Hi guys I have a brewmaster bucket first two brews were fine however the previous two using this FV have had a TCP/Medicinal taste.
Now it’s not my water or sanitation as I used my other FV and this one came out fine.
Any ideas or help will be greatly appreciated
have you taken apart the spigot? It doesn’t really disassemble much but some funky stuff could get between the dip tube and valve, nut and fermenter wall, or valve and hose barb maybe. Just spitballing here.
edit: I also remember either reading or hearing Jamil say to boil ball valves halfway open to catch the cavity on either side of the ball. I imagine soaking in your choice of cleaner sanitizer would do as well.
Yeah I tried that on the last clean. Wondering if it could be the silicone seal on the lid but that’s also soaked in VWP (PBW alternative) and had a starsan soak also. I’m completely out of ideas on this TCP/Medical taste
Fill that SOB with boiling water. Let it sit sealed up for 15 minutes then drain it through the ball valve.
I know you said it can’t be the water, but I’d like to know if you’re using a municipal water source. City water managers might have increased the chlorine level since your first 2 batches.
I am lucky enough to have a source for caustic that I use every third brew (PBW after the other two) to clean up things like pumps, plate chillers, and conicasl since it kills everything organic. That said I take apart the ball valve on my fermenter occasionally and inspect the insides to be sure that there is nothing lurking there (I have the ones that allow you to do that). I started doing this after Jamil mentioned doing that at a Homebrew Con a few years back.
Boiling them is a good idea but taking them apart will reveal anything that boiling may not have gotten rid of. If you can’t take the valves apart then boiling or use of caustic (be very careful if you use it, gloves and goggles are a must to protect yourself from burns) will help alleviate this issue.
SS Brewtech also recommends passivating your stainless at least once per year. They recommend one ounce of Star San in a gallon of water to get rid of any beer stone that may have accumulated in the vessel which can harbor nasties. Use a sponge to coat the sides with the mixture several times. You may have a fine coating of beer stone that you can not see and this will take it off. I passivate a bit more than that, but I brew a lot.
You could boil the valve. i take mine off each brew and scrube inside with a brush. then I boil it. don’t let the valve touch the bottom of the pot.