Help! Infection in the brewery!

[grooves]

For the first time since returning to the hobby 10 years ago - I've got an infection.

I had brewed a Koelsch before the Jubilee weekend, the recipe called for the yeast to be pitch at 14c and free rise from there. I only managed to chill to 17c - so pitched but left the fermentor in the brew fridge set at 14c - but it over shot to 12c. Also my filter jammed with hop pellet sludge, so I disconnected it and a lot of hop material went through my plate chiller and into the fermentor (SS conical). By Monday night (the first time I got to check it) the fermentation had started but had only attenuated less than 30% - so the fermentation was stalled for sure - and a horrible "TCP" taste to the beer.

I guess I need to break down the ball valves and give everything a good hot soak in cleaner - I've invested in some liquid PBW for this. Any other tips?

 

[HarryFlatters]

Could be chlorine in your water, or a chlorine based sanitiser that didn't get rinsed off, rather than an infection.

Did you treat your brewing water with half a campden tablet before starting?

30% attenuation after less than a week at a low temperature sounds sorta normal to me, I could be wrong though as I don't really check during fermentation.

 

[grooves]

This is also a possibility - I used a strong concentration of Chemsan for cleaning as I hadn't brewed in a while - but I have done a successful brew since then and I made sure to rinse down after cleaning, and before brewing. I don't use campden tablets, but I do carbon filter.

 

[HarryFlatters]

Could be that the hop sludge that got through to the fermenter has caused the funky smell. Let it ferment out and give it a taste. If it's nasty, chuck it and give everything a deep clean. It'll be better next time

 

[Sadfield]

Infection and plate chiller is a recurring combination.

 

[grooves]

Just tasted it again - yuck! - now free risen to 20c and at 63% attenuation. I'll let it complete but I'm 100% sure it's for the drain.

Yes - I'm concerned about the plate chiller - any tips on a deep clean?

 

[Sadfield]

Yes - I'm concerned about the plate chiller - any tips on a deep clean?

I don't own one as I don't like that homebrew ones can't be stripped down. However, as a general rule with cleaning brew kit. An acid wash to remove inorganic soiling and a alkaline wash to remove organic soiling. Chemsan/Starsan solution followed by PWB/sodium percarbonate, both c50°c for 15 minutes, draining but with no rinse in between, works for me on stainless and plastic kit.

 

[Clarence]

Rinse your equipment with Campden or metabisulphite solution after using any chlorine-based cleaner. Then treat both your mash and your sparge water with half a Campden tablet each. The taste threshold for chlorophenols is incredibly low. Either way, I'd say your brew's a scrapper. Sorry.

 

[RockTKaz]

I recently had to dump a tcp batch after cleaning my kettle with barkeepers friend. Not sure if it wasn’t rinsed properly or I got an infection. Either way, I soaked everything overnight in PBW and a good sanitisation with Milton. My last brew has been fine. Could be worth a go?

 

[itry]

For the first time since returning to the hobby 10 years ago - I've got an infection.

I had brewed a Koelsch before the Jubilee weekend, the recipe called for the yeast to be pitch at 14c and free rise from there. I only managed to chill to 17c - so pitched but left the fermentor in the brew fridge set at 14c - but it over shot to 12c. Also my filter jammed with hop pellet sludge, so I disconnected it and a lot of hop material went through my plate chiller and into the fermentor (SS conical). By Monday night (the first time I got to check it) the fermentation had started but had only attenuated less than 30% - so the fermentation was stalled for sure - and a horrible "TCP" taste to the beer.

I guess I need to break down the ball valves and give everything a good hot soak in cleaner - I've invested in some liquid PBW for this. Any other tips?

I had the same problem for ages. Since using a chemsan type thing to rinse all wort touching items before brewing. Its been ok. I used to use a cleaning powder then rinsed and soaked with chemsan. Seems to have gone away. I beleive its the chemicals from water that react badly in the brew. Also try de chlorination the water your going to boil with.

 

[itry]

I had the same problem for ages. Since using a chemsan type thing to rinse all wort touching items before brewing. Its been ok. I used to use a cleaning powder then rinsed and soaked with chemsan. Seems to have gone away. I beleive its the chemicals from water that react badly in the brew. Also try de chlorination the water your going to boil with.

