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vinpaysdoc - I used to do the same with my bottles, but I found that the repeated heating and cooling cycles weakened the glass and I was getting bottles that would break off at the neck. I've gone to a 3 vessel wash for bottles; a hot water soak then scrub, a hot water rinse to get our whatever I scrubbed, then a dunk in StarSan for a few minutes.
blur_yo_face - Did you taste the beer before bottling? I've skimmed the thread and don't see any mention of that. What's your water profile look like? Are you adding any O2 or yeast nutrient in your process? And so we cover all our bases ... how do your valve look?
Posted 34 days ago.
I did taste the beer before bottling, when I was taking my gravity reading.. no harsh upfront taste, and I was actually really pleased/optimistic with how it was going to taste fully carbonated.. did not take water into account yet, I am starting to get into that with this coming up batch.. I used the 5.2 pH stabilizer on this batch and have stopped using it since.. When transferring from the BK to the carboy, I allow it to splash as much as possible since I do not have an O2 kit quite yet, no yeast nutrient.. funny you should mention the valve, this was the 5th and final batch I used with the valve.. after seeing Brulosopher's article, I cleaned every piece of equipment, (including taking apart the valve) after this batch.. although it didn't look too bad when I cleaned it, that could also be another source of the off-flavor..
Posted 34 days ago.
Heh. "Didn't look too bad" and "clean" could be the difference for sure.
What was your FG?
Posted 34 days ago.
1.012, so low compared to the expected FG
Posted 34 days ago.
That's odd, since the beer came across to me as sweet. the plot thickens!
Posted 34 days ago.
I think I've gone over everything that happened in my brew day.. I'm still somewhat convinced that my grains were milled too fine, which might have caused me to extract tannins during the mash.. there are many variables that could have happened, but the stuck sparge just stands out to me for some reason.. that and the fact that I didn't really take water into account..
@Ray & brouwerijchugach - I will be sending you both some bottles in the mail today at lunch.. maybe your analysis on top of the info from my brewday can help..
I'm more than happy to write out all the details I can remember from the brewday, if you guys can think of more questions about it that I may not have considered, please ask away
Posted 34 days ago.
> I'm still somewhat convinced that my grains were milled too fine, which might have caused me to extract tannins during the mash
Put this concern away. BIAB brewers sometimes mill their grains practically into flour. You cannot physically crush grain hard enough to extract tannins - this is a chemical reaction, not a physical one, and it relies mostly on mash pH (and, to a lesser degree, mash temperature).
Posted 34 days ago.
After re-reading Olan's description, I'm leaning towards infection. Ester formation can be enhanced by stressing the yeast, which bacterial competition would cause that stress. Sourness is definitely a hallmark of an infection. Diacetyl could also form under a bacterial infection and it's presence could amp up any C-malt's perception of sweetness. You said you saw some junk in your valves which could do it. Leave a bottle or two over time. If you get a gusher or increased sourness in a couple of weeks, it's definitely infection.
Posted 34 days ago.
I agree. If the beer tasted good in the fermentor, and we're getting these flavors now, I'm wondering if infection isn't the culprit.
If it makes you feel any better, I just sent an apparently rotten bottle of my Christmas ale to Brulosopher. Gusher, phenolics, the whole nine yards.
Posted 34 days ago.
I'm looking forward to trying this. I'm just also trying not to read tasting notes to remain less biased. Cheers!
Posted 34 days ago.
Gusher, phenolics, the whole nine yards.
Posted 34 days ago.
I haven't seen this at all on mine. Bottles I sent to Texas were very well received. People at work seem to like it (though, what do they know?). Bottles to Tennessee were well received.
But the one I sent to Marshall was apparently a real mess. :/
One off bad bottle? Recurring issues? I don't know.
It's crazy frustrating, because I have gotten pretty nuts about sanitation.
Posted 34 days ago.
Weird.
You can send me some with that IPA ;-) . You know I'll probably call it sweet, but I do have a pretty good feel for WLP500.
I'm thinking I might mail out a couple packages of MACC3 IPA. Any thoughts on who should receive? I think I need some feedback to move this recipe forward, as my family of hopheads just keep saying how great it is (I mean, thanks... but that isn't really constructive...). Ideally I think I'd want people who are willing/able to fill out a BJCP style scoresheet.
Posted 34 days ago.
infection huh? I guess I'm so accustomed to seeing "Is this infected???" posts that I don't think its infected when it might be.. it certainly didn't look like any typical infection that I'm used to seeing pictures of (brett, lacto, pellicle..)
I definitely plan on hanging on to a couple of bottles to age.. I'll report back if there are any gushers or increased sourness..
I had to pop that cherry eventually.. Woo!! first infection!
Posted 34 days ago.
I've never had a fermentor infection, but I've had several in bottles.
Posted 34 days ago.
