Infection in the bottle after kegging.

[Dale_3rd]

I brewed and fermented out some beer. Ran it through a filter and kegged it up. After 3 weeks or so in the keg I decided to bottle it as I don't have a kegerator. Everything was cleaned with Starsan, all bottles were run through the dishwasher and stored neck down a few days before and then rinsed with Starsan in the vinator bottle washer and hung on a bottle tree until they were bottled. I bottled with a counter pressure bottle filler and capped right after the bottle was filled. All caps were stored in Starsan until used. I posted in another thread about mine not having carbonation as I bottled warm at about 68F. I just checked a few bottles and noticed a film on top of some of them, so I checked the other bottles and some have definite signs of mold growing on them. I opened one of the warm bottles and smelled it and it smelled okay, no off odors detected so I poured it into a glass and it seemed to have nice carbonation. Where did I go wrong to get this much of an infection? I could see one or two bottles but the whole batch? It must have been infected in the keg is all I can figure.

EDIT: I just depressurized my keg of honey brown to check it. I quickly popped the lid to see if it's infected too but I didn't see anything on top, just nice clean beer. I sealed it back up and put it back on CO2. Curiosity probably killed the cat but I just had to know.

 

[jaja]

I reguarly bottle beer directly from my kegs. You have to be very careful though as there is a multitude more places for bugs to hide.

I use an empty keg to run cleaner/water/starsan thru the beer line and beer tap/tubing first. I would assume your keg was cleaned in such a manner first so the beer wasn't infected pre bottling.

I wouldn't trust a dishwasher to clean bottles, I know its a pain but some things are best done by hand. I've never had a problem with infected beers doing this.

Its not your bottles unless you were unlucky enough not to clean each and every one of them. Its more likely your beer tap/tubing or whatever you bottled from.

 

[Dale_3rd]

Yes, I too cleaned the keg thoroughly with UBC (Ultimate Brewery Cleaner) at about 140°F, rinsed with clean tap water a few times, then filled the keg with about a ½ gallon of Starsan. All lines are flushed with UBC and Starsan as well. I poured out the Starsan right before kegging and left in the foam, so I thought I'd done a good job with sanitation...guess not. Next time I guess everything will go in a vat of cleaner, then Starsan and hope for the best.

 

[osagedr]

Had a similar thing happen once. Made a Schwarzbier, it turned out great, kegged it and used my Biermuncher Bottle Filler to bottle, sent it off to competition where it scored a 37...couple of weeks later cracked a bottle and it was infected. The same for every bottle. Heartbreaking.

 

[Dale_3rd]

So, I'm guessing now that it's bottled and infected, I should dump out all the infected bottles, wait on the ones that don't appear to be infected and move on with the next batch?

I seem to have a issue with infection that I can't pinpoint. A batch of Irish Red is infected as well. Wine is definitely easier with it's -OH content above the 10% self sterilizing mark.

 

[leviticus]

Well, please don't get discouraged... I'm sure plenty of us are reckless with our beer, and it's pretty resilient stuff.

Do you clean and sanitize your bottle filler? I re-read the thread and saw you detailed everything but that.

When you got/cleaned/clean the keg, do you completely disassemble it and clean each part individually? (inlet & outlet valves down to the springs, poppets, etc..) Those things can get pretty nasty in the poppets.

 

[Dale_3rd]

I clean the filler pretty good, along with the lines. I however, did not disassemble the kegs and clean each part. I will the next time tho.

EDIT:

Kegged up a Blonde Ale that I had brewed 4/8/11 and pulled the keg fully apart, cleaned everything and soak all parts, poppets, posts, everything, re-assembled and poured about a gallon of Starsan in and let it sit upside down for 10 min, then poured it out and filled the keg so that the foam "erupted" from the keg. We'll see if that works.

 

[Dale_3rd]

Well, I never dumped out the "infected" beer; given some of the advice and information I've read, even some of the "bad" beer can turn out good. I put 3 bottles in the fridge to see just how they came out. Everything settled out and I decided to try a bottle. I opened it up and and it had good carbonation (a decent pssssst when popping the crown cap off) and poured it into a flute except the last bit from the bottle. It was crystal clear and did not have any detectable off odors. It produced a small head (5/8-3/4" thick) and had a small amount of carbonation bubbles steadily rising. I took a nice swig and swallowed and to my surprise, didn't taste bad at all. It's a little "flat" tasting as the recipe wasn't very hoppy in the first place and doesn't have much head retention but overall, I'd equate it to a acceptable "light" beer. I'm glad I didn't dump it out after all. In the fridge the other 2 cases go. LOL

Just thought I'd share the update.