Noo! first gusher in 7 years of brewing!!!!

[jimyoung]

I had guests over on the weekend, and had two 750ml bottles ready to pour into a pitcher, and enjoy. One bottle was awesome - compliments all around . When I opened the other, the beer started coming out. and coming out. And coming out... white foam. The last time I saw this was with a GBP project, before I learned about sanitation, with re-used plastic bottles.

The beer tasted fine.. but I chucked it anyway. I don't think it's inconsistent priming sugar, as I've been doing the same thing for years. In retrospect, I should have saved some and took the gravity to see what happened.

I was devastated! No longer can I be smug about infections. Luckily, the rest of the batch seems fine. But... I'll now be wondering with each bottle!!!

My cleaning practice is to pre-rinse bottles as soon as I pour them, and put them away. Before bottling, soak for 20 minutes in diversol, rinse in clean water, and then sanitize with Iodophor using a vinator. I've never used a bottle brush.

Now the last thing I want is more work to bottle, but I'm going to grab a bottle brush and go to town on my next bottling. I'll report back to see if, as others have reported, a scary amount of crap comes off the bottles.

No question here! Just sharing my shame!

 

[zacster]

This is why I went with a keg. Just reading about your process reminded my why bottles are such a PITA! And with a keg I've never had a single problem.

 

[jimyoung]

I think we can all agree that bottles are a PITA. Kegs sound nice, and maybe that's in my future, but then it makes all kinds of changes. I need multiple kegs, of multiple sizes, to keep a range of beers around. I need another fridge to keep the kegs serving temp.. I would need something like a beer gun to bottle some to give away.....

sigh! If only I could find things in this hobby that would help me /save/ money.

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

Sometimes it isn’t a sanitation issue, but diasticus. Demystifying diastaticus (part 2)

 

[bracconiere]

sigh! If only I could find things in this hobby that would help me /save/ money.

bracconiere bites tongue....


.....

 

[MikeCo]

I keg most beers, but I will always bottle condition some styles that I like highly carbonated or want to age longer than a keg typically lasts. Bottling takes a little work, but if you clean and sanitize carefully, it's usually fine. I've had one bottle explode in my 7 years of brewing so far (no gushers), probably because it was from a case of bottles given to me and there was some crud left in one that wasn't removed in my cleaning process. It may have been a defect in the glass; I'll never know for sure.

Don't be too discouraged; your process sounds good, and only one gusher in 7 years is a pretty good record.

 

[Oldskewl]

You can always bake the bottles in the oven at 250F for about 20 min. That will kill anything still alive. I did this when I was fighting a STA-1 gene from brewing saisons. Made for a few highly carbonated batches. Lol!

 

[MikeCo]

interesting idea. What does baking them at 250 do to the flavor?

 

[day_trippr]

lol!

 

[AZCoolerBrewer]

interesting idea. What does baking them at 250 do to the flavor?

I think they mean heat empty and then bottle with the heat sanitized bottles. I have had two gushers. One was a batch that just had ridiculous head retention and was manageable through poring slowly enough and also opening slowly. The other was interestingly fine in my 12oz. bottles but a true gusher in my one 750oz. bottle of the batch. Since then I have been afraid of using big bottles. When I bottle, I soak 20 mins in Oxy, bottle brush while I sing a song, soak in Starsan for minimum 2 minutes and dry in a sanitized bottle rack. Before all this I rinse each bottle 3 times after drinking.

 

[day_trippr]

Don't dry the Star San! It's best used still wet!
When I was still bottling I made up a cold tub of standard Star San mix and sunk all my bottles therein.
Pulled each out in turn, drained for a few seconds, filled and capped on the spot.
Zero grenades, lifetime

Cheers!

 

[MikeCo]

I think they mean heat empty and then bottle with the heat sanitized bottles.

I know. Sorry if my dry sense of humor didn't show through.

 

[Oldskewl]

interesting idea. What does baking them at 250 do to the flavor?

Ha ha! Yeah I meant to put the empty bottles in the oven as an extra precaution. My process is to rinse 2-3 times after drinking the beer. Wash well with soap and water. Bake a day before bottling(if I feel it’s needed), then do a 3 min soak in Star San immediately prior to bottling.