Beer Stone???

[Hockeyhunter99]

i have been brewing for a few years now but i have been finding a few problems lately. i have this residue on the inside of my bottles that won't wash away.

I have heard of "beer stone" (though i don't know what that is) and that it is hard to get rid of. what is this beer stone?

what could this stuff be? i only find it on the inside of bottles that come from homemade recipes. i don't find this on homebrew that comes from kits. this has happened through many kits and many homemade recipes.

it does come off when i use a bottle brush but won't come off with just rinsing.


Any Thoughts???

 

[thezepster]

Beer stone is a kind of mysterious calcium buildup. Im not sure exactly how it comes out of the beer, but i know that theres no way to stop it. Its very likely thats what youre finding on your bottles and equipment. The way I clean it off the equipment at the brewpub is to use a hot caustic rinse (caustic is a strong alkaline solution, like pbw i think) and a lot of elbow grease. I find deposits of it everywhere the wort/beer goes. Its a b**ch to say the least. It wont effect the taste of the beer, just in case youre worried.

 

[BigEd]

It's calcium oxalate and the best way to loosen it is with an acidic solution. Vinegar, CLR or StarSan will all work, then follow with a good brewery cleaner.

 

[smokinghole]

I keep a big jug of white vinegar around just for this purpose. It's cheap!

 

[Hockeyhunter99]

Then what i am getting is not beer stone. but it is something. it comes off with a bottle brushing. it is only on the inside of my bottles that have been filled with my own recipes and not inside bottles that have been filled with kits. it is weird.

 

[GoldMiner]

Could it be dry yeast cake?

Do you rinse your bottles immediately after opening or do you let them sit for a while first?

 

[smokinghole]

Some of my bottles get a little clouded from time to time. I drop the in my bucket of oxyclean if I have one around and it usually helps. I have done buckets of CLR in the past and that took care of it as well. If it's a brown long neck I just toss it but I will put the effort forth to clean a grolsch bottle.

 

[rico567]

It's calcium oxalate and the best way to loosen it is with an acidic solution. Vinegar, CLR or StarSan will all work, then follow with a good brewery cleaner.

When the inside of my SS boil pot starts to turn a hazy gray, which means the beer stone is forming, I just use a household product called Iron Out (very similar to CLR, and very much cheaper), and it takes it right off with a sponge. I have never had beer stone forming in bottles, and I've filled some a half-dozen or more times. I'm having a hard time understanding how beer stone could form inside a bottle in any case......

 

[Hockeyhunter99]

this stuff usually looks like a cloudy film on the sides of the bottles.