Beer is sour after fermenting

[C-Rider]

About every 3rd or 4th brew I'm getting stuff that is sour after bottle conditioning. Tasted ok out of the fermenter. What am I doing wrong?

I soak bottles in StarSan, dip the caps, all equipment for bottling has StarSan either inside of it or wiped down w/it.

Bottles are cleaned after use in Oxyclean for a few days then rinsed and put aside till needed.

 

[COLObrewer]

Hows your bottling bucket? Do you take the valve apart and sanitize it? How about your wand? Where do you bottle?

 

[C-Rider]

Hows your bottling bucket? Do you take the valve apart and sanitize it? How about your wand? Where do you bottle?

I've begun taking it apart and cleaning. The last sour was bottled 26 Nov and I think I was doing that then. There was a point when I was not. I clean the wand, take the tip off and clean it. Fill the wand w/starsan and let it sit for at least 10 min before using. Run starsan thru the valve from the bucket.

Bottle in kitchen above the dishwasher w/bottles on the lower rack.

I've got one good since the last sour and 2 more brews in bottles after the good one. Hope they are ok.

 

[badmajon]

Strange but its it over poweringly bad?

 

[C-Rider]

Strange but its it over poweringly bad?

Yea really SOUR! I take one sip and pour the rest of the bottle down the drain. Wonder if I left them a few months what would happen?

 

[chancebrewing]

I would not use the same equipment for sours as any other beer. I like to brew sours and other Brett beers but I do not use any equipment for 'normal' beers that have ever been used with Brett.

Maybe someone more knowledgable could explain why Brett is so resilient, but I have read many different times that you need to have duplicates of any supplies that come in contact with Brett.

 

[dcp27]

so it tastes fine going into the bottle? do you notice any rings around the neck of the bottles?

 

[C-Rider]

so it tastes fine going into the bottle? do you notice any rings around the neck of the bottles?

ya know I didn't taste them all going in. Will start w/next one. Did open a test on the last after a week and it's good. So that makes 3 good brews in a row. Maybe I have it beat.

 

[Lyikos]

Did you boil your priming sugar? I'm blaming some recent gusher bugs on that. Lesson for future learned.

 

[C-Rider]

Did you boil your priming sugar? I'm blaming some recent gusher bugs on that. Lesson for future learned.

No, I've been rinsing a measuring cup in StarSan, putting in about 1 cup tap water and putting it in the microwave for about 1:30. Then mix in the table sugar and let it sit in the microwave till bottling time. First thing I do on bottling day.

 

[gratus fermentatio]

Do you heat sanitize your bottles in the dishwasher?

 

[C-Rider]

Do you heat sanitize your bottles in the dishwasher?

No. I spray the inside of the dishwasher w/starsan and soak the bottles in star san in a bucket. Then I put in the dishwasher to let them drain and are handy to fill.

My dw won't do a heat alone cycle.

 

[marmonduke]

I've been experiencing this also on 40% of my batches. I've changed out buckets to glass carboys, replaced siphon (stainless), all plastic tubing gets replaced every 3 batchs, soak kegs/bottles/fermenter in bleach after oxycleaning, then on day of use starsan. so I know the frustration all too well and I've never had gushers, or any visible signs of infection just sour beer. short of brewing in air controlled lab I don't know what else I can clean..I'll keep an eye on your thread and see what input you get.

 

[solbes]

Racking canes can be tough to sanitize once infected. Same for bottling spigot. I would do either replace those things, designate them to sour duty, or do some serious shock and awe sanitizing (couple of different regimens, bleach, starsan, 180+ water, etc).

Also maybe you should boil your sugar. Just boil a cup or two on the stove, add your sugar, and boil for a minute or so. No chance of anything getting through that way.

 

[C-Rider]

Lotta good ideas. Next bottling day is either Thursday or Sat. Will try a few things. Tasting before going in the bottle for sure this time. Mahalo for all the ideas. But w/the last 3 being OK, I'm hopping I have it right now. Gotta mark my buckets w/numbers so I can keep track of what was brewed in each.

 

[solbes]

What's the weather like in Hawaii? Never mind I don't even want to know, I'm sure its perfect. Wife getting drunk with Mai-Tai's on the beach (Beer for me). Gotta get back there soon. Cheers!