Its all gone wrong!

[TREMBLE]

Well I think the title may just about say it all.

Bottle conditioning a pale ale, been in the bottle about 3 weeks. Lifted one out to put in the fridge to try it and its got mold in the bottle! Lots of tiny spots floating throughout the bottle, had a good check throughout the batch and it appears the whole damn lot is contaminated! My christmas beer is gone!

After drying my tears and finally finished swearing I thought I had better check my brew that should be ready for new year, this is a pilsner and is my first brew boiling ingredients, all my other beers have been pre-hopped extract kits, it has been in the bottle for 2 weeks and I was expecting it to be cleared and maybe ready for a early taste - wrong! All the bottles are very cloudy, as in just like when I bottled them, not really cleared at all, there is also some floating stuff that looks worryingly like it may be mould as well! Queue more tears and swearing!

Well, guess I have a few question, if both whole batches have mould it cant be my bottle sterilisation that messed up can it? I am pretty strict with it and never had a problem in the past. I would have expected maybe a few bottles with mould but not everyone if I failed to sterilise correctly.

I used dry malt extract to prime the pilsner(boiled in 2 cups water) does it take longer for this to clear than the normal brewing sugar I have used in the past?

I use a bucket as my primary, its got a lid but not airlocked, secondary is airlocked, then reuse bucket to prime/bottle from. If good active fermentation takes place(as it did) does that not mean I should have been fairly safe from contamination?

Thanks for any advice, feeling pretty depressed right now!

 

[Fiery Sword]

I use a bucket as my primary, its got a lid but not airlocked....

That's where I'd start the investigation. Everything airlocked. All the time!!!!

 

[FrewBrew]

I use a bucket as my primary, its got a lid but not airlocked,
Thanks for any advice, feeling pretty depressed right now!

This could be part of your problem. You're allowing outside contaminants into the system. Not saying that's your entire problem, but could be part of it.

You said you're doing a thorough job of sanitizing. What are you using to sanitize with?

Also, before you sanitize, you need to clean... separate processes. What are you cleaning with? I've seen a few of my beers with some mold, and knew right away what it was from... not cleaning well enough.

If you had a high enough alcohol content, the mold may not be a problem, although I could be wrong. I would think the alcohol would kill anything BAD

 

[dibby33]

Looks like Santa needs to bring you an airlock

 

[dibby33]

Is this the brew that you thought smelled of bananas when you racked from prim to secondary? - saw this in a thread regarding coffee!

 

[Rhoobarb]

... I used dry malt extract to prime the pilsner... does it take longer for this to clear than the normal brewing sugar I have used in the past?...

Sorry to hear of your sad news! As others have suggested, I'd start with your plastic bucket. And make sure to clean, then sanitize your bottles. I strongly suspect the plastic bucket, though.

To answer your question above, yes, DME takes longer to prime and thus, clear. I only use DME to prime with and I have found it usually takes 1-2 weeks longer than priming sugar.

 

[TREMBLE]

Thanks for the responses, no this is not the my stout that now smells faintly of bannanas! I meant to mention this in the main post but forgot!

I asked this question in another thread but got no answer, why would my stout smell of bannanas? I vaguely remember reading about fruity smells if fermentation temps are too high, is this correct? If so will this smell go away or am I stuck with it? It tastes pretty good and the smell is pretty weak so I am sure I can live with it. I added some coffee to it as well so hopefully that will help mask it! As long as the damn stuff does not go freaky on me I will be happy at this point!

The steriliser I use is VWP. It is the only cleaner/steriliser that I have found for sale in any homebrew shop/site here in the UK. Everyone stocks it so I presume it is pretty reliable.

I do clean as well as sterilise, its just bugging me that the whole batch/s seem to be contaminated, if I failed to clean a bottle or 2 enough then I would get a few dodgy bottles but the whole batch? Maybe 2 whole batches? If the second batch is contaminated as well, is it likely that some sort of mould spores will hang around in the air? I keep all my brew stuff in a walk in cupboard, should I try to air it or something to stop further possible contamination?

 

[FrewBrew]

Based on all of the previous posts... the only Air I'd worry about is the air getting into your primary, from the lack of an airLOCK

 

[Orfy]

In theory: The primary should generate enough C02 to purge anything trying to get in. But if you stick with the current set up you'll never really know what is causing the problem. Like you say if it's every bottle then it's unlikely to be the bottle sanitisation.

If your going to stick with brewing then I'd invest £30 into a glass carboy, cap and airlock.

Or if you don't want the "best" but something cheaper then nip to Wilkinsons and get a plastic fermenter for a tenner.

 

[treehouse]

why would my stout smell of bannanas? I vaguely remember reading about fruity smells if fermentation temps are too high, is this correct?

The answer to your question is yes. Higher temperatures will give your beers more "fruity" flavors like bananas, etc. if you are brewing ales. Also, it depends on the type of yeast you use. The banana smell is an ester and some yeasts give it off more than others. Don't like banana beer? Ferment cooler and use a less fruity ale yeast. You might want to try the Wyeast #1056 (Chico or Cali yeast). Not sure if you guys can get that in Britain.

 

[Evan!]

Has nobody actually discussed how it tastes?

 

[TREMBLE]

I tasted this brew just over a week ago and it is hard to describe what it tasted like. It tasted really really good, then had a horrible sour/nasty after taste. Next sip was horrible with a nice after taste!

It was bad enough that I poured it down the sink but the good part of the flavour was better than anything I have brewed before, I assumed at the time that it was gonna be a great beer but I was tasting it to early. Clearly the mould had started to effect it but was not visable at that time.

Most of the bottles have so much mould in them now that there is no way I would want to try it again.

 

[FrewBrew]

sour/bitter taste usually means it's bad. A good guess as to where the MOLD may have gotten in would be your primary not having an airlock... just a thought. If you have MOULD in your brew, I'd say maybe you got it from the trim around your house... did you pull it off, cut it up and inject it into the bottles?

sorry, I'm a grammar whore, I have to pick on the consistent typo's