harrymanback92
Well-Known Member
Hey guys,
So I got done bottling an American Wheat about 20 minutes ago. As I was putting away my bottles I noticed several of them had little black specks of mold, and a couple with big black floating mold, either at the base, or floating to the top of the bottle. I discarded of the ones with the visible mold. And let me make this very, very clear: The mold did not grow in my beer. The mold grew in the dry bottles, sometime over the past couple of months. I understand that nothing bad can grow in beer, this did not grow in beer.
I'm sure the typical advice would be: open the bottle (once carbed) and pour the entire glass, if you see mold, don't drink it (although some would, which is fine.)
But here's the kicker: I specifically brewed these for a friend's wedding in 4 weeks. There will be quite a bit of people there, and now I'm concerned that people will be pouring beer with mold in it. I held each individual bottle up to a light and disposed of the beers with mold at the base, or floating around. I inspected the bottles before I filled them up(but here's where I ****ed up: I only inspected after I saw a bottle with mold float to the top), the ones that I could tell were bad I didn't use. I'm concerned about any potential liability due to illness etc., but more concerned with no one drinking any of the beer because people are finding mold in it when they open their bottles. This will be the first time for 95% of the people there to try homebrew; mold in your beer is not a good start.
I'm currently bottling two batches for him. A wheat and a mild. The wheat is the one batch that will, potentially, have mold in it. With the mild, I'm going to visually inspect each bottle, after each bottle is sanitized, so that there will be no mold in any of those bottles.
Now, before I'm criticized for bad sanitation let me write out my process:
1. Soak bottles in PBW in 5 gallons of water for a minimum of 20 minutes.This cleans 'em, and removes any labels or adhesive.
2. Using my kitchens spray faucet, I rinse them with hot water, inside and out.
3. Run the bottles through the sanitize option on my dishwasher.
4. Dunk in Starsan, pour Starsan back in the bucket and than bottle, immediately after.
The mold is there because some of the bottles have been sitting, unused, for around 4 months.
Should I just continue to inspect them, shake them up, and discard any bottle with mold? Or should I tell him I'll only be bringing the mild?
We worked it out, that if there is any problem with the batches, than he will go buy a 15g keg, so that is an option.
Really long post, but I just need some opinions. Cheers!
So I got done bottling an American Wheat about 20 minutes ago. As I was putting away my bottles I noticed several of them had little black specks of mold, and a couple with big black floating mold, either at the base, or floating to the top of the bottle. I discarded of the ones with the visible mold. And let me make this very, very clear: The mold did not grow in my beer. The mold grew in the dry bottles, sometime over the past couple of months. I understand that nothing bad can grow in beer, this did not grow in beer.
I'm sure the typical advice would be: open the bottle (once carbed) and pour the entire glass, if you see mold, don't drink it (although some would, which is fine.)
But here's the kicker: I specifically brewed these for a friend's wedding in 4 weeks. There will be quite a bit of people there, and now I'm concerned that people will be pouring beer with mold in it. I held each individual bottle up to a light and disposed of the beers with mold at the base, or floating around. I inspected the bottles before I filled them up(but here's where I ****ed up: I only inspected after I saw a bottle with mold float to the top), the ones that I could tell were bad I didn't use. I'm concerned about any potential liability due to illness etc., but more concerned with no one drinking any of the beer because people are finding mold in it when they open their bottles. This will be the first time for 95% of the people there to try homebrew; mold in your beer is not a good start.
I'm currently bottling two batches for him. A wheat and a mild. The wheat is the one batch that will, potentially, have mold in it. With the mild, I'm going to visually inspect each bottle, after each bottle is sanitized, so that there will be no mold in any of those bottles.
Now, before I'm criticized for bad sanitation let me write out my process:
1. Soak bottles in PBW in 5 gallons of water for a minimum of 20 minutes.This cleans 'em, and removes any labels or adhesive.
2. Using my kitchens spray faucet, I rinse them with hot water, inside and out.
3. Run the bottles through the sanitize option on my dishwasher.
4. Dunk in Starsan, pour Starsan back in the bucket and than bottle, immediately after.
The mold is there because some of the bottles have been sitting, unused, for around 4 months.
Should I just continue to inspect them, shake them up, and discard any bottle with mold? Or should I tell him I'll only be bringing the mild?
We worked it out, that if there is any problem with the batches, than he will go buy a 15g keg, so that is an option.
Really long post, but I just need some opinions. Cheers!