BigTerp

Recipes 

Having some gusher issues with an all-grain Nut Brown. It was brewed back in December, fermented with Wyeast American Ale II at the proper temperature and left in the primary for 4+ weeks. Had a bit of an attenuation problem as it finished at 1.022. I pitched some washed Nottingham waited a week and got the SG down to about 1.018 (should have finished closer to .012). I went ahead and bottled, and after 4+ weeks in the bottle each one ends up like below. I had one implode in the closet about 2 weeks into bottle conditioning. Doesn't taste horrible by any means, but not as good as I've been making. I've noticed a very light and thin white circle in the bottle necks that based on info. here leads to believe I have some sort of infection. I always prime based on style and use a digital scale, so no chance of overcarbing. Just to be safe (I'll be bottling a 60 minute clone tonight) I went ahead and soaked my bottling bucket, empty primary bucket, lid and disassembled my bottling spigot and all plastic and tossed in the oxyclean. I then rinsed well and using 1 cup of bleach to 5 gallons of water soaked everything again and rinsed really well. I also replaced my siphon hose which hasn't been replaced in 7 months and has had probably 15 batches run through it. I'm thinking this is were my problem came from. I checked for any visible scratches in my buckets and they all are nice and scratch free. I checked the SG of a bottle of it last night and it was down to 1.008!! So obviously something is causing fermentation to continue in the bottle. Just wanted to see what you guys thought could be the issue. Gusher bug? Wild yeast?........I'm a bit concerned because the Indian Brown Ale I bottled a few days after this Nut Brown has some of the white layer in the bottle. But it tastes awesome and is perfectly carbed, so who knows. I also have a cream ale and an IPA that was bottled after the Nut Brown, but neither has shown the white cirlce and the IPA is pretty darn good (cream ale not ready yet)

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On Deck: Watermelon Wheat
Primary #1: Strawberry Blonde
Primary #2:
Primary #3:
Primary #4:
Bottled: Hobbs Filled Tire, Yoopers Haus Pale Ale, Strong Scotch Ale, Yoopers DFH 60min, Cream Ale, Indian Brown Ale, Apfelwein (9/3/11)

Xaphoeous

Recipes 

Is there a gummy substance at the bottom of the bottle, or is the white ring in the neck gummy?

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mmmmmmmmmmmm, beeeeer

beeber

Recipes 

The ring is a sign of a likely infection. It's a late infection.

BigTerp

Recipes 

Can't really say it's gummy or not. Bottom looks like the typical yeast layer and the white ring is rather thin and easier to see before they are chilled.

__________________
On Deck: Watermelon Wheat
Primary #1: Strawberry Blonde
Primary #2:
Primary #3:
Primary #4:
Bottled: Hobbs Filled Tire, Yoopers Haus Pale Ale, Strong Scotch Ale, Yoopers DFH 60min, Cream Ale, Indian Brown Ale, Apfelwein (9/3/11)

Xaphoeous

Recipes 

This is kind of what I'm thinking. While I haven't had a full batch infection (yet), I have had 3-4 bottles out of my 30-40 batches that had an infection, resulting in gushing and a weird gummy substance in the bottom. These 3-4 bottles also tasted horribly.

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mmmmmmmmmmmm, beeeeer

bierhaus15

Recipes 

Any white ring in the neck of the bottle is indicative of an infection of some sort. Could be lacto or a wild yeast. Also, the gushers could be due to the yeast reactivating in the bottle - the process of bottling adds oxygen and simple sugars that can get the yeast going again - causing a drop in gravity. You can take a hydrometer sample of the beer to see how far the gravity has dropped. If it is more than a couple points, chances the gushers are due to yeast activity and not the infection.

Xaphoeous

Recipes 

As for the bleach used to sanitize things, rinsing is one thing, but to really get all the bleach off of things you'll want to rinse with incredibly hot water, repeatedly.

If you get a bottle of something like StarSan, it comes out to about 12.5 cents per gallon of sanitizer and doesn't need to be rinsed off.

__________________
mmmmmmmmmmmm, beeeeer

BigTerp

Recipes 

I tested one of the bottles last night and it was at 1.008. Even if the Nottingham I pitched starting up again in the bottle I wouldn't think it would take the gravity that low.

Yeah, I rinsed the crap out of everything last night. Plan to rinse the hell out of everything again tonight before I bottle. StarSan is my usual sanitizer. I mix up a gallon at a time with distilled water and keep a spray bottle full of it. I used the bleach last night to try and nuke everything and get rid of whatever bug, if any, I had.

__________________
On Deck: Watermelon Wheat
Primary #1: Strawberry Blonde
Primary #2:
Primary #3:
Primary #4:
Bottled: Hobbs Filled Tire, Yoopers Haus Pale Ale, Strong Scotch Ale, Yoopers DFH 60min, Cream Ale, Indian Brown Ale, Apfelwein (9/3/11)

bierhaus15

Recipes 

It happens. Wild yeast and bacteria are generally slow attenuators, especially in bottles where the cell count is low. If you are seeing major drops in gravity shortly after bottling, I would put money on it being the primary yeast. And since your other batch has an infection, yet is stable in the bottle...

Good luck!

BigTerp

Recipes 

I'm not saying any of my other batches have infections, just noticed the white circle in the bottle neck, but they are stable in the bottle. Would 5 weeks in the bottle be considered shortly after bottling? I don't have the recipe in front of me, but you can imagine what the standard grain bill would be for a Nut Brown and I mashed at 154 IIRC, so I'm just surprised the primary yeast would drop my OG down as far as 1.008. Believe me, I'm really hoping I don't have a bug somewhere!!! I'd hate for it to show back up somewhere down the line. If I do though, I'm hoping my bleach bombing and tossing of my siphon hoses eradicates the bastard. If there never was a bug at least I'll know I'm starting with well cleaned, sanatized equipment and it'll probably get me more on point with cleaning/sanatizing.

Thanks for all the responses!!!

__________________
On Deck: Watermelon Wheat
Primary #1: Strawberry Blonde
Primary #2:
Primary #3:
Primary #4:
Bottled: Hobbs Filled Tire, Yoopers Haus Pale Ale, Strong Scotch Ale, Yoopers DFH 60min, Cream Ale, Indian Brown Ale, Apfelwein (9/3/11)