Help! I've had a FAILURE.

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As it says i've had a batch failure of a beer that i have made four times before with outstanding success.
OG 1.042,FG 1.009 The beer is an ordinary bitter 4.735 abv ,26.02 IBU's from EKG hops ,1.75 oz for 60
min,.75 oz at 10 min.The grist was pale ale and carapils .
The beer won't clear, it was cold crashed at 33°f for three days,No finings used. Flavor is way off ,not
sour but just BAD. The word ASS comes to mind.
Pitched the yeast at 69°f or so my floating thermo said. Because of space constraints it had to be fermented in a closet.
Any help diagnosing this would be appreciated
 
sounds like you've got a starch haze from the description. It sounds like the grain/mash didn't convert. Is that possible? Was the wort very clear after the mash?
 
Most likely a sanitation issue. Strip everything down and clean it thoroughly. Use hot alkali (PBW at 140 plus degrees), followed by an acid rinse (Starsan will do just fine). Question: How many batches have you done using your current equipment? Often beginners get lucky the first few batches, then the bacteria "find" them - actually reproduce to the point where they can affect the beer. Cleaning issues are the number one cause of bad beer. Clean everything, then try again.
 
sounds like you've got a starch haze from the description. It sounds like the grain/mash didn't convert. Is that possible? Was the wort very clear after the mash?
I'm betting bacteria, given the flavor description.
 
I'm calling plastic buckets, probably with a spigot somewhere in the mix. ;)
 
Just went down and broke everything down and i may have found the problem,small spot of mold growing on my aeration stone. I can't get PBW here because of the lockdown in San Jose C.R. so will use oxy clean in hot water and rinse with Star San. Have to wait on a new stone as well. Thanks for the insight. wouldn't have thought of the bacteria because no volcano bottles.
 
Mold on the stone would definitely be a place to start. Sucks man.
 
Just went down and broke everything down and i may have found the problem,small spot of mold growing on my aeration stone. I can't get PBW here because of the lockdown in San Jose C.R. so will use oxy clean in hot water and rinse with Star San. Have to wait on a new stone as well. Thanks for the insight. wouldn't have thought of the bacteria because no volcano bottles.
Oxyclean is not the same as PBW - no acid rinse needed after using it. Hot water and Oxyclean may do the job for you.
 
Oxyclean is not the same as PBW - no acid rinse needed after using it. Hot water and Oxyclean may do the job for you.

Hmm, might not be the exact same, but rinsing oxy with cool water and then a Star San mix for sure accomplish's the same thing as rinsing after PBW. It definitely helps strip the cleaner off and gives you that squeeky clean feel. I can't say it's a must, but I've always done both steps as part of my cleaning regimen.
 
I'm calling plastic buckets, probably with a spigot somewhere in the mix. ;)

Just wondering why you think a plastic bucket would be the cause....
Since I use plastic buckets....
 
Just wondering why you think a plastic bucket would be the cause....
Since I use plastic buckets....
It's simply the most likely cause. They scratch easily, biofilm sticks to them, they have hard to clean corners. There's nothing particularly wrong with plastic, I use plastic fermentors and carboys, they just need some care.
 
no use fermentasaurusx2
Plastic is plastic...every one of those spigots and seals has to be broken down to their component parts and cleaned. Any scratch anywhere in the system is likely to harbor some nasty stuff.
Just wondering why you think a plastic bucket would be the cause....
Since I use plastic buckets....
What Nosy said...We've all used plastic buckets at one time or another and most of us have used the little brown barrel fermenters from Mr. Beer at some point. Plastic is unforgiving in terms of sanitizing. The first time you lose a batch to a bad bucket, you think really hard about upgrading to glass and then when you bump a carboy and break it with a full batch of beer in it (hopefully without horrendous lacerations to your legs and feet) you see the wisdom in upgrading to all stainless. ;)
 
you think really hard about upgrading to glass and then when you bump a carboy and break it with a full batch of beer in it (hopefully without horrendous lacerations to your legs and feet) you see the wisdom in upgrading to all stainless. ;)
Or you slice off the pad of your index finger, name a beer after it, sell your carboys, and buy HDPE Speidels.
 
Or you slice off the pad of your index finger, name a beer after it, sell your carboys, and buy HDPE Speidels.
Yeah...that represents a step backwards in terms of sanitation but it definitely makes the brewery a much safer place to work. :) I still have a few carboys that I use for the occasional cider batch or yeast-building but I dread working with them.:eek:
 
Yeah...that represents a step backwards in terms of sanitation but it definitely makes the brewery a much safer place to work. :) I still have a few carboys that I use for the occasional cider batch or yeast-building but I dread working with them.:eek:

The nice thing about Speidels is that the inside is polished smooth and there are no sharp edges so you can be confident it's clean.
 
Been using plastic for ten years, no problems with sanitation.... Yet.
 
Been using plastic for ten years, no problems with sanitation.... Yet.

I've used glass carboys, plastic buckets and now speidels. Never had a problem with any of them. However I did notice my buckets getting a little scratched due to stacking them one inside the other.
 
I'd like to thank all who commented to my problem. I did find the problem and it was the air stone. I will now be using a brass aerator and boil between batches. I tried boiling the natural one I had but it feel apart in the boiling oxy clean.
I understand your love hate relationship with glass carboys, I've had several since I started making wine 20 * years ago and never broken one but my age now precludes me from lifting them to the brewing bench or sink to clean and the fermentasaurus is so lite I wish I'd had them years ago.
 

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