[tygo]

Planning on brewing up a batch of the APA in a few weeks when my sister comes down to visit.  Was planning on building up a starter from a blowoff of the last batch and figured I'd be good to go.  But out of an abundance of caution I figured I'd brew up a starter tonight since the slurry was 2 months old and get it chugging to make sure it was good yeast.  

So I did, and when I screwed off the cap on the jar the slurry was in it smelled sour.  Tossed it into the starter anyway since it was there but saved a little liquid.  And then I tasted that liquid and wanted to cleanse my tongue with a blowtorch.  Sour as hell.  I poured a scotch and swished it around in my mouth to kill the taste.

Now, my first thoughts on this was that the slurry was infected.  But then I got to thinking about a previous thread about blowoff collection and how the blowoff was "intensely bitter".   I'm wondering if what I tasted in the liquid was mega bitterness as opposed to an infection.

I guess I'll see what the starter smells/tastes like and will report back.

[beer_crafter]

How did you collect your blowoff in a sanitary manner?  I am used to collecting slurry from the bottom of the fermenter, which is rather easy to do cleanly.  When I run a blowoff, it's exposed to air and god knows what else in my basement.

[dbeechum]

The best blowoff collection method I've seen is effectively a double blowoff.

You run the blow off into a sealed vessel which itself has a blowoff tube into ye old bucket of sanitizer.

[babalu87]

The best blowoff collection method I've seen is effectively a double blowoff.

You run the blow off into a sealed vessel which itself has a blowoff tube into ye old bucket of sanitizer.

Like a bong?

[dbeechum]

more like an offset smoker with a cold smoking stack.

e.g. the out from the fermenter into a sanitized chamber that has an out that bubbles into a container of fluid.

[tygo]

How did you collect your blowoff in a sanitary manner?  I am used to collecting slurry from the bottom of the fermenter, which is rather easy to do cleanly.  When I run a blowoff, it's exposed to air and god knows what else in my basement.

I ran the blowoff tube into a sanitized container half filled with cooled boiled water and sealed up both ends with sanitized foil.  Looked pretty closed to me.

[richardt]

The best blowoff collection method I've seen is effectively a double blowoff.

  Do you kiss your mother with that mouth, sir?     

[tygo]

Well, this starter kicked off fine and looked like a good yeast fermentation.  I may still have had a slight sour smell to it but the starter tasted fine.  I think the perceived sourness was from the bitterness but I decided to dump it anyway and get new yeast out an abundance of caution.