Off Tastes in a few Bottles

[butterblum]

So I am just now tasting my second round of homebrew ever. It is a DIPA (with an IPA being my first batch). Both times I used 1056 yeast.
My problem is that I am getting a wide variation in flavors between bottles (for both beers). One bottle will be drinkable, but just taste meh; the next bottle will taste pretty good.
For example: I drank a bottle (which had sat in the fridge for 24 hours) of my DIPA at 3 weeks in the bottle, and it tasted pretty good - I think it was still rounding into form. Yesterday, I drank a bottle of my DIPA at 4 weeks (it had also sat in the fridge for 24 hours), and it didn't taste that great. The same off-taste (which I have a hard time describing) was present that was in my first batch.
I usually always end up pouring just a little bit of yeast into the glass when it comes time to drink (on accident of course), and I am wondering if the off-taste really isn't a problem with the beer and maybe just a case of pouring too much yeast into the glass?
Any help is appreciated.
Thanks.

 

[bu_gee]

I had a similar problem with a recent batch with bottles to bottle consistency.

I eventually came to the realization the the bottles I had previously used for homebrew were the only ones affected. All the new bottles were fine. This is where I think it being your second brew might be the critical piece of information.

Did you use the same bottles from the first batch? If so, what was your treatment of them from the time you poured the previous beer to the time you bottled this one?

 

[butterblum]

The first brew used brand new bottles.
The second used collected bottles which had spent a week in a OxiClean solution, and were then rinsed.
But both beers exhibited the same taste.

 

[Singletrack]

IME, it takes that strain of yeast much longer than 24 hours to drop clear in the bottle. Try chilling for a week before drinking.

 

[ncbrewer]

The first brew used brand new bottles.
The second used collected bottles which had spent a week in a OxiClean solution, and were then rinsed.
But both beers exhibited the same taste.

According to the OxiClean website, it totally looses cleaning power after 6 hours. Did you leave the bucket sit out for days while adding bottles as you emptied them? That would be ineffective for the bottles added after the first 6 hours.

Or did you let the bottles sit out and dry after emptying them. If anything dries in the bottle, it's really hard to clean.

Or possibly the less tasty ones were over or under carbonated. Incomplete mixing in of the priming sugar can cause this. (Although this doesn't sound like the off flavor you're getting)

 

[butterblum]

I only soaked them to remove the labels. It takes longer than 6 hours for the adhesive to dissolve.

 

[butterblum]

One of my friends said that he thinks it's a bottle infection. Would this explain the bottle-to-bottle variance?

 

[Sir-Hops-A-Lot]

Just for a very different look at this problem, I have to say that my home brew tastes differently each time I drink it. It's not a sanitation problem or a consistency problem. It's me. Whether I'm hot, after exercise, loafing on the couch or whatever. The beer tastes differently each tim. It's more complex than that but the human factor does a hell of a lot to change the taste of a beer.

 

[bu_gee]

One of my friends said that he thinks it's a bottle infection. Would this explain the bottle-to-bottle variance?

This was essentially my concern in the question I asked above. If you're sanitizing all of the bottles the same way, then there is something lurking in the bottles.

That thing might be an infection, which is what I was asking about with the treatment, or it can be a residue of something like oxiclean which can be decidedly harder to remove once it has sat in a bottle for a week.

My money at this point is on the oxiclean. Different evaporation rates and different levels of vigor rinsing would account for the difference from bottle to bottle IMO.

 

[bu_gee]

Sorry. Double post.

 

[ChelisHubby]

Please describe the off taste, Maybe someone can Identify what it is

 

[Tippsy-Turvy]

Do you use a bottle brush? I find that my bottles with well encrusted yeast on the sides don't clear up even with a 2 day soak with PBW. I always use the bottle brush straight after a good soak...for the bottles, of course.

 

[butterblum]

It can't be the Oxi-clean because the first batch was put in bottles that were never touched by Oxi-clean.
Is it recommended to immediately cap each bottle once you fill it?

 

[ncbrewer]

Yes, you should set the cap on the bottle as soon as you fill it. You can wait and seal all at once.

As far as infection: After cleaning, you should hold each bottle up to the light and look inside to make sure they are completely clean. Check each one again just before sanitizing and filling. If a few are a little dirty, you could have off flavors in just some of them.

 

[butterblum]

I also tend to have a larger head in the bottles that taste weird (they smell weird too).
From what I have been reading over the last 24 hours, it seems like at some point during the bottling phase, either before or after the beer is put in the bottles, bacteria or wild yeast are getting in there and ruining the batch.
I have currently been filling about twelve bottles at a time, placing them uncapped on a table, and then capping those twelve all at once.
Again, I used brand new bottles for my first batch, but I do a good job of flushing out the bottles as soon as I pour them. I have been sanitizing by using this device: http://www.midwestsupplies.com/bottle-rinser-sulfiter.html, and then hanging on a bottle tree.
Maybe I just need to fully submerge the bottles, and immediately cap them.

 

[butterblum]

Also, if the bottles should be immediately capped, should the plastic bottling bucket also be covered as much as it can be with the racking cane in it?

 

[ncbrewer]

Your bottle rinser, also called a vinator, is great - no need to submerge.

As far as covering the bottling bucket, I always do, but not sure if everybody does it. I cover it with a dish towel moistened with Star San.

I you're bottling with a siphon, I'd recommend racking to a bottling bucket that is fitted with a spigot so you don't have to siphon into the bottles. You might be sucking some air into the tubing connection.

 

[butterblum]

Would too much bottling sugar be a possible cause of off tastes/food for bacteria?

 

[butterblum]

Please describe the off taste, Maybe someone can Identify what it is

Honestly, it seems to have a "winey" taste. It also seems to "sting" my tongue a little more than beer normally does.

 

[Sir-Hops-A-Lot]

Over carbonating your beers will change how you taste them. I have put too much carbonation and found that I can't enjoy the beer because it's too busy off-gassing. Here is an idea: next time you have a very gassy beer with a sting to the taste, try pouring some out and capping it again. Leave it sitting in the fridge and try it the next day. If it tastes better then the gas is the problem.