Fermentation stink

G’day all,

I feel like I should know this…..I’ve done some ok successful homebrews over the past several years. Probably none that I could say, hey, I should open my own brewery…..but it’s ok to drink. Some homebrewers have a good drinkable beer at the end every time, is that the case? Or is a certain percentage that don’t have a drinkable beer.

It seems like every time I brew now, maybe for the past 5 or 6, maybe 7, 8, 9, 10 brews, I dunno.....the fermented beer after the 14 days fermenting time has smelled like absolute skunk/cat piss mixed with elephant sweat, purely undrinkable.

I’ve done some research to figure out the smell but can’t seem to find it, it driving me nuts. So I tried many different things from buying a new plastic carboy, then a new clawhammer brewing system. I use an inkbird temp control with a fan for cooling and a wrap around heating thing. I usually cool down the wort to 70 degrees and then transfer to the fermenter. I have used liquid yeast, yeast starters and dry yeast. I’ve used one yeast packet, 1.5 and 2 yeast packets, even rehydrated the dry yeast.

The recipe is a simple pale ale with 9lbs of 2 row and 2lbs of 10L Caramel/Crystal Malt.

I feel like I’m doing everything right in regards to sanitizing, but I could be wrong.

I’m fresh out of ideas and I’m about to give up……please help

 

I cool it down using a chill plate that came with the clawhammer, the tubing goes into a pump and then through the chill plate.I run it through with 15-20 minuted left in the boil to sanitize it. I've only used the clawhammer twice now.
I have noticed that there really is only a little bit of fermentation going on and then nothing, usually it's an amber color when starting and then it goes to a dark color two days later. I did a brew last Thursday and this is happening right now.
Nothing growing on top of the beer

 

All grain every time, Star San for the sanitizer (I even bought a new bottle), yep, 5 gallon batch.
I use those 7/8 gallon clear plastic carboys with the red screw on top, purchased a thermowell and put that in because I thought the temp was incorrect. Now I put the (now new) inkwell temp sensor on the outside and taped it under something so its not taking room temp. I put it in a dark basement.

I used to use Wyeast 1056, but now onto Safeale US-05 because I order online.
Last batch I put 2 packs of Safeale in because I thought there was not enough yeast, but I was wrong.
On this batch that I did last week I put 1.5 packs of Safale in as BeerSmith mentioned that, I didn't want to rehydrate or make a yeast starter because that's what I did in the past with the same outcome. So when transferring the cooled wort from the clawhammer to the fermenter I just let the wort fall so to get some oxygen in there, put the yeast in and did the shake up of the carboy for a minute or two to get some more oxygen in.

As you said, something, somewhere is happening to do this, I feel like I've done something different on the cold side to remedy this every time.
Maybe I should just follow someone else's recipe than to make my own, coz that seems to be the factor.
Maybe I'm not mashing in enough grains, or not mashing enough.
I cook dinner for the family every day, I'd say 99% of the time it's an edible meal, that 1% I can figure out exactly why and try better next time. This 100% bad beer every time is nuts.
I have a feeling I should take some classes on fermentation or ask someone in the area to help

 

Thanks all for your help so far, really appreciate it. If anyone else can think of something I'm doing wrong, please let me know.
I think something is killing the yeast, because there's hardly any fermentation, the grain bill is good for a pale ale.
I'll reach out to a mate that got me into brewing and we'll go from there

 

Not taking any gravity readings as I just wanted to make a beer that tastes good first, maybe I should start taking an OG to see if it's ready?

 

Mashing and boiling are done with this.... https://www.clawhammersupply.com/products/digital-electric-120v-homebrew-beer-system.
Last brew was 7.03 gallons of distilled water with 10.3g of Gypsum, 5.8g Epsom salt, 3g Calcium Chloride, 2.8g baking soda, 1.5g Chalk. Added 1/2 a Campden tablet.
9lbs of 2 row and 2lbs of 10L Caramel/Crystal Malt. Mash at 156 for an hour, then mash out at 168 for 10 mins. Started the boil (It takes a while with the 120v system), added a Whirlfloc tablet at 15 mins, 0.5 oz Vic Secret at 10 minutes along with 5 Tbsp Yeast Nutirent, then 1.5oz Vic Secret at flame out

 

This may be what I'm missing, I do have a pH reader too, but never used it.
So do I take the Final Gravity after the 14 days is up? If I had a fermenter with a spigot I could measure any time
I'm trying again next week

 

It forms a little thin krausan (Not sure on the spelling either) for the first day and falls off, then turns dark and starts to smell.
To be honest I dont even taste it, I just smell it when I want to bottle it, if it smells I take the carboy out to the alley and pour it down the sewer. When the beer was ok to drink and before it got worse, which was maybe 2-3 years ago a mate of mine said it tasted like a wet dish rag.

 

Even if its a brand new system? That I cleaned out with PBW before and after for an hour each time?

 

So I changed the grain bill a little to match one on Clawhammer's website, Thursday is the big day because I'm waiting on a temperature gauge that sits on the output of the plate chiller to take the temp of the wort before it goes back in.

7.3 Gallons Distilled water
---This is the water profile from Beersmith
3.5g Calcium Chloride
2.76g Epsom Salt
1.67g Gypsum
1.49g Baking Soda

1/2 Campden tablet
8lbs 12oz Organic Pale Malt (They ran out of regular at the homebrew store)
1lb Flaked Wheat
8oz Caramel 20L
8oz Caramel 60L
Whirlfloc Tablet at 15 minutes left in the boil
1/2 oz Vic Secret (Aussie style!!!!) at 10 minutes left
1.5 oz Vic Secret at flameout
2 x Omega OYL-004 West Coast 1

I'm still worried that that might be too much yeast, they have both been manufactured in the past month, but I don't think one would be enough.