nickbarley
Well-Known Member
I'm a BIAB brewer and corny keg fermenter/server. I've been getting an acidic, sour, plastic-like, rubbery off-flavor in a few of my batches now, and it's very frustrating to troubleshoot. This flavor appears post-fermentation, when I've kegged and force carbonated my beer at around 13-14 psi. I ferment and serve out of a 5 gal corny keg. During fermentation I have a blow-off tube going into a jar full of water and star-san. I typically allow my batches to ferment for about 7-9 days before cold-crashing to 40 F and force carbonating at 14 psi for 2-3 days.
The samples I take are with a picnic tap with pvc tubing. I just run some star-san through the picnic tap before attaching it to my liquid out post. Before fermenting, I disassemble the keg components, and soak them in hot water and star-san for a couple hours before dumping the wort and pitching my yeast.
I do use my city's tap water, which does have chlorine/chloramine, but I add 1/4 of a campden tablet to my water prior to mashing in.
My question is: could this off-flavor be an infection, chlorophenols, autolysis, bad keg lines (liquid/gas), astringency, or just ingredients?
I would be glad to post my grain bill and brew day practices to see if that gleans any information. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
The samples I take are with a picnic tap with pvc tubing. I just run some star-san through the picnic tap before attaching it to my liquid out post. Before fermenting, I disassemble the keg components, and soak them in hot water and star-san for a couple hours before dumping the wort and pitching my yeast.
I do use my city's tap water, which does have chlorine/chloramine, but I add 1/4 of a campden tablet to my water prior to mashing in.
My question is: could this off-flavor be an infection, chlorophenols, autolysis, bad keg lines (liquid/gas), astringency, or just ingredients?
I would be glad to post my grain bill and brew day practices to see if that gleans any information. Any help would be greatly appreciated!