Hey HBT,
I have been brewing for 5 years now with 1 year into kegging and partial mashing (3 gallon cooler mash tun). Prior to kegging last year I had a 32 point Wee Heavy and a 38 point Milk Stout in NHC (bottle conditioned). This last year I upgraded to an 8 gallon pot (full boils) and I had made a few great dry hopped pales, evil twin clone (40 points local comp), heady topper clone, they all turned out heavenly. Since October 2013 I have been stuck with many bad batches, I have dumped probably 40 gallons since then down the drain, all kegged/given time. They either have muddled flavors, not sour/phenolic, but I think my hoppy beers taste oxidized (not sherry or wet cardboard) just no flavor and aroma, all that is left is a sweet weird malt taste (these are not malty grain bills/extracts use 6oz west coast hops+). My wee heavy this year (same recipe) racked to secondary on oak for 2 months, acetaldehyde bomb, dumped. My darker beers taste thin and astringent (I have really soft tap in SF (I carbon filter/campden but do adjust salts for the mash via Ez Water Calc).
I ferment with my 6.5 gallon glass carboy or my 6 gallon PET Better Bottle. I make starters on my stir plate and use mostly fresh 001 with Mr. Malty calculator. I use a square cooler with a custom styrofoam lid for the airlock, water+frozen soda bottles, fermometer above the water line but below the beer line, pitch at 62 and watch for first 1-4 days letting it get up to 66, then after let it free rise to SF ambient temps of 68-70F. I ferment usually around 2-3 weeks checking gravity for stability, then keg the beer. If I am dry hopping, I lately do that in the keg via bag/pellets at room temp for 3-5 days in the keg before putting into the keezer for carbonation.
So trying to trouble shoot this issue, I have replaced all plastic items, better bottle, racking cane, tubing, funnel, stir bar, carboy hoods, and airlocks. I boil the oxygen stone, so I have not replaced that (I oxygenate for 1 minute). I have tried to make a few batches with rehydrated US-05, no luck. I recently realized I was not purging my kegs enough, do not remember if the great batches I did last year if I did more purging, but October-post after racking into them I was only doing it once, last 2 batches did it 4X at 15 PSI.
So I started to inspect other items, noticed marks inside my 2 keg gas lines (1 year old, replaced them both and new quick disconnects), noticed beer stone on my kettle and 2 kegs, scrubbed them insanely clean (replaced o rings, boiled posts / dip tube brush). I also replaced my beverage lines and quick disconnects. I took apart my 1 year old 8 gallon kettle valve that I transfer the cooled wort through (was nasty! dark green black hop gunk), completely disassembled, pbw/boil/sanitize, then reassembled.
On the recipe front I have ordered kits from various sources to rule out bad bulk hops that I vac seal. I have done all extract and partial mashes, does not seem to matter.
So one of the last few things I am trying besides tasting the beer throughout the process, is focus to on racking. I have been racking in my kitchen (I used a chair not pictured to put the keg on, I use 4 feet of 3/8 tubing on a 3/8 auto siphon, there is probably about (2 feet) from the bottom of the keg and the bottom of the fermenter. As pictured, even with a hose clamp, about 1/3 of the way into racking a few large bubbles appear in the middle of the tubing and continue to rock/bounce at the same spot in the tubing.
This can’t be good right? My tubing also has a difficult time getting flat into the keg (splashing for first 10-30 seconds trying to adjust moving the siphon picking up yeast), is there a trick to not have your lines return to the shape of the circular spool? Should I be using a longer piece of tubing with the keg on the floor instead of a chair?
I am nearly about to quit home brewing, I have weekly deliveries Pliny the Elder two blocks from my house at the deli for $4.50. Why bother at this point?
Sigh.
/end rant
I have been brewing for 5 years now with 1 year into kegging and partial mashing (3 gallon cooler mash tun). Prior to kegging last year I had a 32 point Wee Heavy and a 38 point Milk Stout in NHC (bottle conditioned). This last year I upgraded to an 8 gallon pot (full boils) and I had made a few great dry hopped pales, evil twin clone (40 points local comp), heady topper clone, they all turned out heavenly. Since October 2013 I have been stuck with many bad batches, I have dumped probably 40 gallons since then down the drain, all kegged/given time. They either have muddled flavors, not sour/phenolic, but I think my hoppy beers taste oxidized (not sherry or wet cardboard) just no flavor and aroma, all that is left is a sweet weird malt taste (these are not malty grain bills/extracts use 6oz west coast hops+). My wee heavy this year (same recipe) racked to secondary on oak for 2 months, acetaldehyde bomb, dumped. My darker beers taste thin and astringent (I have really soft tap in SF (I carbon filter/campden but do adjust salts for the mash via Ez Water Calc).
I ferment with my 6.5 gallon glass carboy or my 6 gallon PET Better Bottle. I make starters on my stir plate and use mostly fresh 001 with Mr. Malty calculator. I use a square cooler with a custom styrofoam lid for the airlock, water+frozen soda bottles, fermometer above the water line but below the beer line, pitch at 62 and watch for first 1-4 days letting it get up to 66, then after let it free rise to SF ambient temps of 68-70F. I ferment usually around 2-3 weeks checking gravity for stability, then keg the beer. If I am dry hopping, I lately do that in the keg via bag/pellets at room temp for 3-5 days in the keg before putting into the keezer for carbonation.
So trying to trouble shoot this issue, I have replaced all plastic items, better bottle, racking cane, tubing, funnel, stir bar, carboy hoods, and airlocks. I boil the oxygen stone, so I have not replaced that (I oxygenate for 1 minute). I have tried to make a few batches with rehydrated US-05, no luck. I recently realized I was not purging my kegs enough, do not remember if the great batches I did last year if I did more purging, but October-post after racking into them I was only doing it once, last 2 batches did it 4X at 15 PSI.
So I started to inspect other items, noticed marks inside my 2 keg gas lines (1 year old, replaced them both and new quick disconnects), noticed beer stone on my kettle and 2 kegs, scrubbed them insanely clean (replaced o rings, boiled posts / dip tube brush). I also replaced my beverage lines and quick disconnects. I took apart my 1 year old 8 gallon kettle valve that I transfer the cooled wort through (was nasty! dark green black hop gunk), completely disassembled, pbw/boil/sanitize, then reassembled.
On the recipe front I have ordered kits from various sources to rule out bad bulk hops that I vac seal. I have done all extract and partial mashes, does not seem to matter.
So one of the last few things I am trying besides tasting the beer throughout the process, is focus to on racking. I have been racking in my kitchen (I used a chair not pictured to put the keg on, I use 4 feet of 3/8 tubing on a 3/8 auto siphon, there is probably about (2 feet) from the bottom of the keg and the bottom of the fermenter. As pictured, even with a hose clamp, about 1/3 of the way into racking a few large bubbles appear in the middle of the tubing and continue to rock/bounce at the same spot in the tubing.
This can’t be good right? My tubing also has a difficult time getting flat into the keg (splashing for first 10-30 seconds trying to adjust moving the siphon picking up yeast), is there a trick to not have your lines return to the shape of the circular spool? Should I be using a longer piece of tubing with the keg on the floor instead of a chair?
I am nearly about to quit home brewing, I have weekly deliveries Pliny the Elder two blocks from my house at the deli for $4.50. Why bother at this point?
Sigh.
/end rant
