I had an issue where I had to dump 3 batches in a row. Ended up being my mash temp gauge was out of calibration.
This is driving me insane. I have never dumped a beer before this month. Probably over a hundred brew days in my life. Dumped 3 batches in the past month – over 30 gallons. All the same recipe. At 1.068
I haven’t changed anything in my normal brewing process other than the yeast. Hornindal Kveik yeast.
My starters looked and did well (I didn’t taste the starter wort). The fermentation looked great. Took off fast each brew. Temp was controlled at 80f (kveik likes warm). One batch stopped at 1.031 for some reason. This past batch made it to 1.015. The other 1.010. All of them has an over the top Astringent/metallic taste. Hard to describe but it’s undrinkable. I don’t ever remember having an off flavor since my beginning brew days. I don’t remember having this terrible taste ever.
Note: the batch that made it to 1.010 was actually harvested from the batch prior (the 1.031 batch). Crop topped. Maybe that had something to do with it stopping at 1.031? Either way they both had the same bad off flavor. The 3rd batch was a brand new package. Shipped with ice.
For the 1st and 3rd batch, I pitched 2 liquid packs into my starters at 2000ml – 1.040. This is for a 11 gallon batch (1.068) IPA. Each time.
My very first attempt with this beer/hornindal recipe came out perfect (2 months ago). Probably my best beer ever. I have been trying to duplicate that brew day exactly but then next 3 all got dumped.
I can’t figure out what is going wrong. All the yeast came from label peelers on 3 separate shipments. 1st
Another note is I have done 2 other brews in between those ^. They were 5 gallon batches using different yeast and they are great. No off flavors.
I use a Brewzilla 65L and a fermzilla for the 11 gal batches. The 5 gallon batches were done in buckets and not fermzilla. I’m pretty anal about cleaning and sanitization. So the fermzilla gets soaked in PBW or Oxyclean and scrubbed/wash out good. I also soak in StarSan before transferring making sure the Starsan gets dumped as well. EDIT: The 1.010 batch was actually done in a 13gal stainless conical.... same resulting flavor though
I have gone over my list and can’t figure out what it could be. I emailed Omega Yeast and they replied fast about that yeast. I asked if anyone else had concerns about that strain recently. No
Again my 1st time using this strain was really great. Fast and clean. Amazing beer.
Any thoughts? I actually made a thread about this problem a few weeks ago BUT I tried again with brand new yeast (new shipment) and stilling getting same bad flavor/results… Bad yeast? Thoughts on this failed brew?
All pale beer with RO needs some acid in the mash and sparge.
This is a pretty short article about mash pH.Can you or someone please direct me to a good article or video on this subject? It's something i seem to be lacking knowledge. i've seen acid malt in other people's recipes on beersmith and always wondered why. I remember trying to goggle search about it but didn't really find anything. Thanks
I had an issue where I had to dump 3 batches in a row. Ended up being my mash temp gauge was out of calibration.
If I recall it was off about 8 degrees off. Not sure what I did to it, maybe hit it on something when I was scrubbing it out. Probably need to get a hand held unit to cross-check the the one on the kettle (was BIAB.)
If I recall it was off about 8 degrees off (mash too hot). Not sure what I did to it, maybe hit it on something when I was scrubbing it out. Probably need to get a hand held thermometer to cross-check the the one on the kettle (was BIAB.). Probably some tannin extraction too. Eck... What a mess!
I doubt this is the issue (and also bet on issues with the yeast), but rinsing with hot sink water seems to defeat the purpose of sanitizing in the first place. The water sitting in your boiler is more likely to contain nasties than the tap water coming straight from the city pipes. If I do a final rinse I use boiled tap water - often still at boiling temp.Actually no. I rinse with hot sink water. But this has always been the case for years and have never tasted anything at all. It is usually 5 days evaporated by the time i brew. But i guess the residue from city water is still there. I have never tasted anything like this current problem before though
I don't have an article link but i, and many others, shoot for a mash PH of 5.3. I also add some acid to the sparge water to get it down to 5.8. You can pick up astringency from the grains in the mash if the PH is too high. I use lactic acid and use a brewer's friend calculator online. some use acidulated malt.Can you or someone please direct me to a good article or video on this subject? It's something i seem to be lacking knowledge. i've seen acid malt in other people's recipes on beersmith and always wondered why. I remember trying to goggle search about it but didn't really find anything. Thanks
The really easy solution is 1-2% of your grist as acidulated malt on top of your grist. This works for me since ages, it's not very scientific, but enough in the right ballpark to solve the problems.Can you or someone please direct me to a good article or video on this subject? It's something i seem to be lacking knowledge. i've seen acid malt in other people's recipes on beersmith and always wondered why. I remember trying to goggle search about it but didn't really find anything. Thanks
I use Brewfather to help me figure out how much acid I need to use but as a general rule of thumb, I end up adding about 4ml of 88% lactic to very pale beers (6 gallon batch). Dark golden/amber ends up at about 2mL. Dark brown to black gets none. This is based on my target of 5.35ph.
I don't have anything against acidulated malt but I generally only use it for pale German lagers as an homage to Reinheitsgebot.
When I look within my "faults" lists I don't see astringent/metallic as a combination.
Sure properly describing?
The OP focused on process. What about equipment? I ask as I purchased a conical fermenter from another homebrewer. They were selling as they, unfortunately, made funky beers the past few times. I completely disabled everything. I mean everything. The nylon barb used for the valve was green with mold! I throughly cleaned everything and replace the POS nylon with stainless. Problem solved.
@Panderson1 is it astringent or metallic?
It's just so freaking easy to use and does the job for me. If I wouldn't do full volume, I would probably also go the liquid lactic acid route. But I actually see no reason why somebody would want to do all the hustle with sparging, if full volume also does the job and it's so much easierI use Brewfather to help me figure out how much acid I need to use but as a general rule of thumb, I end up adding about 4ml of 88% lactic to very pale beers (6 gallon batch). Dark golden/amber ends up at about 2mL. Dark brown to black gets none. This is based on my target of 5.35ph.
I don't have anything against acidulated malt but I generally only use it for pale German lagers as an homage to Reinheitsgebot.
What does your city water taste like? Municipalities have been known to change the source of their water or change th treatmentActually no. I rinse with hot sink water. But this has always been the case for years and have never tasted anything at all. It is usually 5 days evaporated by the time i brew. But i guess the residue from city water is still there. I have never tasted anything like this current problem before though
What does your city water taste like? Municipalities have been known to change the source of their water or change th treatment
Hmmm. I'm out of ideas then.Yeah. Thanks. I drink tap water regularly when I'm too lazy to walk in the middle of the night lol..... it taste good. And the brews i did in-between those in question are fine - i clean the system the same with those brews - using tap water.
Hmmm. I'm out of ideas then.
https://brulosophy.com/2017/05/25/off-flavor-series-butyric-acid-exbeeriment-results/
Vomit is usually associated with butyric acid. If you're fermenting hot, you may be growing it faster.
Also i ordered some fresh Cali Ale yeast. Going to brew the recipe next week. Ill update the thread.
The Cali yeast must have killed him. RIP.So what happened?
The Cali yeast must have killed him. RIP.
Yep, I'd bet he has a contaminant from a bacteria or wild yeast that is only coming out at high ferment.... Check your pump, he said he'd not opened it up....
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