Sudz
Well-Known Member
I've been brewing for about 6 months. The first several batches went without a hitch. The last batch has exhibited a strong whang which my LHBS stated was a wild yeast infection. Several weeks have gone by and I held off throwing out the brew. Tasted some the other day and it was excellent. No sign of anything unusual. Then I opened a second bottle, it was sort of like my first encounter a couple of weeks earlier. Then tried a third bottle, which was totally unacceptable... nasty stuff. Trying several more revealed favors all over the map, mostly unpleasant.
All of these beers looked great, had similar head, but tasted radically different. I'm assuming something went amiss during bottling which exposed individual bottles to something since there's such a variance between bottles? I'm a freak with sanitation but must admit I don't do a great deal with bottle cleaning. I aggressively shake and rinse 3-4 times each bottle immediately after pouring the brew. I place them on my bottle tree until I need to bottle a new batch.
When bottling, I've then been submerging each bottle for a minute or so in Iodophor (2 tbs/5 gal), draining, and placing on a sanitized bottle tree until filling and capping. Caps are soaked in the Iodophor 15-20 minutes prior to use. Handling discipline keeps fingers off of bottle tops and inside cap surfaces. The bottling wand is sanitized prior to use as is the bottling bucket and any associated equipment.
Any ideas how I'm getting this variability between the bottles? I'm at a loss as to how to proceed and prevent this in the future.
Thanks, Alan
All of these beers looked great, had similar head, but tasted radically different. I'm assuming something went amiss during bottling which exposed individual bottles to something since there's such a variance between bottles? I'm a freak with sanitation but must admit I don't do a great deal with bottle cleaning. I aggressively shake and rinse 3-4 times each bottle immediately after pouring the brew. I place them on my bottle tree until I need to bottle a new batch.
When bottling, I've then been submerging each bottle for a minute or so in Iodophor (2 tbs/5 gal), draining, and placing on a sanitized bottle tree until filling and capping. Caps are soaked in the Iodophor 15-20 minutes prior to use. Handling discipline keeps fingers off of bottle tops and inside cap surfaces. The bottling wand is sanitized prior to use as is the bottling bucket and any associated equipment.
Any ideas how I'm getting this variability between the bottles? I'm at a loss as to how to proceed and prevent this in the future.
Thanks, Alan