philipCT
Brewniversity student
- Joined
- May 10, 2013
- Messages
- 771
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I have two beers fermenting that are both suffering from the same ailment: very strong rubber/band-aid odors and flavor. This is my first for band-aid and I almost lost it when I smelled it - couldn't have imagined what a band-aid odor was before but now I will never forget it. If you haven't smelled it - it's not what band-aids smell like now - it's how band-aids used to smell in the 70's - like rubber if you ask me.
As I work through thinking about what the cause should be I'm pretty sure I've identified the problem, but I'd like to get some input...
Here are the basics. Each brew was the same in these regards:
-10 gallon batch
-pitched a substantial starter (so this is not an under-pitching issue)
-both aerated with an aquarium pump & inline filter that I've used many times before with good success
-both fermenters were pitched at 68F and went immediately into a fermentation temp ctl box with a dual-zone digital temperature controller (so ferm temp is not an issue - the temps were perfect and perfectly consistent)
-both fermenting in new stainless conicals that, in retrospect, were probably not properly cleaned (and this is the issue I suspect most)
I've got 12 other batches behind me with never an infection problem. If anything, I overuse PBW to insure all vessels involved are clean. Previously I've only ever used glass carboys, washed with PBW, capped after drying, and then sanitized shortly before pitching.
In this case, because the conicals were new, I washed them with TSP, and then washed with sanitizer to passivate them. This is where I lost the thread. I should have then washed with PBW and cold rinsed, but didn't. My next step was to sanitize them again on brewday.
Is it possible that TSP residue was still in the tank, and caused this off-odor? This is not a subtle off-odor - it gets in your nose immediately and sticks there.
I guess it's possible that the TSP didn't really clean the tanks sufficiently and the infection is a bug. But this would have to be the same bug in both tanks, because the infection is identical.
I guess it's possible that the inline air filter has gotten contaminated, but it's been stored properly in a humidity controlled environment and shows no sign of contamination.
Any ideas?
As I work through thinking about what the cause should be I'm pretty sure I've identified the problem, but I'd like to get some input...
Here are the basics. Each brew was the same in these regards:
-10 gallon batch
-pitched a substantial starter (so this is not an under-pitching issue)
-both aerated with an aquarium pump & inline filter that I've used many times before with good success
-both fermenters were pitched at 68F and went immediately into a fermentation temp ctl box with a dual-zone digital temperature controller (so ferm temp is not an issue - the temps were perfect and perfectly consistent)
-both fermenting in new stainless conicals that, in retrospect, were probably not properly cleaned (and this is the issue I suspect most)
I've got 12 other batches behind me with never an infection problem. If anything, I overuse PBW to insure all vessels involved are clean. Previously I've only ever used glass carboys, washed with PBW, capped after drying, and then sanitized shortly before pitching.
In this case, because the conicals were new, I washed them with TSP, and then washed with sanitizer to passivate them. This is where I lost the thread. I should have then washed with PBW and cold rinsed, but didn't. My next step was to sanitize them again on brewday.
Is it possible that TSP residue was still in the tank, and caused this off-odor? This is not a subtle off-odor - it gets in your nose immediately and sticks there.
I guess it's possible that the TSP didn't really clean the tanks sufficiently and the infection is a bug. But this would have to be the same bug in both tanks, because the infection is identical.
I guess it's possible that the inline air filter has gotten contaminated, but it's been stored properly in a humidity controlled environment and shows no sign of contamination.
Any ideas?