I brewed an IPA (attempted recipe here) a month ago and a few of the bottles appear to be infected. My efficiency wasn’t great so my OG was 1.069 and it finished at 1.019 but I don’t believe that’s much of a factor here. The first photo is of a sample on bottling day (bright pale colour) and the second is a bottle from last night (much darker). I think the bottles may be infected they had an unfavourable slightly sour character, maybe even a little Brett (I’m not a huge fan of Brett personally). Should also note, aroma was excellent due to a healthy dry-hop and carbonation was also good but the taste was quite bad.
I tried using Cooper’s carb drops for the first time in this recipe to prevent the need for a bottling bucket and ideally limit oxygen exposure. I gave the bottles a PBW soak then a thorough rinse and sanitize using one of those jet bottle washers full of star san. However I didn’t use gloves when adding the carb drops, I just put one in each bottle with my bare hands. I had read that the alcohol content greatly reduces the infection risk during bottling so I didn’t think much of it. It also appears some bottles are much paler/brighter than others so I’m going to try one of the pale ones tomorrow to see if it is any better. Any idea what may have happened?
I tried using Cooper’s carb drops for the first time in this recipe to prevent the need for a bottling bucket and ideally limit oxygen exposure. I gave the bottles a PBW soak then a thorough rinse and sanitize using one of those jet bottle washers full of star san. However I didn’t use gloves when adding the carb drops, I just put one in each bottle with my bare hands. I had read that the alcohol content greatly reduces the infection risk during bottling so I didn’t think much of it. It also appears some bottles are much paler/brighter than others so I’m going to try one of the pale ones tomorrow to see if it is any better. Any idea what may have happened?