Help me want to keep brewing

[ajf]

*I plan to give my bottles a full day's soak in cleanser. then once dry completely, I'm going to try the oven.

Soaking in a cleanser like oxi-clean is good if the bottles are dirty, but after soaking, they need to be rinsed very thoroughly, and then sanitized immediately before bottling. If you just leave the cleaned bottles to dry, they will be coated with the remnants of the cleanser, which could definitely cause a chemical taste - because the cleanser is a chemical.

I always rinse my bottles out really well immediately after pouring the beer, and find in unnecessary to soak in oxi-clean, unless I am using donated bottles.

-a.

 

[J187]

Is it safe to rule out the capper just because the beer has a head? Why don't try putting a capped bottle under water and seeing if any bubbles show up? Make sure not to invert the bottle.

 

[RCCOLA]

Do you have any rust stains in your sinks, tubs, or toilets?

Iron can be a batch destroyer.

 

[McKrakken]

Not seeing much detail about your bottling process..

What I do, is use Starsan for EVERYTHING.. I starsan my bottling bucket, the hoses, racking cane hose, absolutely anything and everything that can come in contact with the beer.

I like to take a 5 gal bucket and fill it about 3/4 full of starsan water and keep hoses and whatever fits in it, in there at all times.. we also keep the imersion chiller in the starsan until it's needed.

Do you boil your chiller? Some like to do that.

When it's time to bottle, I use 2 buckets.. one bucket I fill with enough starsan water to be able to submerge several bottles. In bucket 2, I put about 1/2" of starsan at the bottom. I fill several bottles of starsan water and then dump the starsan. I then put the bottle upside down in bucket 1, so there is no chance of anything getting in the bottles.

I then put all the bottle caps in a strainer and rinse them in the bucket of starsan.

I carefully rack the beer into the bottling bucket and pour in the priming sugar solution that has been boiled and cooled. Stir gently and fetch the hose from the starsan bucket.

take a bottle from the bucket, get as much foam out as possible and fill it.. grab a bottle cap being CAREFUL to not touch the inside and cap the bottle.

I'll then usually dunk it back in the starsan bucket to rinse the overflow off of the bottle.. then off to storage!

What's YOUR bottling process?

 

[Kingfish]

Most everyone suggests the secondary is the way to go.

I do not believe this to be the case. The only folks currently recommending "secondary" are folks that do it because that is the way they have always done it, folks that have only read 20 year old books, folks that make money selling equipment, etc. Even Palmer and Jamil have revised their stance on recommending "secondaries"...God I hate that word.

 

[bannerj]

I do not believe this to be the case. The only folks currently recommending "secondary" are folks that do it because that is the way they have always done it, folks that have only read 20 year old books, folks that make money selling equipment, etc. Even Palmer and Jamil have revised their stance on recommending "secondaries"...God I hate that word.

Yeah, I stand corrected. I've got a friend in town who told me that he's been only using one and its plastic.....and here I am glass/glass screwing these batches up.

 

[bannerj]

Thanks everyone for all your input. If I've learned anything from this, its that there really really could be several explanations to the failures. I understand what someone said above, that changing too many things at once might not ever reveal exactly what is failing.....but I can't afford the time to just adjust each possible culprit with each batch. I'm going for all my weakest practices and changing them all just to get some confidence back.

My bottling process is pretty standard. Clean with Easy Clean. Sanitize with Idophor. Rinse everything. Transfer from fermenter into clean/sanitized bottling bucket. Siphon and fill bottles with racking cane. I can't remember if I boiled the caps last time or not. I'm pretty sure I did. I'm using the caps that come with brewer's best on some bottles bought at the local shop and some recycled.

I don't think it's the caps anymore since, yeah, there is a head on the beer.

I'm suspicious that the very faint stains left on the carboy...that I can't get at with my brush...might be a problem.
Overall I might be too impatient in cleaning my gear overall.
I'm concerned about the fluctuations in temperature in my drafty house. This fall the basement's temp has fluctuated within 10 degrees in the two weeks I've gone from primary to secondary.
I'm going to get some new tubing and do my best with the bottles.

The thing is, I'm so excited about this batch that I know I want to keep trying anyway. What is intimidating is the cost of the BB extract kits. I wouldn't feel so bad messing up batches if it was cheaper. So now I'm trying to decide with my wife if I'll spend the money to put together a mash tun and go to the next stage. I understand I can get ingredient costs down substantially after those initial costs. Plus I have a really good friend who wants to get in on this. It'll be time well spent with him.

Thanks for your help!

 

[J187]

Thanks everyone for all your input. If I've learned anything from this, its that there really really could be several explanations to the failures. I understand what someone said above, that changing too many things at once might not ever reveal exactly what is failing.....but I can't afford the time to just adjust each possible culprit with each batch. I'm going for all my weakest practices and changing them all just to get some confidence back.

My bottling process is pretty standard. Clean with Easy Clean. Sanitize with Idophor. Rinse everything. Transfer from fermenter into clean/sanitized bottling bucket. Siphon and fill bottles with racking cane. I can't remember if I boiled the caps last time or not. I'm pretty sure I did. I'm using the caps that come with brewer's best on some bottles bought at the local shop and some recycled.

I don't think it's the caps anymore since, yeah, there is a head on the beer.

I'm suspicious that the very faint stains left on the carboy...that I can't get at with my brush...might be a problem.
Overall I might be too impatient in cleaning my gear overall.
I'm concerned about the fluctuations in temperature in my drafty house. This fall the basement's temp has fluctuated within 10 degrees in the two weeks I've gone from primary to secondary.
I'm going to get some new tubing and do my best with the bottles.

The thing is, I'm so excited about this batch that I know I want to keep trying anyway. What is intimidating is the cost of the BB extract kits. I wouldn't feel so bad messing up batches if it was cheaper. So now I'm trying to decide with my wife if I'll spend the money to put together a mash tun and go to the next stage. I understand I can get ingredient costs down substantially after those initial costs. Plus I have a really good friend who wants to get in on this. It'll be time well spent with him.

Thanks for your help!

For one, I'd get your issues under control before going all-grain. More issues to isolate and so many of the same procedures and so much of the same equipment, that you'll still be at high risk. First your issues with extract before making the jump.

You say you are suspicious of the stains on the carboy - but you said you changed fermenters AFTER you were failing... so I'd look more at something you have not changed - like the bottles!

 

[bannerj]

Just to report: I've done three brews since I posted my initial concerns. All of them have been partial mash and all of them have turned out well.

I think the issue overall is patience. I was probably messing up a couple things. I'm mostly suspicious that its cleaning and sanitation...mostly that I wasn't rising the cleaner off well enough.

Now I'm soaking bottles for a day or so. Using the brush if needed. Doing a high heat water cycle with the dishwasher (no soap). Then before bottling I'm using a nice sprayer to starsan the bottles. I hang them back in the washer till I fill them.

And then I realized that I can just set all the bottles on the washer door and fill them on there. So, now I don't have to worry about those overfills that drip all over the floor.

Thanks for all your help!