ColoradoHomebrew
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- Apr 18, 2011
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I now keg most of my beers, but still want to bottle condition strong Belgians and such so I don't occupy a tap for so long. I've noticed that all of my bottle conditions eventually go bad with infection. Even my 9% plus Wee Heavy is now starting to taste worse at 9 months. They all eventually get a gusher infection where some bacteria seems to eat the sugars the yeast could not at some point around 8-10 months and turn them into gushers. My kegs do not last that long, but my theory is that bottling is more risky to excessive bacteria colonies compared to kegging. I tasted a fantastic 2003 barley wine at my brew club meeting and would love to age that long.
In full disclosure, I did go through a rash of gusher infections (within 4 weeks of aging) in the spring and isolated the spigot as the problem on the bottling bucket. My spigot now goes through the sani cycle wash before every bottle and the problem has been eliminated, though yet to be determined if this will eliminate long term storage. I've also added quite a few extra steps to sanitation. Everything gets PBW, then bleach, then rinse, then star san and bottles and spigots get a dish washer heating too.
So is kegging better and should I invest in a beer gun to bottle age? or am I just not sanitary enough, or at least not so in the past before my spring infections.
In full disclosure, I did go through a rash of gusher infections (within 4 weeks of aging) in the spring and isolated the spigot as the problem on the bottling bucket. My spigot now goes through the sani cycle wash before every bottle and the problem has been eliminated, though yet to be determined if this will eliminate long term storage. I've also added quite a few extra steps to sanitation. Everything gets PBW, then bleach, then rinse, then star san and bottles and spigots get a dish washer heating too.
So is kegging better and should I invest in a beer gun to bottle age? or am I just not sanitary enough, or at least not so in the past before my spring infections.