I've made about 16 batches of different beers in the last year and at times have some that foam up and spew when opened. It's never been an entire batch, but definitely a good portion of the bottles. It has not really affected the taste that much--maybe some subtleties lost. For awhile I thought it was just over carbonation. But last year I had an entire batch infected and it was not drinkable. Since then I upped my sanitation practices, but the first beer I brewed this year has the same gushing problem--again not all the bottles, but most. Happens when air makes contact with the beer or the bottle is de-pressurized--none have exploded. This is a blonde ale I secondaried with frozen raspberries. It tastes more like a sour or a lambic than anything else. I'm trying to trace the infection. Is this a bottle infection I'm just not getting rid of or something else? Any ideas are much appreciated.
Infection?
- Thread starter dharvey
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You said it already, definitely an infection. There's something in your process that's not cleaned or sanitized properly. Everything that touches your wort or beer on the cold side (after the boil) needs to be properly cleaned and sanitized. Review each step in detail for yourself. Is there something that gets missed? When not the whole batch is affected, it could point to the bottles.
What cleaners and sanitizer are you using and how?
What cleaners and sanitizer are you using and how?
I clean with pbw, but only if the brewing equipment/buckets are really dirty. Otherwise I just sanitize with Iodophor--soaking everything for 1/2 hr or so and letting it air dry. I did recently go all-grain so, I have new everything (except bottles and bottling wand). For the bottles I usually put them in the dishwasher with some Iodophor and let them air dry. I don't soak them in Iodophor. Should I be soaking the bottles? I'm thinking of just buying new bottles and seeing if that's the problem.
PBW is great for the dirty work. I use (cheap) washing soda (aka laundry booster) for most of my beer cleaning duties, and (homemade) PBW when and where it counts, like cleaning hop bags (they get boiled in PBW), plate chiller, etc.
As long as your Iodophor is still active, it will sanitize fine. But it loses its activity after a day or so. You need to keep an eye on that. How about using Starsan instead? I makes me shiver to even imagine what brewing would be like without it.
Needless to say, before you can clean and sanitize bottles, there should be no layer of gunk inside them, that needs to be cleaned out first, with a good soak and rinse even a brush.
Realize your bottles need to be spotlessly clean on the inside. You can't sanitize anything that isn't clean in the first place.
Your dishwasher can't get water up those narrow necks. Anyone who claims that it does, should start analyzing how a dishwasher works. Use a bottle brush and a dishwash tub with hot water and a cleanser (washing soda, PBW) and scrub the insides. You can then rinse with one of those jet bottle washers that attaches to your faucet and spray hot water when you push a bottle down on them. Then sanitize properly right before use. I'd soak them in sanitizer, yes. Starsan works as long as the surface is wet with it. Once dry its sanitizing properties are nil.
I'd start there.
No need to buy new bottles. Even new bottles have dust in them, still need to be cleaned and sanitized. Grain contains lactobacillus and dust from milling settles everywhere. Mill outside!
When you bottle, the caps should be sanitized too. Again, Starsan is your best friend.
flars
Well-Known Member
Cleaning bottles goes really fast using a battery powered drill with the bottle brush.
thanks, i made the switch to starsans but only last week. i'll grab one of those bottle washers. i do soak the bottle caps, but as you say, i'm guessing the dishwasher isn't doing much for me. What did you mean by "Starsan works as long as the surface is wet with it. Once dry its sanitizing properties are nil." The bottles have to be wet? From the rest of your post I'm guessing I would clean them the day I bottle, then sanitize, let them dry a bit and fill them up? Thanks again for the helpful advice!
The bottles should ideally still be a tad bit wet when you fill them whether you're using starsan or iodophor. If you foil up the bottles I suppose you could let them air dry with minimal risk, but I don't know why you'd want to do this outside of time management.
May be a bit of a waste of water, but how I do bottles is I fill up a wide vessel (an old boil kettle) with iodophor solution taller than the bottles. Bottles get dunked. 1/2 hour is excessive, if the solution is to spec, with water contact on surfaces iodophor should have sanitized things within 2 minutes at the most. I dump the water back out of the bottles, give them a little towel dry on the outside.
You'll love using Starsan. Fill a spray bottle with it too! You probably don't need to make 5 gallons at a time, 2.5 or even less maybe plenty. No need to toss it after use, it lasts for weeks, months, or longer. I always have a 3 1/2 gallon bucket around with some racking hoses in it. And a small washcloth, great to mop Starsan around lids, buckets, rims, flasks, jars, hoses, etc. The foam sanitizes as well (or even better) as the solution.
Yes, as long as it stays wet the surface is sanitary. Anything that drops on a wet Starsan surface will be sanitized. Before you fill them, you'll want to drain the bottles as much as you can, but don't fear the foam. It's tasteless in beer. Read up on it, it will change the way you brew. And that infection problem will become history as long as you adhere to common some cleaning and sanitation sense.
After you've poured the beer from a bottle, rinse it out with some warm or hot water, shake and drain it. Repeat 2 more times. That way nothing will grow inside. You can then let them air dry or leave them filled with water until you have a bunch and brush them out.
I had a few wild yeast infected batches and it seemed to happen somewhere along the bottling line (Star-San seemed completely ineffective against this crap). I replaced my bottling bucket spigot, the hose and the bottle filler, and then soaked the bucket in 180 degree water for 30 minutes. I'm not sure which of those places caused my infection but that took care of it.
If the problem isn't with the bottles, I'd recommend replacing some of your plastic.
If the problem isn't with the bottles, I'd recommend replacing some of your plastic.