Dm me im happy to explain

 

[foxy]

I don't own one as I don't like that homebrew ones can't be stripped down. However, as a general rule with cleaning brew kit. An acid wash to remove inorganic soiling and a alkaline wash to remove organic soiling. Chemsan/Starsan solution followed by PWB/sodium percarbonate, both c50°c for 15 minutes, draining but with no rinse in between, works for me on stainless and plastic kit.

I do it the other way around, alkaline clean first this breaks down the biofilm followed with a sanitiser. Sanitiser can't penetrate the biofilm.
In reply to the OP I don't know what TSP is but if you mean medicinal, band aid clove taste which is phenolic.
https://beerandbrewing.com/dictiona...s and aromas are,directly from hops and malt.

 

[Sandimas]

I've had the TCP taste before and infections, but they seem to be separate things.

The infections I've had usually take a while to get going, weeks/months. I don't think this is an infection, sounds more like stressed yeast to me. It can be hard to pin down the cause of the TCP taste, I had it in a brew last year, but all brews before and after it were fine. Sadly you won't fix that brew.

 

[Sadfield]

I do it the other way around, alkaline clean first this breaks down the biofilm followed with a sanitiser. Sanitiser can't penetrate the biofilm.

I'll still sanitise with starsan after, I'm treating cleaning and sanitising as two separate processes and using starsan as a cleaning agent. Alkaline cleaning won't do a very good job of removing the mineral deposits that biolim and proteins, that form beestone, adhere to. I don't do this every clean though, more for an intermittent deep clean. I thing the order is pretty interchangeable.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/beerandbrewing.com/amp/keep-it-clean-the-five-star-way/
As an aside, to the point about biofilm, FiveStar claim organic soiling doesn't inhibit its function.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sou...MQFnoECCUQAQ&usg=AOvVaw3SC0ZjClpRMV0t3ruZQZrg

 

[An Ankoù]

This "band aid" off flavour seems to be a recurring theme all over the world. You might want to have a look at this thread in the Australian/NZ forum. It's not until post #11 that that OP describes the "band-aid" off-flavour.
https://aussiehomebrewer.com/threads/persistent-fermentor-infections.103745/#post-1575993

 

[grooves]

Interesting - before starting brewing after a break I did use Bar Keeper's Friend to scrub off an accumulation of beer stone on the sides of the fermentor. It was hard work, but when I finished I realised how dirty it had been. Nevertheless, I don't think it's a cleaning problem as since my deep clean I had a successful beer and a taste of this latest beer before fermentation was clean and good.

It could be a stressed yeast as I started it too cold and it was probably under pitched as I didn't have time to build a starter from a single packet of WLP029. But again, the taste is much stronger than a phenolic taste (in a weizen I prefer clove to banana)

My guess is still that it's an infection - when I take samples they seem excessively fizzy and there's an extremely strong band-aid flavour that I've never experienced before.

I did a hot Chemsan + Chemclean cycle on the plate chiller last night and will do an overnight alkali soak when I break down the fermentor + ball valves and a acid soak. Then do my usual process before the next beer - hopefully that will be enough.

 

[Sadfield]

This "band aid" off flavour seems to be a recurring theme all over the world. You might want to have a look at this thread in the Australian/NZ forum. It's not until post #11 that that OP describes the "band-aid" off-flavour.
https://aussiehomebrewer.com/threads/persistent-fermentor-infections.103745/#post-1575993

Oh my, the opening post. Those pesky fermenters ruining peoples beer again. A bad workman.....

 

[CJV8]

With the plate chiller it's worth running a cleaning flush in both directions to make sure every nook and cranny is reached.

 

[grooves]

Ok - I found the problem. It was a massive underpitch plus starting the fermentation on the edge of the recommended temperature range. Although the ingredients were delivered on 13th May, the WLP029 liquid yeast had a BBE date of 21st May - I brewed 1st June. Normally in my process I always make a starter - unfortunately due to some time constraints I didn't this time. In any case, I'd have to have had made a bigger starter than usual. I didn't check the date as the yeast had only just been delivered. Needless to say I'm disappointed in the supplier, who didn't even flag the yeast to be short dated.

 

[The Baron]

I would be surprised if that is the cause it still sounds like chlorine contamination to me I do not think the yeast would give a TCP taste.
I do not use plate chillers because they are notoriously hard to clean IMO