Brew number 31 but 1st one to be thrown

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Meatymc
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Brew number 31 but 1st one to be thrown

Post by Meatymc » Mon Feb 19, 2018 8:47 pm

Have just come back reeling from checking my latest Vienna brew - coming upto the end of week 2 in the fermenter.

Terrible smell on taking a sample with vinegar/sherry/nail polish remover the most prevalent. Also follows through on tasting although can still detect a beer in the background.

Guess this is the 1st one to go down the drain!!

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floydmeddler
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Re: Brew number 31 but 1st one to be thrown

Post by floydmeddler » Mon Feb 19, 2018 9:55 pm

Vinegar sounds like the dreaded acetobacter. I had an invasion of it some years back. Lost 200L, 25L at a time, brew after brew. Killed it in the end with steam and 100c water. To this day I still steam my fermenters and never had a return of it.

Hopefully it'll be a one off!

WalesAles
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Re: Brew number 31 but 1st one to be thrown

Post by WalesAles » Mon Feb 19, 2018 10:14 pm

Meaty,
Don`t throw it all away yet, bottle some of it and hide it away for at least 6mths.
I had a brew before and the house smelled like a chip shop. I could not bring myself to drain it and 6mths later it was OK.
Not good enough to give to anyone else to drink but it was OK for me (Tight Git).
But that`s just me being silly again I suppose! #-o :D :D

WA

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Meatymc
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Re: Brew number 31 but 1st one to be thrown

Post by Meatymc » Mon Feb 19, 2018 10:41 pm

Thought the same Wales. Will probably bottle a couple of dozen if only to make me feel a bit better. Looks like I'm going to be cleaning and sanitising for a while

WalesAles
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Re: Brew number 31 but 1st one to be thrown

Post by WalesAles » Mon Feb 19, 2018 10:48 pm

Meaty,
You could sell it here......
https://www.bing.com/images/search?view ... ajaxhist=0

:D :D :D

WA

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Meatymc
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Re: Brew number 31 but 1st one to be thrown

Post by Meatymc » Tue Feb 20, 2018 10:25 am

LOL! You wouldn't want this cr%p on your chips Wales believe me.

Having given this some thought and despite the fact throwing 40 'pints' of beer down the drain rather goes against the grain, I am going to bin this tonight. See no point in potentially infecting bottling equipment etc just for the sake of saving a few pints that might or might not become drinkable at some point in the future.

Bit worried about my Kolsch. Has been lagering for 5 weeks in the brew fridge but also same room as this one. Going to leave well alone (and door unopened) until I've done a thorough clean everywhere.

Good idea about steam cleaning Floyd (200l lost - christ!!) but at first couldn't think how but then realised I can adapt our wallpaper stripper.

Hey ho....................must have become a little lax with the cleaning regime so will set that right. Also, by coincidence, bought some Star San last week so we'll see how we go with that as my replacement sanitiser.

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Jocky
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Re: Brew number 31 but 1st one to be thrown

Post by Jocky » Tue Feb 20, 2018 1:28 pm

How were you sanitising before you bought Starsan?
Ingredients: Water, Barley, Hops, Yeast, Seaweed, Blood, Sweat, The swim bladder of a sturgeon, My enemies tears, Scenes of mild peril, An otter's handbag and Riboflavin.

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Meatymc
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Re: Brew number 31 but 1st one to be thrown

Post by Meatymc » Tue Feb 20, 2018 2:41 pm

VWP which is fine but isn't no rinse so is a bit of a ball-ache. I brew in the garage, ferment in the utility and store my gear and ingrediets in a bedroom cupboard so stuff all over the place. However, I haven't changed my routine from day one.

I must simply have missed something or not been thorough enough. Favourite in my head is the bottle I used for scavenging yeast from this brew - IPA's method. I defo' sanitised it just before using but prior to that, it had been sat in the 'bottle' cupboard in the garage for several months so maybe there was something 'engrained' on it. There was a 'perfect' krausen when I came to take a sample 2 days in so had to 'dig-down' to hit the wort. Also smelled fine when I took the 1st gravity reading on day 7. Looks like this is the most likely culprit.

