a 'Dumperbrau'

It started with the hopes of being a cream ale.  It was looking good until I checked on it on Saturday.  Expecting to see the krausen drop by then, I opened the fermentation fridge and saw what looked like sheets of paper hanging in the brew.  Never saw the likes of that before, definitely not yeast rafts.  Pulled a sample and tasted it...

Holy mother of god!!  The most rancid, rotten corn flavor.  Recipe did included flaked corn, but obvious something was wrong here.  As I recovered from my face down in the sink, gagging and dry-heaving moment, all I could think about was KILL IT....DESTROY THAT!.  I dumped, cleaned, and sanitized.

My fermentation fridge always wants to grow mold...I spray the interior down with a bleach mixture, but it's persistent.  I wonder if the airlock sucked back and got mold in it?  May not have adequately cleaned and/or sanitized my thermocouple probe or plate chiller.

The batch I made after that one is still looking good.  Keeping my fingers crossed.

Did you use pilsner malt for the base?

How long did you boil?


A solid 90 minute boil can help drive off DMS (Dimethyl sulfide). DMS can create cooked corn flavors in beer. It's fucking gross.

Was a 60 min, fairly vigorous boil.  I doubt it was DMS as the mash did contain 1/4lbs flaked corn and the odd 'white sheets of paper' that were growing in the carboy.

I'm suspect of my plate chiller.  It can't be disassembled and there's no way to know for certain if it's clean inside.

I run pbw and star-san through my plate chiller after my brew day.  I run star-san through it before.  I like to circulate everything through it for about 20 minutes.

2 things, real caustic cleaner (careful will REALLY hurt you bad if you aren't paying attention and wearing PPE) and baking your plate chiller in the oven to sanitize--google for temp/times and such, dry sanitize is different than wet.