troutman35
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- Apr 16, 2015
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I brewed a bitters last week. A slight deviation in the recipe from the first time I brewed one. The recipe was:
8 lbs Maris Otter
1/2 lb flaked rye
1/2 lb of Munich
1 oz EKG 60 min
1/2 oz Fuggles at 30 min
1/2 oz Fuggles and EKG at 15
1/2 oz EKG at 5
Strike water 168 for a mash temp of 152 for an hour
Sparge water 185 deg for second running
Safale US-04
OG 1.047
Fermented in my cool brewing cooler at 67 deg
Fermentation started within 12 hours. It wasn't a particularly vigorous fermentation so I took a reading at day 5. It was at 1.020
Was shocked at the nastiness. Looking up off flavors / smells and it was somewhere between grassy / cooked veggies/ or baby vomit. Taste was just putrid.
I have about 150 batches behind me and this was the first really rough brew I made. I've experienced diacetyl before, some cider type problems a long time ago but nothing like this.
I used a spray bottle of starsan on my degassing wand before aeration. Bottle was about 3 months old. Perhaps PH was not low enough anymore?
During the boil I had a bug fly in that I couldn't get out, but was boiled for about 30 minutes.
Everything else was cleaned and then sanitized with a fresh batch of StarSan.
This was my first time using the cool brewing cooler for fermentation and the top of the cooler rested on the airlock. Could have this been a problem.
I soaked my wort chiller in the fresh StarSan before using rather than putting in the boil (I've done this before with no problems.
Gonna let it ride for a while and see what happens. It looks fine. At what point should I dump?
Naturally I will do a very thorough cleaning and sanitize the hell out of everything before my next batch. My hoses are pretty new (only 4 batches with them).
One final note, the Maris is about 14 months old. I tasted it before crushing and was still delicious.
Any thoughts on what may have happened and does this stand a chance? It was the least beer like brew I've ever experienced.
Thanks for any ideas you may have
8 lbs Maris Otter
1/2 lb flaked rye
1/2 lb of Munich
1 oz EKG 60 min
1/2 oz Fuggles at 30 min
1/2 oz Fuggles and EKG at 15
1/2 oz EKG at 5
Strike water 168 for a mash temp of 152 for an hour
Sparge water 185 deg for second running
Safale US-04
OG 1.047
Fermented in my cool brewing cooler at 67 deg
Fermentation started within 12 hours. It wasn't a particularly vigorous fermentation so I took a reading at day 5. It was at 1.020
Was shocked at the nastiness. Looking up off flavors / smells and it was somewhere between grassy / cooked veggies/ or baby vomit. Taste was just putrid.
I have about 150 batches behind me and this was the first really rough brew I made. I've experienced diacetyl before, some cider type problems a long time ago but nothing like this.
I used a spray bottle of starsan on my degassing wand before aeration. Bottle was about 3 months old. Perhaps PH was not low enough anymore?
During the boil I had a bug fly in that I couldn't get out, but was boiled for about 30 minutes.
Everything else was cleaned and then sanitized with a fresh batch of StarSan.
This was my first time using the cool brewing cooler for fermentation and the top of the cooler rested on the airlock. Could have this been a problem.
I soaked my wort chiller in the fresh StarSan before using rather than putting in the boil (I've done this before with no problems.
Gonna let it ride for a while and see what happens. It looks fine. At what point should I dump?
Naturally I will do a very thorough cleaning and sanitize the hell out of everything before my next batch. My hoses are pretty new (only 4 batches with them).
One final note, the Maris is about 14 months old. I tasted it before crushing and was still delicious.
Any thoughts on what may have happened and does this stand a chance? It was the least beer like brew I've ever experienced.
Thanks for any ideas you may have