Almost certainly an infection

wow after a lot of work on my stout i think i ruined it with an infection.

popped a bottle of homebrewed IPA recently that had a distinct cidery taste. it didn't have the taste at bottling time and the taste never conditioned out.

originally i did not think infection because the off flavor wasn't present until after bottling (where infection is less likely).

i just popped a bottle of stout brewed on the same equipment. same deal: big cider taste that wasn't there at bottling time.

both these beers were delicious out of the primary.

i have recently been leaving some equipment outdoors for extended periods, due to space issues. i am guessing this has infected a scratch somewhere in te bottling bucket and now i should just ditch it.

Time to bleach bomb your equipment. Large concentration of bleach in water and let it sit for atleast 24hours.
Still sanitize normally after that. I have had good success with this method.

yes i think i will do that. what do you think of leaving the dried bottling bucket outdoors? asking for an infection?

A cidery flavor doesn't suggest infection to me - what was your recipe and process?

flyangler18 said:

A cidery flavor doesn't suggest infection to me - what was your recipe and process?

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Hi flyangler,

I realize that cidery is a difficult flavor to be certain about. To me it's cidery/fruity. I am most concerned that I get the exact same (off?)flavor between this and my last IPA.

I used a pretty simple strong stout recipe. My computer crashed and I lost my beersmith recipe but it was simple enough to recall:

8# 2row
1# roasted barley
.5# carapils

highly hopped with warrior only, with 60/20/1 minute additions, IBUs would be 50-60

california ale yeast, big starter, kept it pretty cool (low 60s) with the exception of the first night when ambient temps were 75

the cider taste in both beers did not emerge until some time priming. both tasted awesome out of the bottling bucket and did not have that new fruity kick. the stout was flat but tasty after a week in the bottle. now it's nearly 3 weeks in bottle.

gyllstromk said:

yes i think i will do that. what do you think of leaving the dried bottling bucket outdoors? asking for an infection?

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How many times have you used your bottling bucket? I don't bottle condition any more, but I replaced my bottling bucket quite frequently when I did. Your beer is at it's most vulnerable after fermentation, and before bottling or kegging.

I had the same problem with several batches in a row. They tasted great in the fermenter, going into the bottling bucket and coming out of the bottling bucket. After a week in the bottle they would begin to develop a cider/lemonade flavor that kept getting worse, and the carbonation was excessive. Nothing eliminated that problem until I got a new bottling bucket. Other batches that were brewed during the same period but bottled with the new bucket came out great.

I decided to keep my new bucket half full of StarSan with a lid on it, and shake it up regularly. This worked great until I started kegging a few months later.

Kegs were a much better solution to the problem than a new bottling bucket!

10.5% roasted barley in a IPA?

I don't think I have had a IPA with that kind of number, I don't think I have had a IPA with roasted barley period. Even with that, I am not sure how this taste would come up though.

humann_brewing said:

10.5% roasted barley in a IPA?

I don't think I have had a IPA with that kind of number, I don't think I have had a IPA with roasted barley period. Even with that, I am not sure how this taste would come up though.

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ha, the IPA didn't have the roasted barley, the stout did. but, the similarity in their flavor is disturbing. the cider blast takes over.

Trencher said:

I had the same problem with several batches in a row. They tasted great in the fermenter, going into the bottling bucket and coming out of the bottling bucket. After a week in the bottle they would begin to develop a cider/lemonade flavor that kept getting worse, and the carbonation was excessive. Nothing eliminated that problem until I got a new bottling bucket. Other batches that were brewed during the same period but bottled with the new bucket came out great.

I decided to keep my new bucket half full of StarSan with a lid on it, and shake it up regularly. This worked great until I started kegging a few months later.

Kegs were a much better solution to the problem than a new bottling bucket!

Click to expand...

Would love a keg, and will do that eventually

Sounds like you have a similar problem, except my beers are not over carbonated (if anything this one is a bit tame on carbonation).