I need a sucessful brew?

[Old Bloater]

Hi
After 30 odd years at this game, I am now in the position of having the last 4 brews with off flavours and, apart from the cost, it really is a demoralising situation to be in.
I have had problems with my old burco running eventually on 1/6 of the underside elements so that has just been replaced with a nice shiny 50l saucepan all ready for hole drilling and a separate smaller stainless burco for mash and sparge water. (Couldn't believe an old 10 gall burco WITH AN OLD PLUG! went for over 100 quid last week on ebay - I used one of those 25 years ago)
Basically this flavour is something I had a few years back when I "strained/sparged" the hops till I learnt about the bad practice because of the tannins and all has been fine since then. Beer has always been excellent since then but strangely stout doesn't seem to have the problem.
Before my first brew with newer kit I really want to eliminate all potential problems. I do thoroughly clean my fermenting bins but wonder if I ought to get a 10gall one to match the new brew length.
Other than that, the mash is always reasonable (about 80% efficiency) and the only other variable is the water and ingredients. I tend to do, as a standard, a purely pale malt (no crystal) and a mix of goldings, wgv and target. Ferment for 11/12 days in a not too hot environment (sitting on a solid floor in the corner of the kitchen) and by the time to keg, that's when I can detect the smell and then the taste. The last time I didn't really detect it just as the yeast was pitched so can only assume it happens during the fermentation period.
I live in the western lake district high on a fell and my water comes out of a stream, through a settling tank. It is therefore difficult to get details from local water boards as to it's characterisitcs. It is a little brown this time of the year with the amount of rain we have had but that is only detected with large quantities against a white surface, eg. in a bath - not brewing in there though!
So, what I am asking is what would any of you guys do in a similar situation what should I be checking/investigating before hopefully a sucessful brew?
Thanks in advance for any advice.
P

[Befuddler]

I would start by looking at that water.. if you're stream fed the mineral content and purity could be quite varialbe. A stout will cover up a lot of water problems that might ruin a pale brew, which might be why your stouts seem fine.

Get a filter fitted to the kitchen tap and test the alkalinity before every brew. There are some good threads in the liquor section of this forum on testing with a salifert kit. Its really easy and the kit only costs a fiver. Once you know your water is ship shape you'll be in a better position to diagnose any further problems.. but you might just find that this clears it up.

[smdjoachim]

try using cheap bottled water for a brew to see if your problems are eliminated.

[Capped]

Before someone infinitely more clued-up than me comes along and renders my guess lame,I'm just wondering if this has come about with a new batch of malt which could be iffy,seeing as its only affected,consistently,your last four brews? Stout may be immune because of the "overwhelming" nature of all that roasted stuff against the "nakedness" of using pale malt only? Dunno what else it could be if nothing else has changed. Or.... dodgy yeast. Wasn't there a dodgy batch of Nottingham going around a little while back? Edit: listen to Befuddler and smdjoachim before me - I freely admit to being clueless !

[Jolum]

Firstly, has the water changed? Does it taste odd? If not it's probably OK but as smdjoachim said "if you eliminate the impossible whatever remains, however improbable must be the truth"...or was that Sherlock Holmes?

Seriously though, it's not a bad idea. 23L of Asda smartprice water would set you back around £3.50. Do a brew with that and if you can still detect the off flavour then it's equipment based. Take apart anything that touches the wort post boil and clean it, where possible boil\bake it, sterilise and sanitise all of it. If your hoses are getting on a bit chuck them out and get new ones. Inspect everything and change any washers, o-rings etc. I know it sounds like a ball ache but the time and money investing in making a brew is too much to waste because of something as insignificant as a dirty washer.

Then after all that, if you're still not happy do as Capped says, and take a look at your ingredients. Have you recently had new malt? are your grains past it? are your hops OK? Could the yeast starter have become infected? etc etc etc

It's just a process of elimination, if you've been brewing good beers before now then something has changed and you just need to track it down.

Good luck with it

[danbrew]

All of the above and just trying to help a bit more...

Given your location, if you can't get the bottled water (or even water from a freind/ relative where the source is more defined/ water report available etc.) then maybe try brewing a half decent kit beer to see if you can pick up the same off-flavour in the kit. That could help eliminate the water? If it's not the water then at least you have a kit beer to see you through whilst you get to the bottom of it...

Either way stick at it, 30 years of success should see you through this rough patch. I've just lost a batch because of the warm weather and it's a propper downer when it happens...

[Old Bloater]

Hi
Thanks for all your tips, it looks like water is a first port of call, and, heh, it's been some years since I had a good excuse to brew some Dogbolter!!
Cheers chaps

[Dennis King]

Do you used a camden tablet, is is know for waterboards to up their chlorine this time of year.

[coatesg]

Water comes out of a stream - no chlorine! If the stouts tend to work, but pale beers don't with an associated astringency, then my first thought would be either the roast flavours are covering the off flavours (!), or your alkalinity is too high and you need treatment of the water with CRS or similar (the acidic roasted grains in a stout sort all the high alkalinity issues out for you). Hard to know without testing the water though (see associated threads!).