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brewing smaller batches

shane

Master Brewer
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  I just lost my first two batches of brew. They were my 64th and 65th brew. With all the hoopla between all-grain and extract brewing I decided to put this to a test. I brewed a honey nut ale with 4 lbs of maris otter as my base grain, and one using 3.3 lbs of light lme. All went well on brew day, then I reracked both 5 days later into 5 gallon carboys. Put them away for 3 weeks for bottling. When I opened the all-grain I noticed a white film on top, carefully reracked and got vinegar smell. A sample taste confirmed. Then I checked the  extract batch and got the same.I was looking forward to the test and will try another,but I figured I'd try you guys first.
 
Did you have a 2-1/2 gallon headspace above your brew?
If so, did you purge the headspace with CO2?
 
  Yes I did, and no I didn't. After rerack I thought the co2 would push the O out. Guess that was my problem.

thanx
 
I haven't been brewing for very long, but I learned from years of wine making that too much O2 can quickly ruin an otherwise good batch.

Though I still make plenty of mistakes, that is one thing I am pretty careful about.  I always have a tank of CO2 in my brew room, and purge the head space whenever the secondary or any carboy is opened.

They say you learn from your mistakes.
I should be a LOT smarter by now!
 
  Requiem for a brown nut ale.

You know I have a couple of 3 gallon carboys and didn't even think of it.

Lesson learned. Purge Purge Purge
 
I went through a spell where I lost six of eight consecutive batches. Almost quit the hobby.

Since then I'm all about glass. No plastic fermenting vessels for me.

It's worked so far.
 
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