I would think the mash temp and pH level is your likely culprit here. That stuffs just way more important now that you're AG

I didn't really do any investigating into my own water, I just used the water table info posted at brewersfriend.com. I see boston has some info on there too.

So that batch, I had to kill the burner and walk away for 2 hours, go run errands with the family, then come back. I wondered how it would come back to haunt me... fucking Band-aid Beer.

you might not be able to save it.

that was post mash though right? that you took your break?

Yeah. It was post-mash. But I've never had anything LIKE that smell before... ?

I've read that you can leave it in your kettle overnight (with the lid on) and start the boil the next day. i don't know if bringing it to a boil and then killing the heat would fuck it up or not though.

I've read that about leaving the mash overnight to start sours. Can't think of what about my pH would be so different that one time? Need to go back and look at my notes.

I'm way too late to actually assist you in any way, but the band-aid taste is usually caused by chlorophenols through yeasts, chlorinated water can have an effect as well, but you should have had phenolic issues before hand. It is possible that your brewing water/wort actually spoiled during your brief absence, but that would mean that your munincipal water is pretty gross to begin with.

I will be a a steward at the first round judging of the National Homebrewer Conference in KC from April 5-7. It's going to be pretty crazy, since all the regions filled their quotas in a matter of hours and the AHA had to close some sites due to computer errors. I'll get to work with some cicerones and big time beer people. I have a feeling I will be handling a specific sub category during certain rounds instead of one entire category, since there is so much beer to judge.

Here is the Robust Porter recipe I came up for my entry into the AHA club only extract beer contest in May. I plan on brewing it whenever I get a day off next week.

Step One: Steep 1.25lbs of Weyermann Chocolate Wheat Malt with .5lbs of Fawcett Oat Malt and .25lbs of Briess Midnight Wheat Malt for twenty minutes.
Step Two: Add 3.15lbs of Northern Brewer Dark Malt syrup and one ounce of Chinook hops at 60 minutes
Step Three: Add one pound of Muntons Extra Dark DME at 40 minutes
Step Four: Add 3.15lbs of Northern Brewer Maris Otter Malt syrup at twenty minutes
Step Five: Add one ounce of Mount Rainier Hops at ten minutes
I am going to use Wyeast 1099 Whitbread Ale yeast during primary fermentation.

What temp are you mashing at up there? I don't guess it matters much if they're specialty malts though...

Alsdo, the pale I brewed a few weeks back with mostly Maris and shot of crystal, with all cascade (simplesimplesimple recipe) is shaping up to be GOOD. Bottled 5 days ago, snuck one last night to see how it's coming along, and it is deadly smooth at either 6 or 7%, can't remember which without my notebook. So far, I like the initial recipe a lot. I'll need some outside feedback on it, will have to enlist Neuro and Shiv. Didn't try the Mild yet, letting it go the full 2 weeks before I dip a toe in, and even then it may not be ready.

Most extract kit recipes call for you to steep the specialty grains for twenty minutes or until it the wort temperature reaches 170. I'm not using a kit, but I traditionally follow that advice. I have only reached 170 once before I reached the twenty minute mark, and that was before I started using distilled water for brewing.

The Oak Aged IPA I made a while back turned out great. The bottles carbonated wonderfully and it has a good hop balance.
The Oak doesn't stand out as much as I would have preferred, but I would rather have a subtle taste and a fine IPA than a woody taste that overpowered a good beer.

(recap of) The Plan: Settle on 4-6 recipes for "sixpack" beers, with 4%-7% abv, all sessionable, covering a broad enough range to not be boring. Start making them with the SIMPLEST version of my guess recipe as possible, and expand only if/when I decide to based on feedback. Point is to get good at making something repeatable.

