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Strange Wyeast 1318 issue.

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  • Strange Wyeast 1318 issue.

    Have been brewing one specific IPA using Wyeast 1318 for about a year. The most recent batch was 20bbl and it was perfect. Suddenly the last 2 batches have developed an extreme phenolic smell and taste. Nothing has changed in the brewhouse and other beers not using 1318 have been consistent without issue. Everything is cleaned and sanitized after use as always, no changes to our water or procedure or cooling system. Looked at everything we can think of. Suggestions??

  • #2
    Well I think you are suspecting infection based off your post, so there is no need to go off on a tangent about sanitation. Do the obvious tear everything down, clean and sanitize. Other things to take note: are you using a chlorine based sanitizer or has your water source changed recently? Chlorine is a pretty big culprit, it can bind with phenols produced by yeast to produce chlorophenols which can come off as plastic. A carbon filter will strip out any chlorine or chloramines from your water. Alternatively you can "boil" off any volatile chlorine by leaving your HLT exposed as you are heating your water for a brew day, and get rid of chloramines with additions of Potassium Metabisulfite to you HLT for your brew water.

    ---
    Edit: I just saw that you said there weren't any changes to water... my bad!
    Last edited by BroadWay411; 09-25-2017, 11:23 AM.

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    • #3
      Your city can change their water source though based off different variables and their procedures. It's always a smart move to ask for a water report from them annually.

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      • #4
        Originally posted by BroadWay411 View Post
        Your city can change their water source though based off different variables and their procedures. It's always a smart move to ask for a water report from them annually.
        Actually, on that note, call them. Last year I was surprised by a drastic hardness change in my water, and found out from my local water company they had switched to wells in late summer, due to salmon restrictions in the Cedar River. This was not listed in their annual report. Easy to rule out, unless you're already doing water testing on every batch.

        Regards,
        Mike Sharp

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        • #5
          Thanks for the suggestions however, we have checked with the city water department and nothing has been changed, we use Bru-R-Ez and its not chlorine based. As to cleaning, we do strip everything down and have even passivated all the stainless. I would suspect a possible infection, but we use the same tanks for other beers each week and have only had an issue with this one beer. I honestly suspect our starter method but again, its the same for all beers. Strange, I'm thinking demonic possession.

          Thanks though.

          Geoff

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          • #6
            Have your pitching rates changed? Are you doing cell counts and measuring the amount of yeast pitched with each batch. Low pitching could be leading to some yeast stress issues.


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            • #7
              Get better chems

              Aloha,

              I highly suggest investing in industrial strength cleaners and sanitizers. Bru-R-EZ doesn't quite pack the punch that a proper caustic can provide. You can also contact Dana at Birko or Dirk at Loeffler and they can both point you in the right direction of appropriate chems and procedures for your specific situation. Do you use plastic fermenters or any plastic pieces? Swapping to stainless will make everything easier to clean and more repeatable. Best of luck!

              - Kevin W.

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              • #8
                Originally posted by Gambrinus64 View Post
                Aloha,

                I highly suggest investing in industrial strength cleaners and sanitizers. Bru-R-EZ doesn't quite pack the punch that a proper caustic can provide. You can also contact Dana at Birko or Dirk at Loeffler and they can both point you in the right direction of appropriate chems and procedures for your specific situation. Do you use plastic fermenters or any plastic pieces? Swapping to stainless will make everything easier to clean and more repeatable. Best of luck!

                - Kevin W.
                Well we have given up on Birko chemicals since the local distributor is about as helpful as an apple genius. Ironically we have a mix of plastic and stainless, it's the stainless that was causing issues. I believe it was an issue with how we made our starters and have changed that. It was Dana that advised me to use Bru-r-ez, he is great but their dist. not so much.

                Thanks

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