Twang/Banana-ish aftertaste.. Help!

[MonkeyMick]

Maybe it's the engineer in me but I never use temp control without a back up temp device. I have had inkbirds freeze my lager whilst saying 4 degrees and 26 degrees when saying 20. I have found them to very good at first then drift off into some other realm. I always check with duplex devices now like a remote temp probe next to the inkbird. Did you buy the Inkbird from new?

I most certainly did, but it's a couple of years old now so may be due replacement...

 

[Herms bay]

From my reading I found this which was helpful

How To Avoid/Control:​

• Choose the appropriate yeast for the style.
• Aerate wort thoroughly before fermentation starts and avoid aerating after fermentation as begun.
• Pitch the right amount of healthy yeast.
• Maintain good temperature control.
• Higher temperatures will cause the production of more esters.
• If you brew a beer with a high level of Isoamyl Acetate, try aging it to decrease the ester.

Are you sure it's not your taste buds

 

[JockyBrewer]

@MonkeyMick Is the flavour like bubblegum? That's definitely a temperature issue.

The temperature is rarely uniform throughout the fermenter - I've had 5C difference between what the probe at the bottom of my conical reads and what the iSpindel at the top reads.

 

[Bitter_Dave]

I most certainly did, but it's a couple of years old now so may be due replacement...

Yes, worth checking how accurate it is. That said, I've had mine a good number of years and never knowingly had any problems with it (when I had a stick on thermometer on my fermenter it always seemed to be on the money, although you might question the accuracy of these).

 

[MonkeyMick]

From my reading I found this which was helpful

How To Avoid/Control:​

• Choose the appropriate yeast for the style.
• Aerate wort thoroughly before fermentation starts and avoid aerating after fermentation as begun.
• Pitch the right amount of healthy yeast.
• Maintain good temperature control.
• Higher temperatures will cause the production of more esters.
• If you brew a beer with a high level of Isoamyl Acetate, try aging it to decrease the ester.

Are you sure it's not your taste buds

Every beer I buy seems fine, and my wife - who's a heathen when it comes to beer - tastes the same thing too!

 

[MonkeyMick]

It's def not bubblegum - more of a foam banana from the sweetshop flavour.

I might just brew a foam banana sweetshop lager, and pretend it's deliberate..!

 

[Herms bay]

I do pay particular care to aerate the wort. I used to use a fish pump and stone but was never quite convinced with the sterilisation of these (never got any off flavours though), I just use a counterchiller now with an aeration head and find it starts fermentation quickly after that.
I did use a conical fermenter once. It looked like the fast fermenter ones with white plastic. Once used, I could not get the smell out of the thing no matter how much I sanitised and it effected all beer after that. I use PET or stainless now as I find it easier.

 

[MashBag]

Maybe it's the engineer in me but I never use temp control without a back up temp device. I have had inkbirds freeze my lager whilst saying 4 degrees and 26 degrees when saying 20. I have found them to very good at first then drift off into some other realm. I always check with duplex devices now like a remote temp probe next to the inkbird. Did you buy the Inkbird from new?

Old Chinese proven say "man with two watches never know time"

 

[Herms bay]

Old Chinese proven say "man with two watches never know time"

But now he knows he doesn't!

 

[hoppyscotty]

A warning on inkbirds..I have had an issue with ink birds with one particular fridge....I've caught it a few times where both the heating and cooling is on simultaniously, despite the ink bird calling for heat only...with the fridge I was using the temperature was going down as the fridge was better than the heater, but in other similar scenario's it might be different if the heater is powerful. No idea how the ink bird was doing this, no signs of anything broken or melted with it...in fact when used on my other larger fermenter and the chiller unit on that it works fine.

My only hypothesis is that maybe by turning a fridge on and off at the plug might in some cases cause big power spikes and the ink bird might have some protection or safety mode where it keeps the power on rathe than cycling it off....no idea how this works and doesn't make sense because you'd have thought a safety device would fail 'off', but as I say its a hypothesis rather than a theory. Anyway...just saying that maybe there might be something similar going on.

 

[JockyBrewer]

A warning on inkbirds..I have had an issue with ink birds with one particular fridge....I've caught it a few times where both the heating and cooling is on simultaniously, despite the ink bird calling for heat only...with the fridge I was using the temperature was going down as the fridge was better than the heater, but in other similar scenario's it might be different if the heater is powerful. No idea how the ink bird was doing this, no signs of anything broken or melted with it...in fact when used on my other larger fermenter and the chiller unit on that it works fine.

My only hypothesis is that maybe by turning a fridge on and off at the plug might in some cases cause big power spikes and the ink bird might have some protection or safety mode where it keeps the power on rathe than cycling it off....no idea how this works and doesn't make sense because you'd have thought a safety device would fail 'off', but as I say its a hypothesis rather than a theory. Anyway...just saying that maybe there might be something similar going on.

Sounds more like your inkbird has a sticky relay on the cold side that is staying closed and providing power to the fridge even when the inkbird electronics has cut the control signal.

 

[Herms bay]

Sounds more like your inkbird has a sticky relay on the cold side that is staying closed and providing power to the fridge even when the inkbird electronics has cut the control signal.

Yes I agree, if the red LED is not on but the fridge is still cooling, high inductive loads can cause relays to weld as they arc when being turned off. You should be careful about the duty cycle and hysteresis when using cooling,,,(Set a good distance between the heating and cooling HD and CD variables and at least 3 mins on compressor delay)

 

[hoppyscotty]

Yes I agree, if the red LED is not on but the fridge is still cooling, high inductive loads can cause relays to weld as they arc when being turned off. You should be careful about the duty cycle and hysteresis when using cooling,,,(Set a good distance between the heating and cooling HD and CD variables and at least 3 mins on compressor delay)

Makes sense, but do ink birds have mechanical relays? Doesnt seem to be large enough. Maybe I'll open it up at take a look. But turning on a fridge that might immediacy kick in the compressor might trigger a large power spike which might be playing havoc with the ink bird. Who knows. It is a big full size fridge so probably got a larger capacity compressor and therefore a larger more powerful motor. Never had an issue with my previous smaller under-counter larder fridge.

 

[JockyBrewer]

Makes sense, but do ink birds have mechanical relays? Doesnt seem to be large enough. Maybe I'll open it up at take a look. But turning on a fridge that might immediacy kick in the compressor might trigger a large power spike which might be playing havoc with the ink bird. Who knows. It is a big full size fridge so probably got a larger capacity compressor and therefore a larger more powerful motor. Never had an issue with my previous smaller under-counter larder fridge.

They’ll have some form of relay. That or there’s some other short/arcing in the inkbird. Either way I wouldn’t trust it.

 

[Herms bay]

It says its a 10A load compatible. It may be a big fridge but not that big.

 

[Herms bay]

Yes it has relays in it

 

[MashBag]

Yes it has relays in it
View attachment 100527

While you are there.. What is the rating on the relay components?

 

[Herms bay]

It looks like a 12A so they rate it at 10A

 

[MashBag]

Excellent, I often wondered if it was 5a