I think it's a dumper

jimmywit · 10-18-2010, 03:53 AM

So on my 5th all grain I did an IPA and all went well. Up until I had to bottle. The valve on my bottling bucket started to leak and a stuck my arm in to fix it. Now 22 days later it is a sour mess. My question is, if I already made alcohol why did it still infect my beer?

**Nugent** · 10-18-2010, 03:59 AM

Certain bacteria and wild yeast can survive the low alcohol:water ratio of beer. They can't hurt you, but they can make your beer go south.

Acetobacter is an example - it turns your beer sour.

Been there; it sucks.

blizzard · 10-18-2010, 04:01 AM

Well, alcohol is certainly a deterrent, but some things can still survive in relatively low levels of alcohol, like the yeast you primed your beer with. Alcohol helps a lot, but sanitation is still key. How to sanitize your arm... well starsan and hope for the best, I guess. For what it's worth, others have had a similar situation where the beer turned out fine, so you had a spot of bad luck.

dotnetdotcom · 10-18-2010, 04:11 AM

Did you wash your hand and arm with sanitizer?

jimmywit · 10-18-2010, 04:22 AM

I had a spray bottle of star san that I sprayed on my arm. I have just never had a problem since I turned all grain. This is all I can think off that caused the problem. It sucks hard core, I was pumped for this IPA. I don't think it is anything else, as soon as I pop a top it just smells sour and taste even more sour.

BrookdaleBrew · 10-18-2010, 11:47 AM

How many bottles have you opened? Are you sure they're all like that?

jimmywit · 10-18-2010, 01:34 PM

I have opened 3 all with the same result

BrookdaleBrew · 10-18-2010, 02:17 PM

Since you've only tried 3 and it's only 22 days in, I'd let them sit for another 3 weeks and try again. Won't hurt anything.

jimmywit · 10-18-2010, 02:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BrookdaleBrew

Since you've only tried 3 and it's only 22 days in, I'd let them sit for another 3 weeks and try again. Won't hurt anything.

Sounds like a good idea to me.

jfr1111 · 10-18-2010, 02:42 PM

Waiting sounds like a good idea until you realize that whatever soured your beer is now eating the stuff that your brewing yeast left behind and is probably pooping out CO2, increasing the carbonation in the bottles.

Now, bugs work very slowly usually and if your final gravity was in the 1.012-1.015 range, they don't have that much stuff to eat (altough Brett can get you in the 1.000 range), but I would still take necessary precautions in the case of bottle bombs: put the bottles in a wooden crate or a strong plastic bin, refrigerate only a few at a time in some kind of "bomb-proof" container and once it is out of the container, you open it fast. I have a friend who got bottle bombs while he was away and it was a sticky, funky mess to clean up.