botigol
Well-Known Member
Hey everybody! I have a brett issue for which I need some input, because I haven't been able to pin down the source.
I have made three apple-based beverages: 2 batches of apfelwein and a graff. Here are the details:
1. Apfelwein - 6 gallons of Sprout's brand pasteurized, but unfiltered apple juice; Cotes-du-Blanc yeast. The smell and taste of Band-Aid was so strong that I had to dump it in the end.
2. Apfelwein - 2 gallons of Sprout's brand pasteurized, but unfiltered apple juice; 4 gallons of Tree Top apple juice; EC-1118 yeast. After the fermentation ended the smell and flavor kept switching between nice and appley and Band-Aid-like. It is still bulk aging (about four months from start) and just this week has a strong smell of appley goodness, so it seems like it will be fine, but I am waiting to see if it changes again.
3. Graff - Used only Tree Top juice; Wyeast 2565 (kolsch strain, washed from batch of beer); other than the yeast and an extra 0.25lb of LME I followed Brandon O's recipe. It is now five weeks from pitching the yeast, the smell and taste are somewhat bretty and have been for about two weeks. It hasn't gotten to the point of being bad yet, but at the same time it isn't very good either. There are also a lot of tiny bubbles rising, sometimes forming a 1/2 inch layer of foam on the surface along the edge of the Better Bottle. I have been assuming that this was just degassing, but maybe it is MLF or something else.
After the fist batch of apfelwein I washed and then soaked all equipment in StarSan for a couple of hours. The second batch of apfelwein is in the same Better Bottle as the first batch. I have made several batches of mead and wine and two batches of beer in addition to these apple-based drinks since that initial brett infection using the same tubing, auto-siphon and primary. None of these other batches have become infected, so I don't think that there is residual brett in them. I have used distinct sources of juice, so it shouldn't be the juice. Any ideas as to why these Band-Aid flavors and smells keep popping up? Or if nothing else, what may be happening with my graff?
Thanks!
I have made three apple-based beverages: 2 batches of apfelwein and a graff. Here are the details:
1. Apfelwein - 6 gallons of Sprout's brand pasteurized, but unfiltered apple juice; Cotes-du-Blanc yeast. The smell and taste of Band-Aid was so strong that I had to dump it in the end.
2. Apfelwein - 2 gallons of Sprout's brand pasteurized, but unfiltered apple juice; 4 gallons of Tree Top apple juice; EC-1118 yeast. After the fermentation ended the smell and flavor kept switching between nice and appley and Band-Aid-like. It is still bulk aging (about four months from start) and just this week has a strong smell of appley goodness, so it seems like it will be fine, but I am waiting to see if it changes again.
3. Graff - Used only Tree Top juice; Wyeast 2565 (kolsch strain, washed from batch of beer); other than the yeast and an extra 0.25lb of LME I followed Brandon O's recipe. It is now five weeks from pitching the yeast, the smell and taste are somewhat bretty and have been for about two weeks. It hasn't gotten to the point of being bad yet, but at the same time it isn't very good either. There are also a lot of tiny bubbles rising, sometimes forming a 1/2 inch layer of foam on the surface along the edge of the Better Bottle. I have been assuming that this was just degassing, but maybe it is MLF or something else.
After the fist batch of apfelwein I washed and then soaked all equipment in StarSan for a couple of hours. The second batch of apfelwein is in the same Better Bottle as the first batch. I have made several batches of mead and wine and two batches of beer in addition to these apple-based drinks since that initial brett infection using the same tubing, auto-siphon and primary. None of these other batches have become infected, so I don't think that there is residual brett in them. I have used distinct sources of juice, so it shouldn't be the juice. Any ideas as to why these Band-Aid flavors and smells keep popping up? Or if nothing else, what may be happening with my graff?
Thanks!
