Bad to worse

[Northern Brewer]

The first AG brwew on the new brewery had a metallic tang. 80L of 1065 ale down the drain, I cleaned the whole brewery down and tried again, with a smaller brew length and 1050 OG, It got worse, distinct copper taste, another 60L down the pan. Just goes to show its not how big and shiny it is, it's what you do with it that counts

So I spent 4 hours cleaning everything with Five star PBW oxygen based cleaner and 80 degree water from the HLT throught the plate heat exchanger, HERMS heat exchanger then into mash tun and back using both pumps. Then emptied this into the boiler throught the tap with the hop filter in place and washed the lot in 80 degree water recirculated and flushed with cold. The resultant water was green, not sure if that is the action of the hot cleaner on copper or it removed existing salts, I hope its the latter and my problem has gone, however I think its cause may by electrolytic action of my bore hole water that has a high iron content, so I have gone back to using a seasonal spring I have, its not plumbed into the brewery so means I have to cart 3 or 4 25L bottles down to the brewery but if it stops it then I don't care.

Here's the resultant washing water, not sure the green tint can be seen on the picture?

Here's the spring I'm now using, not out of the trough though which is full of blanket weed.

Here's the brewery doing what it should with the recirc going but with cleaner not wort

And after thinking about making a steam canopy I think this does the trick and I get some condense back in the brew so less loss due to evaporation, the fan is outside the brewery in the barn.

Here's may latest brew recipe - a bit of an experiment with Citra, never used it before.

Ignore the brew length and OG, it came out at about 67 litres and 1042, I was aiming for 1040 - I'll set up Brewsmith properly when I get time

Recipe: Golden Summer Bitter
Style: Standard/Ordinary Bitter
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (30.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 85.09 l
Post Boil Volume: 83.20 l
Batch Size (fermenter): 80.00 l
Bottling Volume: 78.00 l
Estimated OG: 1.034 SG
Estimated Color: 15.8 EBC
Estimated IBU: 30.0 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 80.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 80.0 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
0.00 l Yorkshire Water 1 -
10.00 kg Pale Malt (2 Row) UK (5.9 EBC) Grain 2 87.0 %
1.00 kg Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (157.6 EBC) Grain 3 8.7 %
0.50 kg Cara-Pils/Dextrine (3.9 EBC) Grain 4 4.3 %
50.00 g Bramling Cross [5.60 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 5 10.4 IBUs
40.00 g Citra [14.50 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 6 19.6 IBUs
4.23 Items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 mins) Fining 7 -
10.00 g Citra [14.50 %] - Aroma Steep 10.0 min Hop 8 0.0 IBUs
2.0 pkg Nottingham (Danstar #-) [23.66 ml] Yeast 9 -

 

[bobsbeer]

Looks great but sorry to hear about your woes. Hope you can sort the water problem. What's your mains water like?

 

[Northern Brewer]

Thanks Bob, unfortunatley I'm not on mains, I use a bore hole with a very large iron filter as the area is reknown for iron in the water, the stream 100 yds from me that separates Yorkshire from Lancashire is called Red Water Clough for just that reason.

Without the iron filter the water will turn brown then settle out as the iron in solution oxidises, the filter accelerates this by injecting air and filtering out the resultant solids. There's a fair amount of manganese too.

The spring is a bit seasonal but I have an underground tank that dates back to the days when the spring was the only water supply so I have enough for brewing, its mainly surface run off and may have a bit of sheep poo in it however a particle and UV filter sorts out most of the nasties for drinking. Its straight off the peat so less iron and manganese than the bore hole.

Cheers
NB

 

[dennisking]

Maybe try a brew with bottled water.

 

[bobsbeer]

I'm sure the spring will be the best bet. The sheep poo will give your beer a unique flavour though. You never know you may be on to a winner. But I would keep the secret ingredient bit quiet though. :rofl: :rofl:

 

[tazuk]

you ever thought of using rain water a few guys in our club does yes they still treat it :thumb:

 

[Northern Brewer]

I find sheep poo in the water is fine as long as you drink the beer through your teeth to filter our the larger nuggets

My previous 15 or 20 AG brews on my Burco system used the spring as I plumbed it into the utility room and they were perfect, only got one bad brew due to a dodgy hop filter resulting in loads of trub in the FV.

Now I've moved about 50 yds down to the barn I don't have the spring water on tap but I do have bore hole water. I'll give the spring a go then if it fails I shall buy some bottled.

 

[Northern Brewer]

you ever thought of using rain water a few guys in our club does yes they still treat it :thumb:

I'm in the next town to Hebden Bridge and they have a bit of rainwater to spare 44mm in 2 hours last week.

I could do that easy. Most of the village use the spring with no lasting damage :hmm: On second thoughts, maybe rainwater is a good idea

 

[bobsbeer]

you ever thought of using rain water a few guys in our club does yes they still treat it :thumb:

.....On second thoughts, maybe rainwater is a good idea

At least no problems with supply.... :rofl: :rofl:

 

[Northern Brewer]

Latest brew just fermented out, will be bottling/kegging at the weekend, all trace of copper taint gone :party:
All I can taste is a fairly hoppy pale ale - looking like a nice pint :

going to get another on ASAP and make up for lost time.

 

[Northern Brewer]

Had a few friends around last night and supped a Cornie dry and started tucking into another
There were comments like "best beer I've had for a long time" and "have you thought of doing it commercially" and "when's your next party"

Fair brings a tear to my eye - sniff :grin:

Looks like I have sorted the problem : :thumb: :party: :drink: :drunk:

 

[Vossy1]

Great to hear you've sorted it Andy :party: ..nothing worse than throwing brews away.
I made a twin IC a while back and decided to clean it off by boiling in cleaning solution....you wouldn't believe how many times I had to do it to get rid of the flux grease properly...twas an eye opener to me.

 

[Northern Brewer]

Cheers JP! I spend an extra hour on a brewday giving everything an extra wash with oxygen based cleaner - a bit of a pain but worth it for piece of mind. I'll stop this after the next brew, probably being paranoid but wanted to get a some beer set aside first.