Bottling Aftermath - Inconsistencies! Help!

My friends and I just tasted our first batch ever last night - an english pale ale. It was delicious. Very caramelly and tasty, we were very excited. We went for our second taste tonight and cracked open a couple, but the beer was not good. It had terrible after tastes and was not as sweet, it really didn't taste the same at all. We bottled 2 weeks and three days ago. I am concerned that some taste good and some don't. One difference I can think of is that last night (the good beer) all the bottles were sierra nevada bottles, and tonight we had various other long necks (bass, magic hat, saranac etc...). Does the conditioning time differ in different bottle shapes? Do you guys think that the bad ones just need more time? Are some "green" while others are not? We are kinda confused and the high from last night was crushed tonight. Please let me know of any input! Thanks!

How did you sanitize your bottles. Which chemical(s), how many brush stroke(s), how many rinse(s) . How were the bottles stored after they were sanitized? How long were they stored?

The whole thing, what was the entire bottle sanitizing process.

I rinsed most bottles after we drank them initially about three times. Some bottles were donated by others and were not rinsed at first. A few days before bottling, I rinsed all bottles about three times and brushed the bottles with a bottle brush, and then the bottles were put directly into a warm bleach solution to soak. They soaked for about 6-7 hours and then were all rinsed 2-3 times and placed upside down in boxes. Then about 5 days later we bottled. Right before bottling all the bottles were soaking in one-step sanitizer . Bottles were taken from one-step and directly bottled. I hope this helps!

Most bottling inconsistencies can be traced back to pour mixing in the bottling bucket at bottling time.

How did you introduce/mix in your priming sugar.

BierMuncher said:

Most bottling inconsistencies can be traced back to pour mixing in the bottling bucket at bottling time.

How did you introduce/mix in your priming sugar.

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Is that "pour" or "poor"? We simmered the priming sugars in a few cups of water and then put that at the bottom of the bottling bucket. We then siphoned the brew into the bucket with the hose at the bottom for thorough mixing. Do you think some bottles are more oxygenated? Could that create any differences?

Just from other the internet without actually inspecting your stuff in person, my bet is there was some crud stuck to the bottom of (at least) one of your bottles. The crud in the middle of the crud ball survived the bleach and sanitizer. The crud stuck to the tip of the bottling wand and got shared among a few bottles.

No way did your beer just "go bad" on day 17 after being great at the end of day 16.

@Poindexter

Yes I agree that that is weird, and it won't go bad in a day or anything. But I also don't know how plausible that crud was on the wand was. The bad bottles don't really smell/taste revolting (although I don't know what an infected bottle is like), we drank the ones we opened without much disgust. It really tastes quite green, by which i mean it tastes like it did when we racked it from the fermenter into the bottles. Maybe just more time? (I hope!? ) Thanks!

so you didn't boil the water you mixed the priming sugar with? if not, that's one potential source of contamination.

I however would lean towards some bottles having residual crud inside.
If One-step isn't diluted correctly, it can leave a residue that'll cause off flavors. Or if granuales of one-step didn't dissolve and got into the bottle.

possible the bleach didn't get rinsed off every bottle either...sounds unlikely, but if its a medicinal, sort of 'band aid' flavor, that's typically chlorine from bleach.

do remember that green bottles and clear bottles don't block enough light to prevent skunking. didn't see any brand names listed that weren't brown though. just something to keep in mind as you collect random bottles. keep the green/clear ones in boxes once filled and they'll be ok.

That drastic of a difference from bottle to bottle could not be caused by slower conditioning. The only possibility is an inconsistency in bottle contents resulting from crud, oxygen, or cleaner.

Don't be discouraged, just be a little more thorough next time in every step. Nothing left in bottles, no bubbles at bottling time.

I'm voting on crud in the bottles. You said some were doneted. Were the odd bottles donated by a friend or were they yours. I have found that when friends give you bottles they usually don't rinse them. Also you should have used the one step first with a good hour or two soak to remove the crud, then bleach or starsan before botteling. I look inside each bottle to see if crud is hiding. I have been kegging for some time now. Much easier.

I've noticed that the amount of time bottles spend in the refrigerator before drinking can dramatically affect how they taste.

I don't drink any homebrew that hasn't been in the fridge for at least 24 hours.

I'm going to be contrarian here and say it may not be your bottles. Everything you say you did as far a bottle sanitation, you did correctly.

Someone mentioned boiling your priming sugar and I think that can't be overlooked. It needs to be boiled for 10-15 minutes. It kills bacteria and drives off oxygen. Just 'simmering' your sugar didn't really drive off any oxygen or kill bacteria thus, you potentially added it to your beer.

I appreciate everything that everyone is saying. In regards to the "bubbles at bottling time" there were times (especially at the bottom of the fermentation bucket) that we lost control of the syphon and got lots of bubbles in some bottles. What kind of adverse effects does oxygen have at bottling time? Does this impede the beer clarifying time or just downright ruin it? Can this be settled out with time? This may explain the bottling inconsistencies.

Poindexter said:

Just from other the internet without actually inspecting your stuff in person, my bet is there was some crud stuck to the bottom of (at least) one of your bottles. The crud in the middle of the crud ball survived the bleach and sanitizer. The crud stuck to the tip of the bottling wand and got shared among a few bottles.

No way did your beer just "go bad" on day 17 after being great at the end of day 16.

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On second thought, and after reading your thread, I think you have have a point about the crud. We really didn't use a cleaner for the bottles, just sanitizers. I brushed the bottles a bit with hot water but without cleaner. We then used bleach and one-step. I think next time I will use oxyclean to help break up any crud left in the bottles when I brush them all.

There is some really good advice in this thread though, all of it worth considering.

FWIW when a 'friend' who doesn't homebrew donates me a bottle I treat it the same as a bottle I find in a neighbor's recycle bin. Those friends mean well, but they don't really understand.