I have well over a hundred batches in my 3 better bottles and my beer still taste great.
Thanks everyone for your input.
I’m a little bummed as this was only my second (5 gal) batch and only the 2nd batch for the equipment. Compounding the disappointment, I washed & reused some of the yeast for the next batch (the pic is from secondary-1st use of that bucket). The airlock activity for the next batch (Nut Brown) has been pretty good compared to the 24 hour flameout of the Caribou Slobber (Caribou Sour? Sour Slobber?).
I’m extract for now only so I think I can rule out anything related to milling/milled grain. The steeping grains were steeped prior to emptying the star-san from the primary bucket also. I’ll ditch the sour slobber (sorry Pietro) but I’ll wait on the Nut Brown to see what it looks like after fermentation.
I’m kind of brewing on a budget so it may be a while before I get new equipment to brew again. I have a cream ale kit that I guess will just have to wait 
[quote=“dmtaylo2”]Your bucket and your yeast are toast. Once you get that stuff in contact with plastic, you can never ever kill it no matter what chemicals you use. Odds are roughly 50/50 that each future batch using that equipment will become contaminated. You might get lucky with a batch or two, but eventually, it will come back to bite you.
.[/quote]
Not doubting you Dave, but I haven’t seen any mention of disinfecting with bleach in this thread. Thought a bleach solution soak would kill anything. Especially if you add a little vinegar to the bleach solution.
I tried bleach. Doesn’t work. At least, not on my buckets, even when soaked in bleach solution for like a whole month.
you have a problem in your process besides buckets
You may be right. It could be my laziness. But it doesn’t change the fact that once plastic is contaminated it will be forever contaminated. Now that I use glass, I will never have problems due to contaminated plastic or laziness again. As long as I rack off the trub within a couple of months. I’ve made a lot of mistakes over 13 years, and I’ve learned from those mistakes, and I’m sharing so that others do not need to make the same mistakes before knowing how to kill the issue dead, if they wish.
I have switched from sour to clean beers in Better bottles before with no problems.
I WOULD NOT suggest it, but it can be done, Bugs/Brett can be killed just as easy as yeast can.
Just chalking it up to buckets and basically saying your gonna have bad beer if you use buckets is way off base. You use lots of plastic stuff in the process besides your carboy
Let’s agree to disagree then. My experience differs from yours. My buckets are not scratched and yet they produce crappy beer. Now I suppose you’re going to tell me that I am simply a crappy brewer. :roll:
Thousands of other brewers do not have the issue
Thousands of other brewers do not have the issue
Bleach is made to not go into porous surfaces that’s why you can’t use it to clean up black mold.
Perhaps. Or perhaps thousands of other brewers cannot taste the issue or are afraid to admit it.
Perhaps. Or perhaps thousands of other brewers cannot taste the issue or are afraid to admit it.[/quote]
Some maybe…tasting lots and lots of beers over the years at comps, gathering, meetings etc… WIth tons of plastic buckets/carboys/hoses. There may be some off flavors which is completly different to what your talking about…plain blunt contaminated equipment
double post - sorry
Perhaps. Or perhaps thousands of other brewers cannot taste the issue or are afraid to admit it.[/quote]
I think it is a pretty broad statement to suggest that every brewer who claims to make great beer in plastic is simply incapable of tasting how bad their beer really is, or taste it and just lie to themselves.
I used glass for a long time - and my beer was not that good. I have used plastic for a long time, and my beer is pretty darn good. I have started to enter beers in competitions over the past year and a half to specifically get unbiased feedback from knowledgeable people.
I have been able to do consistently pretty well, and have consistently improved - all while using plastic… lucky for me I keep getting judges who are also incapable of tasting the plastic-based flaws in my beer.
Great beer can (and is) made in plastic… crappy beer is too. Great beer can be (and is) made in glass - so is crappy beer.
If you had 10 outstanding brewers each brew the same beer in plastic bucket and then in glass… are you telling me you really think you could pick out the ones fermented in the buckets vs. glass? I highly doubt that.
I just don’t think there is any evidence to support the personal opinion you have. Glass has worked great for you - awesome. Plastic works great for others - awesome. I think they all have pros and cons. To be honest, the reason I really hated glass carboys was only partly that they can be awkward and dangerous - the real reason is that I thought they were a complete PITA to clean well. Buckets clean up FAR easier than a carboy (IMHO).
I recently split a batch to compare the difference between glass and plastic. The result was astonishing. Anyone who shares my concern is hereforth dared to try the same experiment. It is truly the only way to know for sure what effect a fermenter has on your beer. Perhaps you will detect no difference. Perhaps you will. You won’t know until you try it for yourself.
THats not stating anytihng…
and been done many times, and including more than one brewer that has issues. No difference could be found many times over.
its like comparing glass to stainless
I do agree that “trying it” is probably the only way to tell for sure… and I love brew experiments. And, I love making my beer better - so if there is something to it, I would definitely switch to glass to make better beer. It is just not something I have seen evidence for - other than some personal anecdotes (on both sides of the issue). It is something I will try in the next month or two. I will even buy a new carboy so I can test this concept - I moved my carboys over to “sour duty” when I switched all to plastic buckets.
I think it is important to set up the tasting correctly though… you can’t just sit down with a beer YOU know is from plastic and a beer YOU know is from glass and decide which you like. Needs to be blind, and ideally, 3 bottles - 2 of 1, 1 of the other - should be able to identify both of the one in glass (or plastic) if you can really tell the difference.
I will even send some beer your way to see what you think, and if you can tell - so, hey - free beer:) What are some of your favorites - might as well brew something you like if I send some your way…
Is your hypothesis that you can taste the difference between plastic and glass - period? Or, that you can taste the difference between well maintained glass and old plastic? There is a difference. It could be that you could taste the difference between YOUR plastic, and YOUR glass. Do you think you could taste the difference between new plastic and new glass?
Send your free beer to grainbelt. He’s smarter than I am. I’m done here.
I do agree that “trying it” is probably the only way to tell for sure… and I love brew experiments. And, I love making my beer better - so if there is something to it, I would definitely switch to glass to make better beer. It is just not something I have seen evidence for - other than some personal anecdotes (on both sides of the issue). It is something I will try in the next month or two. I will even buy a new carboy so I can test this concept - I moved my carboys over to “sour duty” when I switched all to plastic buckets.
I think it is important to set up the tasting correctly though… you can’t just sit down with a beer YOU know is from plastic and a beer YOU know is from glass and decide which you like. Needs to be blind, and ideally, 3 bottles - 2 of 1, 1 of the other - should be able to identify both of the one in glass (or plastic) if you can really tell the difference.
I will even send some beer your way to see what you think, and if you can tell - so, hey - free beer:) What are some of your favorites - might as well brew something you like if I send some your way…
Is your hypothesis that you can taste the difference between plastic and glass - period? Or, that you can taste the difference between well maintained glass and old plastic? There is a difference. It could be that you could taste the difference between YOUR plastic, and YOUR glass. Do you think you could taste the difference between new plastic and new glass?[/quote]
If there even was a difference plastic buckets would not have made it in the home brewing industry. The issues would have been brought up years ago and there would be tons of info on it besides one home brewer that has problems
