So my wife called me at work today to tell me that a (warm) 22 oz bottle of Beach Party Blonde Ale had exploded on the kitchen counter. I had had problems with this batch to begin with. First it took forever to carbonate, a full 3 weeks. Then it revealed a very clove-like off taste that, to my thinking, rendered it marginally undrinkable. Last night I opened a couple of them to compare. One was reasonably carbonated, the other came out almost all foam. Today the tragedy occurred. So I opened a few other 22 oz bottles, and there was no over carbonation problem, but still that weird taste.
So there seem to be a lot of factors at work here that I can't quite parse out. The batch spent 2 weeks in primary, and a week and a half in secondary, with the FG at 1.012, from an OG of 1.045. I did a 32 oz yeast starter, WLP001. My fermentation temp was in the high 60's consistently, I used Arrowhead spring water, and 4.5 oz corn sugar for bottle priming. After I boiled the sugar I did cool it down. Could higher viscosity have stopped it from mixing thoroughly when I gently siphoned into the bottling bucket? And what about that clove taste? I know people like it in hefs but this was clearly an off taste in this context.
This was batch #5. Batch #3 was a California steam beer, with a lower fermentation temp, which also came out with that nasty clove taste. I had to throw it out.
The good news is that my 4th batch was an IPA that beats any commercial beer I've ever drunk, so there's hope. But still, I'd like to know what could have caused the other disasters.
Thanks from a grateful noob, this forum is the bomb.
-R
So there seem to be a lot of factors at work here that I can't quite parse out. The batch spent 2 weeks in primary, and a week and a half in secondary, with the FG at 1.012, from an OG of 1.045. I did a 32 oz yeast starter, WLP001. My fermentation temp was in the high 60's consistently, I used Arrowhead spring water, and 4.5 oz corn sugar for bottle priming. After I boiled the sugar I did cool it down. Could higher viscosity have stopped it from mixing thoroughly when I gently siphoned into the bottling bucket? And what about that clove taste? I know people like it in hefs but this was clearly an off taste in this context.
This was batch #5. Batch #3 was a California steam beer, with a lower fermentation temp, which also came out with that nasty clove taste. I had to throw it out.
The good news is that my 4th batch was an IPA that beats any commercial beer I've ever drunk, so there's hope. But still, I'd like to know what could have caused the other disasters.
Thanks from a grateful noob, this forum is the bomb.
-R