I've since bought another barrel fermenter with tap so can 'bleed' off yeast samples rather than digging into the wort itself.

What is interesting though is that the smell when opening the fermenter almost knocks you over yet is almost in the background when sniffing from a glass - there is that background taste to it though background taste though.

The krausen dropped around day 9 (lot later than usual) but there's a load of gunk still on the side of the fermenter from where it reached it's peak if that means anything to anyone, and I guess that's where the smell is originating.

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Re: Brew number 31 but 1st one to be thrown

Post by Jocky » Tue Feb 20, 2018 3:48 pm

VWP is pretty decent as a cleaner (and for killing off rogue yeast/bacteria while doing so), but as you say it's a pain as a sanitiser as you have to rinse the VWP off.

Starsan is nice for this as you can mix it up for no rinse use on a brew day, or even mix up a spray bottle with it to keep on the shelf for adhoc/emergency use. If you're keeping the solution for a time like this then it's best to mix with Tesco Ashbeck/deionised/RO water otherwise it goes cloudy and loses its effectiveness over time.
Ingredients: Water, Barley, Hops, Yeast, Seaweed, Blood, Sweat, The swim bladder of a sturgeon, My enemies tears, Scenes of mild peril, An otter's handbag and Riboflavin.

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Re: Brew number 31 but 1st one to be thrown

Post by Meatymc » Tue Feb 20, 2018 4:04 pm

Cheers Jocky. I'm going down the Ashbeck route as my water is high alkalinity.

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Jocky
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Re: Brew number 31 but 1st one to be thrown

Post by Jocky » Tue Feb 20, 2018 4:07 pm

Regarding collecting samples from your fermenter - taps are ok, but a pain to keep clean and sanitary.

I recommend a glass turkey baster: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Norpro-5897-Gl ... 0000CFSHX/

Being glass you can visually check it's clean, and a quick starsan blast sanitises it before use.
Ingredients: Water, Barley, Hops, Yeast, Seaweed, Blood, Sweat, The swim bladder of a sturgeon, My enemies tears, Scenes of mild peril, An otter's handbag and Riboflavin.

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Jocky
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Re: Brew number 31 but 1st one to be thrown

Post by Jocky » Tue Feb 20, 2018 4:08 pm

Meatymc wrote:
Tue Feb 20, 2018 4:04 pm
Cheers Jocky. I'm going down the Ashbeck route as my water is high alkalinity.
For brewday bulk soaking you can use tap water, just toss the sanitiser at the end of the day.
Ingredients: Water, Barley, Hops, Yeast, Seaweed, Blood, Sweat, The swim bladder of a sturgeon, My enemies tears, Scenes of mild peril, An otter's handbag and Riboflavin.

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Sadfield
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Re: Brew number 31 but 1st one to be thrown

Post by Sadfield » Tue Feb 20, 2018 4:32 pm


Meatymc wrote:What is interesting though is that the smell when opening the fermenter almost knocks you over yet is almost in the background when sniffing from a glass - there is that background taste to it though background taste though.
At two weeks old, I'd leave it another week in the Fv. Perhaps for whatever reason, the yeast was stressed early on in fermentation, produced lots of intermediate compounds causing the off flavour/aroma and is now processing them. From your description it suggests that whatever it is, is being gased off by co2. Another week and you'll know which direction the brew is moving. Then decide to throw or bottle.





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Last edited by Sadfield on Tue Feb 20, 2018 4:32 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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Re: Brew number 31 but 1st one to be thrown

Post by chefgage » Tue Feb 20, 2018 4:33 pm

I would definetly go down the star san route. Any sanitizer that you have to then rinse of is not ideal as you could re-introduce different nasties that are in the tap water or more probably around the tap area.

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Re: Brew number 31 but 1st one to be thrown

Post by Meatymc » Tue Feb 20, 2018 5:26 pm

All sound comments - thanks. Don't suppose another week would harm if there is any chance of saving this (Sadfield) although that pushes both the existing (hopefully ready) Kolsch and intended plum porter back due to lack of equipment and then jollies. Might just leave until the weekend and see if there is any change.

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