I'm experiencing a lot of problems with gushering. I've checked through the threads and still have a couple of questions on this important topic:
The problem showed up at some level on everything I've brewed since August, which is about 6 batches. Typically, these batches taste fine and are okay for about the first week or two after bottling. They do better while chilled.
The most recent was a batch of stout that I bottled 2 days ago and is already gushering.
Here is a photo:
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
the batch on the right was bottled about 2 weeks ago, and has a thick yellow layer in the bottom. The other ones are older, and are looking pretty good. No gushering from those guys.
I run 5 gallons of starsan solution through my siphoning equipment before and after every usage. I run a similar amount through my counterflow wort chiller.
All of these batches go through a counterflow chiller. The batches are siphoned directly from the brew pot at knockoff, and this thing is efficient enough to cool it to sub-ambient by the time it gets to the carboy.
It has been awhile since I've replaced the tubing, which is on my to-do list.
Bottles:
I soak my bottles for at least 24 hours in bleach, then re-dip in bleach and star-san before putting them in the diswasher on "heated dry" to try to kill off any bottle-related infections.
I do mix up my star-san directly in my bottling bucket, brush the inside with a scrub brush before and after every usage. I transfer the star san to another bucket before using.
Yeast: I've been recovering my yeast. My main yeast is an IPA yeast, that is about 5 months old, I guess... I brewed some Weissbier a couple of weeks ago with a different yeast, and in that stuff, the problem is less severe but still there.
Brew Cycle: I do a 7-day primary and a 7 day or longer secondary, depending on the batch. I use a blowoff tube into sanitizer for the primary, and a regular airlock on the secondary. All carboys, which I clean thoroughly, add bleach, and allow to sit upside down in a bucket of bleach between cycles. I have 4 carboys that I rotate out.
Priming: 4 oz by weight brown sugar per 5 gallons (a little less for porter or stout), dissolved in water. I do bring the sugar water to a full boil before adding the sugar, allow it to cool before addition to the batch.
Fermenting: Constant at about 76F year-round
So the questions are:
1. is it bacteria or wild yeast?
2. How to put a stop to it?
3. What's the likelihood that it affected the nice batch of Pinot Noir that I have fermenting in the same room, which I put in there with the same bottling bucket and siphon tube?
So far my action plan is to take everything out of my brewery, let it sit in the sun for a few days, spray everything including the walls down with bleach, immerse every bottle I have in boiling water, and then pack the whole thing up and try it all again.
Oh, and replace the tubes, run boiling water through my bottling bucket, and boil the stopcock.
Hydrochloric acid is at my disposal if I decide to go that far.
So, Forum dwellers, I will await your opinions.
The problem showed up at some level on everything I've brewed since August, which is about 6 batches. Typically, these batches taste fine and are okay for about the first week or two after bottling. They do better while chilled.
The most recent was a batch of stout that I bottled 2 days ago and is already gushering.
Here is a photo:
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
the batch on the right was bottled about 2 weeks ago, and has a thick yellow layer in the bottom. The other ones are older, and are looking pretty good. No gushering from those guys.
I run 5 gallons of starsan solution through my siphoning equipment before and after every usage. I run a similar amount through my counterflow wort chiller.
All of these batches go through a counterflow chiller. The batches are siphoned directly from the brew pot at knockoff, and this thing is efficient enough to cool it to sub-ambient by the time it gets to the carboy.
It has been awhile since I've replaced the tubing, which is on my to-do list.
Bottles:
I soak my bottles for at least 24 hours in bleach, then re-dip in bleach and star-san before putting them in the diswasher on "heated dry" to try to kill off any bottle-related infections.
I do mix up my star-san directly in my bottling bucket, brush the inside with a scrub brush before and after every usage. I transfer the star san to another bucket before using.
Yeast: I've been recovering my yeast. My main yeast is an IPA yeast, that is about 5 months old, I guess... I brewed some Weissbier a couple of weeks ago with a different yeast, and in that stuff, the problem is less severe but still there.
Brew Cycle: I do a 7-day primary and a 7 day or longer secondary, depending on the batch. I use a blowoff tube into sanitizer for the primary, and a regular airlock on the secondary. All carboys, which I clean thoroughly, add bleach, and allow to sit upside down in a bucket of bleach between cycles. I have 4 carboys that I rotate out.
Priming: 4 oz by weight brown sugar per 5 gallons (a little less for porter or stout), dissolved in water. I do bring the sugar water to a full boil before adding the sugar, allow it to cool before addition to the batch.
Fermenting: Constant at about 76F year-round
So the questions are:
1. is it bacteria or wild yeast?
2. How to put a stop to it?
3. What's the likelihood that it affected the nice batch of Pinot Noir that I have fermenting in the same room, which I put in there with the same bottling bucket and siphon tube?
So far my action plan is to take everything out of my brewery, let it sit in the sun for a few days, spray everything including the walls down with bleach, immerse every bottle I have in boiling water, and then pack the whole thing up and try it all again.
Oh, and replace the tubes, run boiling water through my bottling bucket, and boil the stopcock.
Hydrochloric acid is at my disposal if I decide to go that far.
So, Forum dwellers, I will await your opinions.