Another Bad Batch....Frustrated

[Baxter]

Ive been brewing about 2 years now, and it was going really well for a long time. I had about 30 batches under my belt with no serious contamination issues to date. Around last summer, I started having contaminated batches of beer. It started with a couple batches of gushers, then a porter that fermented down to nothing and tasted like ass, followed by more gushers. It really took the wind out of my sails, to the point where i stopped brewing for a while. I recently started back up with a new found dedication after getting my keg system up and running. I seemed to be doing well having removed the bottling process (which I assumed was where a lot of my contamination was coming from). I got 2 nice batches through my brewery, a nice pale ale and a oatmeal stout, but then today i sampled a recent batch and it tastes decidedly 'horsey' to me. Tastes like what Ive come to think is a Brett infection. My palette isn't all that refined, but it just tastes kinda like what some Brett fermented beers taste like. I'm getting really discouraged, it seems to me that I have a problem somewhere in my process that is giving me mixed results.

I realize without knowing my system its hard to diagnose. Ill try to summarize: I brew all grain, with a Rubbermaid cooler mash tun and fly sparging. I typically boil 90 min on all my batches in a 12 gallon kettle, and gravity transfer through a B3 convoluted counter flow chiller into a 6.5 gallon carboy. I connect everything on the hot side with some of the high temp braided clear food grade tubing that is sold at LHBS. I figure I'm protected by the heat at all stages except the tube from the chiller to the carboy. I still clean and sanitize with starsan prior to use. I also transfer into my carboy from the chiller with this tubing. Typically I don't do secondarys to avoid contamination from transfers (although this most recent bad batch was in a secondary for dry hopping) and I transfer right into a keg with a sterile siphon to force carbonate and serve. I ferment in a 'son of fermentor' style chiller box with a 2 stage temp controller and a heat wrap. I always do starters and pitch with active healthy yeast using the mr malty pitching rate calculator to figure out the number of vials to use. I also use a O2 stone to aerate with pure O2. I boil the stone before each use. I probably missed something, but those are the basics.

I am at the point where i want to replace everything rubber/plastic, etc. Usually I replace all my tubing every 4-5 batches, but should i be replacing each time? What about rubber stoppers? admittedly Ive had a few of these for almost my whole brewing career. Is it safe to use old buckets for holding PBW and Starsan on brew day or should i replace all those too? I just don't know where to start.

Possible insights to what could be my problem and/or words of encouragement are welcome. Save my beloved hobby that I'm ready to give up on.

[dshepard]

My guess would be the chiller. How are you cleaning your chiller? I use a CFC as well and now use it in a whirlpool chiller manner. I hook it up 15 minutes before the end of the boil to sanitize it. When I used it in it's normal manner, i.e. while draining hot wort directly from the kettle to the fermenter, before using it I would sanitize it with my pressure cooker. I would put about a gallon of water in it along with a few ounces of vinegar. I would then crank up the heat, generate steam and hook up the wort connection to the connection on the pressure cooker where the weight would sit. This forces acidic steam through the chiller cleaning and sanitizing it at the same time. I would do this for at least 15 minutes before I used it to chill the wort. I would of course discard the first few ounces of wort before directing the flow into the fermenter.

I hope you find your problem!!

[snowcapt]

My guess would be the chiller. How are you cleaning your chiller? I use a CFC as well and now use it in a whirlpool chiller manner. I hook it up 15 minutes before the end of the boil to sanitize it. When I used it in it's normal manner, i.e. while draining hot wort directly from the kettle to the fermenter, before using it I would sanitize it with my pressure cooker. I would put about a gallon of water in it along with a few ounces of vinegar. I would then crank up the heat, generate steam and hook up the wort connection to the connection on the pressure cooker where the weight would sit. This forces acidic steam through the chiller cleaning and sanitizing it at the same time. I would do this for at least 15 minutes before I used it to chill the wort. I would of course discard the first few ounces of wort before directing the flow into the fermenter.

I hope you find your problem!!

+1 on the chiller idea. That's the first thing I thought of, too.

[Docjowles]

I'd also go ahead and replace anything plastic or rubber that touches post-boil beer. Absolutely don't need to do that after every batch, but if you think there's a brett infection hiding somewhere, it's time for drastic measures You're only talking about like $10 worth of crap.

[animaldoc]

The soft parts gotta go first; then do EVERYTHING you can think of to clean your counterflow chiller and then sanitize the hell out of it. If that doesn't fix your problem, invest in an immersion chiller -- if your problems go away, it has to be the chiller.

Can these things leak internally? Kinda like a blown head gasket leaking coolant into the cylinder?

[BDawg]

I'd seriously consider boiling the whole chiller for about 20 mins. Add some distilled white vinegar to the water to help clean it too.
As said, replace everything soft. How long are you keeping that star san in your buckets? If you are stroring it, you need to check the pH or it can lose its effectiveness.
Also, think about anything in the room where you rack. Is there a draft or other source where dust/yeast can blow into the beer/equipment?

Have you replaced the rubber on your kegs? Do you disassemble them every brew?

[squirrelpirate]

I had a run of infected batches last fall, so I know how frustrated you are right now. I would definitely check how you sanitize your chiller before use. Any post-boil part of your process should be carefully examined.

This may not be the case for this batch, but now that you have a keg system, you have to worry about your beer lines as well. I had a beer or two go bad while carbonating and at that point, even with flushing them out with PBW and sanitizer, it didn't really help. I replaced the beer lines and haven't had a problem since.

Best of luck, and keep your chin up. You'll get it figured out and be back brewing great beer in no time.