Beer always turning sour!

Hi,

The last few batches of beer have all been horrible.  The first batch tasted like liquid bread, the others tasted sour and had no sugar content at all in them but there was no mother on the batches either.

I add K Meta and water to sterilize but I get the feeling that some of my wine yeast is doing this, or maybe some wild yeast in the carnoys.  It is very hot and humid where I am. 

The last one I stuck in the fridge at 20C in a glass carboy for 1.5 months and it still became sour.

This time I am soaking for a prolonged period in bleach instead of the k meta.  I don't have access to the other cleaners here.  I use soap and water before I sanitize.

Do you think it was because I was trying to sanitize with k meta?

By "K" do you mean Potassium? May I presume the "Meta" is metabisulfite?

Sulfites are not very effective in brewing because alcohol levels are lower, while pH is higher than exists in wine.

Bleach is going to be a pretty good cleaner, but perhaps not the best final rinse sanitizer.

If you can't get a phosphoric acid sanitizer like StarSan, you can make a fairly powerful oxidizing sanitizer with distilled vinegar and hydrogen peroxide. You'd nearly fill the carboy with water, add 10ml of hydrogen peroxide and 50 ml of vinegar. Give that a little stir (the vapors can irritate your sinuses, so be careful) and let it sit for 10 minutes.

do you bottle?  the one bout of bad batches i've had thus far was due to bottles not being rinsed well enough.  i'd soak them, but without a faucet i could connect a bottle rinser to i wasn't successfully getting everything out of the bottles before refilling them.  i would also describe that taste as sour.

I had this issue awhile back.  Used bleach to sanitize bottles and was told to stop.  When I stopped using bleach, the sourness disappeared.

Throwing my hat in here...Had 5 bad batches in a row with sour and overfoam issues.
I posted on here and as always was given a good answer. And that was to buy all new plastics, ie hoses, bottling bucket etc.

As for the bleach, that is all I have ever used and was not part of this problem.

I took the old plastics and bleached the crap out of them then let them sit as backups. Since then I have used some of them with no issues.

Could you possibly have made a sour mash in the past? if that is the case, you have a whole different issue.

Bleached equipment and bottles last batch.  1tbsp per gallon sitting for 20 minutes.  Everything done right.
Saison in primary 2 weeks and bottled for 3.  Tasted soso out of the fermenter and sour out of the bottles.
Could it somehow be the bottles or could it be the 95%humidity and 33c temperature  infecting it as I cool?

do you have a bottle rinser?  if you soaked and didn't effectively rinse, stuff could have stuck in the bottles.

I've done 52 batches so far and the last 3 have been vary disappointing witch were during the hot weather. So when you asked could it be the 93% humidity and the temps I would have to say Maybe to that, when using the ice bath /no chill method,  and you said it tasted just so so out of the fermenter and really I think that is where the problem is starting. my best beers all came out of the fermenter tasting great and when they taste just so so out of primary they end up getting worse in the bottle or end up just a so so beer.
I am going to get a SS fermenter before I brew again, I think when the plastic fermenters go bad they are that way for ever.
just to get it out there, I have been brewing using the ice bath method and now use a chiller to cool the wert. the chiller has helped the taste of the beer a lot, now I just need a good fermenter . the plastic is a joke imho. there are hard to clean and once infected its over.  there ok for the beginner but I think mine are going into the trash.
sorry for the long post but I take my beer seriously. hope the input helps     

When I first started all-grain brewing I had two "not so tasty" batches. It turned out to be the water. When I was doing extract brewing it was all done in the kitchen, then when I went to all-grain I moved out to the garage. I should have know better but I used the garden hose as my source of water and I believe that is what caused my off taste in the finished product. I have since gone to a "food grade" hose like you would use for an RV water supply and the bad taste has gone away. I only use the hose for homebrewing so it does not sit outside and I flush it pretty well cleaning equipment before using it to supply brew water.

I had that once in summer when my fermentation temperature exceeded the upper limit of my yeast. It sounds like your yeast is being exposed to temperatures and conditions beyond it's specifications. I like beersmith for finding the exact yeast that matches your brewing environment.  It is crucial. Just search through the yeasts in the ingredients column. Safale american #US- 05 is one for higher temperatures,  I use now in summer instead of lager yeast. Regarding sanitizing, I tried bleach  years ago and had poor results. I know at a 4% or whatever solution with water it is effective for killing micro-organisms in industrial process plants, but for me it doesn't perform well with beer production. 

I used Star san once, stuff is too expensive and corrosive for me. I also cannot bring myself to transfer clean sweet wort that I worked hard to keep natural and pure into a fermentor, or keg for bright beer;that has a soapy chemical foam in it that is acidic.

I use always a nice strong solution of sulfite sprayed with a spray bottle until surfaces are wet for kegs,hoses and large vessels, and a sulfite solution pump for plastic 500 ml and 1 liter bottles. hoses and tubing soaked in sulfite. all rinsed well  15 minutes later with a faucet sprayer then rinsed again and allowed to drip drain before use. Never have an issue with sanitation. Bottle the sulfite solution sealed tight between uses.
Also, I use a bright halogen worklite to inspect each bottle- you can see crud occasionally in cleaned bottles that  requires further cleaning and would sour your beer or wine.
I know many will call this old fashioned and have opposing opinions, but this works for me and I stick with what works.
Whitaker Brews -  Brewing since 1987 beer and wine

Cleanliness is of the utmost importance.  One of the best tips I ever got when I started to brew was to rinse out the bottles after each pour.  Especially if you do not drink the yeast left in the bottle.  I am in the bleach club for cleaning bottles.  I use my dishwashers sanitizing cycle to sanitize my bottles at bottling time.