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Author Topic: Fast Ferment conical fermenter smells of old hops  (Read 3769 times)

Offline oldtymehockey

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Fast Ferment conical fermenter smells of old hops
« on: December 06, 2015, 01:13:28 pm »
Hi all,

I did a search and couldn't find this question. When I search I don't spend hours so if one is buried deep in the archives I apologize.

I brewed my first batch in my Fast Ferment plastic conical. It was Hopstache black IPA. I have rinsed the fermenter and then soaked for a day in PBW. After rinsing the PBW the smell of the old wort (mainly the hops) remains.

Is this an issue going forward?

Has anyone experienced this?

Thanks.

Offline denny

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Re: Fast Ferment conical fermenter smells of old hops
« Reply #1 on: December 06, 2015, 01:33:40 pm »
My buckets all smell like that but it hasn't caused any problems.
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Offline erockrph

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Re: Fast Ferment conical fermenter smells of old hops
« Reply #2 on: December 06, 2015, 02:31:16 pm »
My buckets all smell like that but it hasn't caused any problems.
+1 - All of my HDPE fermenters (i.e., plastic buckets) get that smell and occasionally a green stain. I've fermented clean lagers in them with no discernible impact on flavor of note.

This would make for an interesting brülosophy exBeeriment...
Eric B.

Finally got around to starting a homebrewing blog: The Hop Whisperer

Offline leejoreilly

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Re: Fast Ferment conical fermenter smells of old hops
« Reply #3 on: December 07, 2015, 06:58:47 am »
I've had success using an overnight soak of Mark's (S. cerevisiae) solution of 1 oz bleach and 1 oz vinegar in 5 gallons of water. Works like a charm. Be careful to add the bleach and vinegar (separately) to the water.

Offline reverseapachemaster

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Re: Fast Ferment conical fermenter smells of old hops
« Reply #4 on: December 07, 2015, 09:35:36 am »
Oxyclean will get out stains and most of the smell but IMO only bleach (1 tbsp/gal) will completely eliminate the smell in plastic. You have to decide whether you want to risk exposing an apparently porous plastic to bleach. After all, your wort will smell like wort when it goes in your plastic conical. Will the residual aroma have an impact on the beer? My use of buckets that smell of beer suggests not.
Heck yeah I blog about homebrewing: Brain Sparging on Brewing

Offline factory

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Re: Fast Ferment conical fermenter smells of old hops
« Reply #5 on: December 07, 2015, 12:13:25 pm »
I've had success using an overnight soak of Mark's (S. cerevisiae) solution of 1 oz bleach and 1 oz vinegar in 5 gallons of water. Works like a charm. Be careful to add the bleach and vinegar (separately) to the water.
I wonder if this will get the pickle smell out of a Firehouse Subs pickle bucket?  Firehouse sell the empty buckets for $2 or $3.  I was going to buy a couple to store grain in.  But I think I'm better off with a Homer bucket from Home Depot.

Offline ballandkeg

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Re: Fast Ferment conical fermenter smells of old hops
« Reply #6 on: December 08, 2015, 09:57:58 am »
I've had success using an overnight soak of Mark's (S. cerevisiae) solution of 1 oz bleach and 1 oz vinegar in 5 gallons of water. Works like a charm. Be careful to add the bleach and vinegar (separately) to the water.
I wonder if this will get the pickle smell out of a Firehouse Subs pickle bucket?  Firehouse sell the empty buckets for $2 or $3.  I was going to buy a couple to store grain in.  But I think I'm better off with a Homer bucket from Home Depot.
Don't do it, my wife and I still laugh about our pickle beer from years ago.  We cleaned the tar out of it and bleached, etc. but we still had a clear pickle flavor to the beer.

Offline 69franx

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Re: Fast Ferment conical fermenter smells of old hops
« Reply #7 on: December 13, 2015, 12:14:50 pm »
I use an old pickle bucket for my star san. Usually keep a gallon or 2 in there. Been using it for that purpose for over 2 tears now and it still smells of pickles. I did clean and bleach it heavily when I brought it home from my restaurant,  all to no avail. Don't store any ingredients in a pickled bucket
Frank L.
Fermenting: Nothing (ugh!)
Conditioning: Nothing (UGH!)
In keg: Nothing (Double UGH!)
In the works:  House IPA, Dark Mild, Ballantine Ale clone(still trying to work this one into the schedule)

Offline Pinski

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Re: Fast Ferment conical fermenter smells of old hops
« Reply #8 on: December 13, 2015, 01:11:30 pm »
Oxyclean will get out stains and most of the smell but IMO only bleach (1 tbsp/gal) will completely eliminate the smell in plastic. You have to decide whether you want to risk exposing an apparently porous plastic to bleach. After all, your wort will smell like wort when it goes in your plastic conical. Will the residual aroma have an impact on the beer? My use of buckets that smell of beer suggests not.
+1 rdwhahb
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Offline dzlater

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Re: Fast Ferment conical fermenter smells of old hops
« Reply #9 on: December 13, 2015, 05:08:48 pm »
I've had success using an overnight soak of Mark's (S. cerevisiae) solution of 1 oz bleach and 1 oz vinegar in 5 gallons of water. Works like a charm. Be careful to add the bleach and vinegar (separately) to the water.
I wonder if this will get the pickle smell out of a Firehouse Subs pickle bucket?  Firehouse sell the empty buckets for $2 or $3.  I was going to buy a couple to store grain in.  But I think I'm better off with a Homer bucket from Home Depot.

I get empty frosting buckets for free from the bakery at the grocery store.
Dan S. from NJ

Offline brewinhard

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Re: Fast Ferment conical fermenter smells of old hops
« Reply #10 on: December 14, 2015, 12:54:11 pm »
I've had success using an overnight soak of Mark's (S. cerevisiae) solution of 1 oz bleach and 1 oz vinegar in 5 gallons of water. Works like a charm. Be careful to add the bleach and vinegar (separately) to the water.
I wonder if this will get the pickle smell out of a Firehouse Subs pickle bucket?  Firehouse sell the empty buckets for $2 or $3.  I was going to buy a couple to store grain in.  But I think I'm better off with a Homer bucket from Home Depot.
Don't do it, my wife and I still laugh about our pickle beer from years ago.  We cleaned the tar out of it and bleached, etc. but we still had a clear pickle flavor to the beer.

Yum.  That can't be good.