Okay, Community, here goes.
The last two batches I have made (1 lager, 1 APA) both have come down with the same off flavor. Dull, cardboardey, faintly metallic, essentially nasty. Lagering does not help. I poured the lager into the garden after almost 6 weeks of no change, but the APA is new (1 week from fermentation + 3 days cold-crashing) and has the same flavor, so I am going to vote for infection.
While the lager was my first lager ever, and I could think that maybe I just suck at making them since I don't like drinking them; I cannot make the same claim with the APA. It's a recipe I have been making at least once every 2 months for the last 2 years+ with different hops in order to test out hop flavors (essentially a SMaSH recipe).
If the bugs were in the mash to boil kettle part of the process, they would die in the boil, so I am eliminating that as my point of infection. All things get soaked in One Step and Star Sanned for cleaning, just maybe not as religiously as I think. I may need to soak my stuff in cleaning solutions longer.
So please assist me in not missing anything post-boil.
1. Ball valve on boil kettle could be dirty inside.
2. IC should be ok as it gets boiled for 15 minutes before cooling.
3. Once cooled, aeration is done by flowing wort and gunk into a chinois (fine mesh SS cone filter-could be harboring crud) before dropping into the fermentor.
4. Silicone washers in fermentor ball valve assembly could be infected (where it attaches through fermentor wall), as could the ball valve itself on the inside.
5. Different kegs have been used for both beers, so probably not the keg seals or anything else in them.
Suggestions?
Thank you!
Reevesie
The last two batches I have made (1 lager, 1 APA) both have come down with the same off flavor. Dull, cardboardey, faintly metallic, essentially nasty. Lagering does not help. I poured the lager into the garden after almost 6 weeks of no change, but the APA is new (1 week from fermentation + 3 days cold-crashing) and has the same flavor, so I am going to vote for infection.
While the lager was my first lager ever, and I could think that maybe I just suck at making them since I don't like drinking them; I cannot make the same claim with the APA. It's a recipe I have been making at least once every 2 months for the last 2 years+ with different hops in order to test out hop flavors (essentially a SMaSH recipe).
If the bugs were in the mash to boil kettle part of the process, they would die in the boil, so I am eliminating that as my point of infection. All things get soaked in One Step and Star Sanned for cleaning, just maybe not as religiously as I think. I may need to soak my stuff in cleaning solutions longer.
So please assist me in not missing anything post-boil.
1. Ball valve on boil kettle could be dirty inside.
2. IC should be ok as it gets boiled for 15 minutes before cooling.
3. Once cooled, aeration is done by flowing wort and gunk into a chinois (fine mesh SS cone filter-could be harboring crud) before dropping into the fermentor.
4. Silicone washers in fermentor ball valve assembly could be infected (where it attaches through fermentor wall), as could the ball valve itself on the inside.
5. Different kegs have been used for both beers, so probably not the keg seals or anything else in them.
Suggestions?
Thank you!
Reevesie