classic olde-world style beer..

[stu1001]

Have always let it chill over night with a star San sprayed lid. I think the sugar is a good call as I know it was from the same bag - a 1.5k bag of Whitworths from pound land!
I know I should only change 1 thing, but am going to buy a decent standard yeast, maybe Nottingham and also batch prime with boiled sugar solution.
Thanks for the replies. Am hoping to get a brew on wednesday so will report back hopefully with good news!

Btw I have lost beers to so many different causes!
Chloramine/chlorine - add Camden tablet.
Left too long on yeast cake - just not nice!
Bad yeast from poor freezing - great fermentation but tasted crap.
Infection in plastic fermenter - I think due to scoring on surface of bucket.

This one just tipped me over the edge so to speak!
Was looking forward to a nice chilled glass of Goldings Pride tonight.

[Kohoutec]

I wouldn't think it's the yeast. Wilco ale yeast *is* Nottingham anyway apparently. I've used it frequently and not seen anything like that. Definitely sounds like some kind of infection.

[andyCo]

one e just tipped me over the edge so to speak!
Was looking forward to a nice chilled glass of Goldings Pride tonight.

Hang in there bud, I've lost a few due to various things ....I like to blame the beers gods
I lost one in a no chill cube, left one over night without boiling ....the list goes on ...you'd think I got the hang of it by now

Gervins a solid yeast ( Notty) always gets the job done , no problems there.

Andy

[rpt]

It's definitely not the yeast. I've used Muntons Gervin GV12 several times. Same as the Wilko yeast. And as said, it's Nottingham anyway.

[stu1001]

Ok, a little update on this one. Did another AG brew and an out of date Bock kit, and iboth tasted great when I bottled them on the same day. Boiled sugar and batch primed both.
I decided to fill a corny and got 10 bottles as well. From both brews. Left in the airing cupboard to condition for a week. Checked a bottle of each and seemed ok. Put keg in shed and left the bottles where they were.
2 weeks and the bock still good. AG starting to taste a bit off and thicker.
Checked both kegs and they fine.
3 weeks. Bock still good, again bottle nasty and gloomy. AG keg starting to taste off now!
Found this little snippet from a google search...

If it's this what's my next move.
And where is an infection likely to be getting in..pre/post boil?
I've got my brewing procedure spot on now just need to get this sorted!!

[guypettigrew]

Sorry to hear it's still not going right for you.

You won't be getting an infection pre boil. Or, if you are, the boil will kill it off.

You said in your first post you spray everything with starsan. First thing is to check you've made the starsan up correctly. The instructions on the container are American units. In metric the correct concentration is 8ml of concentrate in 5L of water.

Spray it on, don't rinse it off. Make sure you're spraying absolutely everything. The spoon you stir with, the aquarium heater, the outside of the yeast packet, even your hands! When you take the aquarium heater out, spray the underside of your FV lid again before you put it back on.

This has to be a sanitising issue. There is something horrible floating around in your brew shed and you have to make it impossible for it to get into your beer.

Guy

[Dads_Ale]

Are you just using Starsan or do you clean/sanitise with something else (say VWP) and then just use the Starsan as a belt and braces regime?

[TC2642]

I would suggest that you bleach everything with a 10-15% concentration for a few days, starsan then try again, unscrew any taps etc and make sure they go in as well.

[charliemartin]

I would suggest that you bleach everything with a 10-15% concentration for a few days, starsan then try again, unscrew any taps etc and make sure they go in as well.

+1 Bleach in cold water. Steep for a day or more, rinse with hot water then starsan. I know a lot of people just spray starsan, but I usually make up 5 litres and pour most of it into fv or keg and swill round for a minute or two coating every surface before draining off. Creates a lot of foam, but I then tip container upside down until most of it drains into sink (after draining the liquid).

Cheers,
Charliemartin

[Dene]

Def use a PBW or similar on everything (dismantled), even the bottles and kegs. It's possible that it's something that is isolated to your area, even your brew area and recently moved in. You may need to do a thorough clean of the brewing/fermenting area too. Having been through a similar issue but with local wild yeast, I upped the solution ratio a little as well ( though still in healthy range) to be absolutely sure.

[stu1001]

Thanks for the help. I'm going to clear out the shed and give all the surfaces/walls a good bleaching. I did another brew on Wednesday, and did give everything a good spray with Star San. I make mine up 1.6ml to a litre. I will do the cleaning before I bottle although it could be too late already.
Is it a good idea to have a weak chlorine bath permanently made up for storing utensils/tubes in like I have seen in a most breweries?