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   1. Elastoplast Off Flavour -I feel ready to quit homebrewing

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      by non.operational, 11 years ago in Cleaning and Sanitisation

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      Hello all,
      
      I am posting at a complete loss.
      I took up home brewing in Jan 2012, using BIAB, had over a year of great homebrew (11 or 12 batches), and considered myself to be quite a good brewer. Then something happened -I have been plagued by some sort of contamination, and by my reckoning have now dumped EIGHT batches due to this elastoplast/bandaid off flavour. That's basically eight months of brewing, time money and effort wasted.
      
      I brew all grain in a stainless steel pot with a propane...

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      I hope that Non-Operational has not given up. All the variables discussed so far include the usual suspects and then some. Experience from my former job might open some more possible problem sources. If you made good beer at your new location before things went South, something changed and your super sanitising efforts haven't overcome that change.. Local wild yeast invading your batches is an interesting theory, but inverted empty bottles, covered vessels and proper pitch rates & temperatures...
      30 Replies
      54084 Views
      ShorePoints
      11 years ago
   2. Repitching onto yeast cake at low temperature?

      by non.operational, 12 years ago in Fermentation (Wort to Still Beer)

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      Hello fellow Beer Nerds :geek:
      
      Apologies if this question has come up before, but....
      
      I am using the excellent WLP029 Kolsch yeast again, and will first be making a pale 'fruity' kolsch, then pouring new wort on the yeast cake to make a more malty, 'clean' Altbier.
      
      I am keen to avoid the hassle and potential contamination of yeast washing. However, I was planning to drop the first Kolsch to a lager temp (~2℃) in my fermentation fridge, and would then like to dump 16℃ wort on top of the...

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      I pitch onto yeast cakes for lagers, so that I have sufficient (possibly too much) yeast. I generally rack off the first lager yeast cake, originally pitched with 2 or so packets of liquid or dry yeast, then pour the fresh cooled wort on top of the remaining cake. I will only do this twice as the volume of yeast becomes unmanageable. I think that it would require washing etc to separate out unwanted material from the good yeast.
      Lemon
      Edit. I do this at Lager fermenting temps 10 - 12C
      4 Replies
      7359 Views
      Lemon
      12 years ago
   3. Kolsch yeast starter - krausen or contamination?

      by non.operational, 14 years ago in Yeasts

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      Hi fellow BIABers,
      sorry if this is posted in the wrong section, and sorry for another will this turn out ok? question - I appreciate that it may be unanswerable.
      
      My IMAG1491.jpg question : do you think this yeast starter is contaminated, or just krausening?
      
      The yeast I used is WLP029 Kolsch, harvested from two previous generations, and stored in a Mason jar in my fridge for approx 3 months.
      
      My concern is the bright white skin on the top - I don't remember this from previous uses. I don't...

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      This is very weird. I have brewed a Kolsch 2-3 months ago using WLP029 build up from a slant. Attenuation was a bit low (FG was 1.018 instead of 1.011) but I blamed that on poor aeration. However, I had to do a double take on my first taste of the beer. I really thought that I mixed up my yeasts because what I tasted was a heffeweizen. That is with a 95% Pils and 5% Vienna malt grain bill. No horseblanket funk - yet! It's rather tasty, just a pity I was after a Kolsch!!!!
      I guess this a good...
      7 Replies
      11151 Views
      lambert
      14 years ago
   4. Accidental Hopping Experiment

      by non.operational, 14 years ago in Creating Your Own Recipes

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      Hi, just thought I would ask you guys about an error I made when brewing this weekend.
      
      I was brewing an english pale / golden ale, loosely based on a recipe for Deuchars IPA, and I got my hop additions wrong.
      
      The recipe was:
      OG1.042
      Yeast: White Labs Burton Ale
      79% Maris Otter
      7% Light Crystal
      5% Wheat Malt
      9% Demerera Sugar
      60 Minutes: 16 IBU of Willamette
      5 Minutes: 3.7 IBU of Willammette, 3.3 IBU of Styrian Goldings
      0 Minutes: Same as 5min addition
      Total IBU: 30
      
      The recipe I used was...

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      My mistake - 5 UK gallons is 22.75L, my pot is 19L, so I usually end up with about 13L.
      13 Replies
      14823 Views
      non.operational
      14 years ago
   5. Another 'My First BIAB'

      by non.operational, 14 years ago in Brew Day Stories and/or Pics

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      I too got my first BIAB done this weekend (Neil's Amarillo APA, modified to use Centennial hops), and enjoyed it a lot. Learned a few things, and came away with lots of questions.
      
      I need to speed-up my process -it took about 6 hours but I was doing everything very cautiously!
      
      My time to get 16L water to strike temp (68C) was 25 mins, so I'm considering putting a blanket over the lid during my next heat-up.
      My pot (S/S, 19L, 30cm dia, 28cm height) held it's 65C mash temp very well for 90mins,...

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      Wowzer, impressive piece of kit!
      I was also interested in PP's comments re substituting bittering hops. Think I'll get some cheap, high aa% hops for general bittering, then spend more on flavour/aroma additions. Money saving!
      22 Replies
      20218 Views
      non.operational
      14 years ago

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