Status Of The Plan: I now have the tail end of a Stout batch, and the beginnings of the Pale Ale and the Mild batches. Quick findings:

STOUT 1.0... mashed too hot, so it stayed a touch too sweet. I like the nutty complexity of that Maris malt as a base for stout, that will stay. I think I will up the hops a touch - they're VERY minimal in the 1.0 recipe. That plus a lower mash temp should get me a drier, slightly sharper version of what is a pretty good beer now.

PALE 1.0... It's still a little green, so it will improve into April. But it's incredible how "interesting" 90% Maris / 7.5% Crystal 20 / 2.5% Red Wheat can be. There's no magical secret ingredient, but it's got depth and body. It's also a sneaky 6.5%, and I think I'll repeat that from now on, I like the tiny kick. Maybe a few versions down the road I will switch up the hop varieties, but Cascade is working so well now that I don't have a "reason" to. Shit is popular for a reason. Such a versatile, punchy, bright hop.

MILD 1.0... the dark horse of this race, and the biggest surprise. Kudos, Billy G. It's a buttery, toffee, caramel fireside companion beer at only 4%. Super mellow, not like anything else I've ever brewed, lowest ABV I've ever done by far, and yet I really dig it. Bottle Day sips had me worried, but it's totally come around and is kinda good. Neuro had one and it stood out for him. Should be even better in a month. I need to buy a case of something so I leave them all alone. Not sure what I'd change next time here, so far it's great.

Making the saison now. Nailed the mash temp at 146F. Very happy with myself.

Have been looking into brewing programs at institutes or colleges. Might need some biology coursework first if I want the big one, which would be ok, but that's a lot of time and dough all together. Meanwhile I got a recruiter calling me, trying to get me to look at jobs in my current field, in the Bay area. Makes it hard to think about such a drastic switch / reboot, when I have a good gig and there's plenty of work.

Find The Thing You're Most Passionate About, Then Do It On Nights And Weekends For The Rest Of Your Life
http://www.theonion.com/articles/find-t ... -do,31742/

I know that's satire but I actually live that/believe that

I wrote them back and asked for an interview. We could live south of San Fran, and I could motorcycle to work year round. Might be nice.

Just make it sure its a LOT more money. (I know you do well now, but living in the Bay Area is pretty expensive.)

After a coworker happy hour(s) I made a to-be-named Black Ale with Jerkass last night. With the exception of a crash course I took a long long time ago this was the first time I ever brewed with another person. Super distracting and by the end of it I was D-runk. Made more mistakes and a larger mess than I usually do. Probably a larger result of being drunk than having company.

6 lb Pale Ale Malt
3 lb Floor-Malted Bohemian
1 lb German Chocolate Rye
.5 lb German Carafa III
1 lb Flaked Oads
1 lb Flaked Barley

.5 oz Topaz @ 60
.25 oz Topaz @ 30
.5 oz Topaz @ 15*
1 oz Columbus @ 5
*some how I had an extra .25 oz at this stage so one of my early additions was wrong.
Dry Hops to come
1 oz Columbus for 7 days
1 oz Topaz for 7 days

1056 Wyeast Ale - 1.4L starter made 24 hours prior.

I'm hoping for a super danky citrusy roasty silky drink. Previous black ale (Black Fridale) is great but there's no hop character in the drink it's just in your nose.

Mashed a little too high for 90 minutes @ ~153-155. Maybe during the last 10 or so it appeared to drop to 145.
Refractometer keeps saying 1.055-54 and hydrometer keeps saying 1.051. First time they've ever disagreed.
I'll be generous to myself and record it as 1.053. Piss poor efficiency of about 60% this time.
I attribute most of that to the high mash but also when I rinsed the grains I don't think my water was hot enough yet.
I also didn't stir as much as I usually do during the mash.

Next brew, I think I'll pull out the cooler mashtun and do 15 lbs of Pilsner Malt and Citra Hops only. First try at a SMASH bear and first try at a high ABV. Might make a 1 gallon mead batch today.

Black-Hole Brew

Perfect. This should be done just in time to celebrate the 19th anniversary release of that untouchable single.

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