First Bottle Infection

[Munchkin]

Well ive been free and clear of any infection up until this point. Im going to take it as a learning experience and try to troubleshoot the problem and correct what ive done wrong.

The beer was a Russian Imperial Stout (DME with Steeping Grain)
OG 1.082 FG 1.022
Yeast was WLP013 London Ale with starter

Fermented in Primary for 7 weeks. I then steamed 1oz of oak chips for 10 mins and racked the beer into secondary on top of the chips and let it sit for 1 week. I lost some beer using a blow off during the first few days of fermentation so I used only 3/4 cup of corn sugar (usually I use a full cup) to bulk prime the batch and bottled (boiled before adding). The bottles sat for 5 weeks at room temp (70-72F). When I checked the first bottle I saw a visible "mold raft" on the surface, as well as clumps of a similar substance at the bottom of the bottle. I set that one down and grabbed another bottle, the second one appeared to be ok. I threw that one in the fridge and gave it a pour after it cooled down. No carbonation whatsoever.... crap. I then opened up the infected bottle and it was heavily over carbonated.

After examining all the bottles, 6 out of the 25 650ml bottles appeared to be infected. I can only assuming that these 6 bottles (or bottle caps) were contaminated leaving the rest of the batch clear of infection. Bottles and caps were clean and sanitized with iodine all in the same fashion. I guess i have a couple questions..

1. Do these contaminated bottles pose an explosion risk from being over carbonated.

2. The fact that only 6 bottles are contaminated shows the beer was free of contamination before reaching the bottles. Am I looking at this correctly?

3. Is there a need to replace siphon and bottling lines or just clean and re sanitize?

4. Can anyone shed some light on why the uncontaminated bottle has no carbonation? Its been over 5 weeks, should I give it more time, rotate bottles, or look at adding more yeast? I realize it takes high gravity beers time but i expected something after 5 weeks. Ive never had a carbonation issue in the past with any of my other big belgian beers.

 

[Munchkin]

after inspecting some of my other bottles, ive found even more infected bottles in separate batches of beer. Once again, only some of the bottles of that batch are infected leaving me to believe Im having an issue with bottle cleaning and or sanitation. Ive been using oxyclean to shake wash bottles (which appear to be free of any debris) rinsing, then sanitizing with iodophor using a vinator and hanging on the bottle tree. I then stand all the bottles upright on the floor, fill all the bottles, then cap using sanitized caps. For my next batch I will keep bottles on the tree and fill and cap one at a time. I also switched to star san. Does anyone else have any other advice im missing here?

 

[guinness10]

Not standing all the bottles upright should help. Also, I'll only mention it because you didn't, but make sure the bottle tree is sanitized as well.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[wardens355]

For bottles you plan to reuse, rinse with hot water and shake empty directly after you finish drinking it. This will help prevent any growth to begin with. Any bottle that wasn't rinsed after being consumed will need to be inspected for mold.

1. It's possible that the bottles explode, if you plan to keep them I would put them in a Tupperware container just in case. Oh, and one suggestion: if you are dumping bottles you think are contaminated/over-carbonated, point the bottle away from your face. I had a batch that was bad once and almost put my eye out cause one cap shot off like a bullet.
2. Could be that you had some bottles with some intense growth that wasn't washed off when you cleaned the bottles. Did you taste the beer you didn't think were infected? Any odd flavors?
3. If you cleaned them well after you siphoned, probably OK. Just make sure you give them an extra good cleaning before next time (disassemble everything).
4. How did you mix the sugar? Did you rack on top of the sugar, or pour the sugar on top of the beer and not mix well? I would let the bottles sit for a while longer before adding any yeast.

 

[william_shakes_beer]

Not sure what your full bottle processing regemine is. I have only had 1 or 2 bottles infected in my last 35 batches, which I attributed to a bottle that was returned from a loan to an individual that does not brew. If you have bacteria on the bottom of a bottle it will transxfer to the foot valve and innoculate the remaining bottles in the batch. Now when I get a sixer of retuned bottles I inspect each one and if there is any debris in the bottom It gets a soak in starsan until its clear, then goes into the usual regimen.

 

[Munchkin]

Not standing all the bottles upright should help. Also, I'll only mention it because you didn't, but make sure the bottle tree is sanitized as well.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

Bottle tree was not sanitized but clean. I figured the iodophor solution running out of the bottles onto the tree while i stacked them would be enough.

For bottles you plan to reuse, rinse with hot water and shake empty directly after you finish drinking it. This will help prevent any growth to begin with. Any bottle that wasn't rinsed after being consumed will need to be inspected for mold.

1. It's possible that the bottles explode, if you plan to keep them I would put them in a Tupperware container just in case. Oh, and one suggestion: if you are dumping bottles you think are contaminated/over-carbonated, point the bottle away from your face. I had a batch that was bad once and almost put my eye out cause one cap shot off like a bullet.
2. Could be that you had some bottles with some intense growth that wasn't washed off when you cleaned the bottles. Did you taste the beer you didn't think were infected? Any odd flavors?
3. If you cleaned them well after you siphoned, probably OK. Just make sure you give them an extra good cleaning before next time (disassemble everything).
4. How did you mix the sugar? Did you rack on top of the sugar, or pour the sugar on top of the beer and not mix well? I would let the bottles sit for a while longer before adding any yeast.

The beer didnt taste bad, no weird flavours detected. The bottles defiantly did not have visible mold of any kind before they were sanitized. I racked the beer on top of the sugar mix as well as a stir afterwards.

Not sure what your full bottle processing regemine is. I have only had 1 or 2 bottles infected in my last 35 batches, which I attributed to a bottle that was returned from a loan to an individual that does not brew. If you have bacteria on the bottom of a bottle it will transxfer to the foot valve and innoculate the remaining bottles in the batch. Now when I get a sixer of retuned bottles I inspect each one and if there is any debris in the bottom It gets a soak in starsan until its clear, then goes into the usual regimen.

That sounds like a very possible theory.

Im wondering if my sanitation step wasnt long enough, I only blast the bottles about 5 times on the vinator then set on the bottle tree. The bottoms probably dont have the 2 minute contact time i believe is required? Since then ive switched to starsan and might completely immerse the bottles in starsan instead of using the vinator from now on.

 

[Munchkin]

Sorry for the late reply. I plan on drinking one of the non contaminated bottles tonight. These bottles have now been sitting at room temperature (68F) for over 11 weeks. If i still dont have carbonation how do I go about adding new yeast and what kind of yeast to these bottles?

 

[Munchkin]

As expected I still dont have any carbonation whatsoever. I originally mixed 3/4cup of corn sugar to the 23L batch. What yeast and in what amount would you guys use to try and re carbonate this stuff?