Had to do it - Had to dump some batches.

I finally gave up on the remains of 4 batches of beer last night and dumped them.

All four batches were fine when I tasted them before bottling, but after I bottled things went bad. Three weeks after bottling they all had the same questionable off taste to them and a couple of them were gushers. Six weeks after bottling they were downright nasty and were gushers. Still, I tucked them away in the back of the basement and came back to them yesterday. Three months after bottling, they're outright rancid, with a putrid scent, and a taste that - well - I can now say I understand what "satan's anus" is when describing an off-flavor. They were all gushers, and a couple of them off-gassed enough upon opening that I'm surprised none of them exploded... These puppies aren't coming back. They went down the sink.

I replaced all my plastic hoses and my bottling wand after I sampled the beers six weeks out and they were all getting nasty. Haven't had an issue with the 20 gallons that were brewed since.

Sad, sad day in Cleveland... Hate to hear news of dumped batches. Glad that you were able to replace any suspect tubing and equipment before moving onto new batches. Hopefully your future batches won't turn out so putrid!

i feel your pain..... but i find gushes go away when you chill them for 24 hours before opening the bottle.

if theres enough bacteria in those bottles I wouldnt want to drink them whether they were gushing or not. . . sorry to hear about those batches, how is your bottle/cap sanitizing technique?

On the chilled ones, the gush went away, but the really nasty taste didn't.

Bottles all are brushed, washed in PBW and air-dried. Then rinsed with star-san on the day of bottling. (Actually, I fill my bottling bucket with star-san, then dunk all the bottles and hang them on the previously dunked bottle tree.)

I'm really thinking it was the bottle wand - that was the common element. The batch before I had the trouble was a blueberry ale that I had some blueberry skins make it through the strainer when I racked to the bottling bucket. I had a heck of a time getting a couple of them out of the bottling wand - I'm thinking maybe I missed some detritus in the non-clear portion of the wand. Would have made a perfect breeding ground.

In any event, I haven't had a problem since and I'm a bit more anal about my plastic hoses.

So a couple of good lessons:
1) If you're going to infect your beer when you bottle, drink it fast.
2) Keep your hose clean (which is good advice that will serve you well in many facets of life)
3) Keg