ring o round the longneck

[BrewDey]

A week ago I bottled an IPA, and just moved them to the basement last night. I noticed on several bottles a thin ring of residue up in the neck of the bottle. For curiosity's sake, I cracked open the one half-full bottle (from the very end of the batch)-and it tasted pretty good-green-but better than you'd expect from only a week in the bottle.
This bottle didn't have a ring, but wasn't full either-seems like this residue is on most of the full bottles.

The taste so far has seemed OK-even before I bottled it. And I did dry hop right into the secondary (no hop bags)...so I'm hoping that this film is hop/mini-kruesen residue. The carbonation seemed good, as even the 1/2 filled bottle was nice and carbonated.

I thought I was being pretty thorough with my bottle cleaning. I usually let them soak in bleach water for several days, then scrape off the labels-rinse-then air dry on a shelf. Then at bottling, I rinse in water, then in one-step-then bottle. Any thoughts?

I'm really hoping this stuff is OK.

 

[WOP31]

Should be alright if it is still there in another week then I would start to worry.

 

[NYeric]

For curiosity's sake, I cracked open the one half-full bottle (from the very end of the batch)-.

I read somewhere that you should never cap a half full bottle.....They led me to believe it would explode. Guess they were wrong.

 

[Evan!]

In my dedication to not waste a drop, I usually end up with a not-quite-full bottle at the end...I just cap it as normal and designate it as my first tester. I've never had one explode or even gush.

 

[ski36t]

I read somewhere that you should never cap a half full bottle.....They led me to believe it would explode. Guess they were wrong.

I just thought it was too prevent you from getting stale beer from excessive O2. I can think of no reason why a half full bottle would explode before a full one of the same brew would.

 

[paranode]

Did you prime with DME by chance? I think that can cause a little krausen in the bottles.

 

[Imbranato]

Hey man, That sounds like a little infection. My first two brews were like that, and I first noticed the film in the secondary. They were still drinkable, I just didn't give any of those away. They turned into gushers when I opened them after about 2 weeks, and after about 2-3 months I could taste a vinegary dirty bar smell.

I still drank them until I built up my inventory of good beer.

 

[JnJ]

I thought I read it some where:
" Look at the surface of the beer where it contacts the sides of the bottle. Is there a deposit ringing the neck? Every gusher, hazy beer, sour-smelling and sour tasting beer I've had the pleasure of judging invariably as a "ring around the neck" - a sure sign that there is bacterial or wild yeast contamination."

- The New Complete Joy of Home Brewing, Charles Papazian

This in in the section about bacterial infections...

 

[mjm76]

I thought I read it some where:
" Look at the surface of the beer where it contacts the sides of the bottle. Is there a deposit ringing the neck? Every gusher, hazy beer, sour-smelling and sour tasting beer I've had the pleasure of judging invariably as a "ring around the neck" - a sure sign that there is bacterial or wild yeast contamination."

- The New Complete Joy of Home Brewing, Charles Papazian

This in in the section about bacterial infections...

I was under the assumption that a ring around the neck of the bottle was a pretty good indication that you have an infection.

 

[Imbranato]

If it tastes fine though don't dump it, just don't try to impress your friends with it. Do a little self evaluation to decide what you can do to better sanitize.

Keep this in mind

If it doesnt look clean, it isnt. Even if you used sanitizer on it

Everything that comes in contact with beer must be sanitized (including bottles, carboys, buckets, hop bags, bucket spigots and everything else)

The longer that you leave your beer exposed to the air the better chance you have of catching something from the air. Think about how easy it is for a loaf of bread to catch some mold, even though the bag was only open for 15 minutes while you made a sandwich.

Starting a siphon with your mouth is a bad idea, although it's been said that dog's have cleaner mouths than humans, so if you have a dog maybe ask him to do it!

An easy way to start a siphon is to fill your tube up with water straight from the tap then get your siphon going with that.

 

[Imbranato]

I just re-read your first post: I like to run my bottles through the dishwasher the day before I bottle. The spray-down with 6 thousand degree water followed by the heated dry cycle does alot for killing germs.

 

[cweston]

I just thought it was too prevent you from getting stale beer from excessive O2. I can think of no reason why a half full bottle would explode before a full one of the same brew would.

Dunno about exploding, but underfilled bottles definitely carbonate faster than full one. Sometimes I have an underfilled last bottle--to be safe, I always open it within a week as the first taster. (And it is often overcarbonated even in that short a period.)

 

[Sir Humpsalot]

Starting a siphon with your mouth is a bad idea, although it's been said that dog's have cleaner mouths than humans, so if you have a dog maybe ask him to do it!

If my dog could do that, I wouldn't need a girlfriend!!!!

 

[BrewDey]

Looks like me fears were realized-the stuff tastes pretty bad. Must have been in bottling somewhere-most likely the tub I used to rinse the bottles. I thought I'd cleaned it out pretty well, but it was the same tub I used for my initial soak to get the labels off. It was the only thing I did different than other batches, so I'm guessing it was the culprit.

 

[BrewDey]

Last night I decided to give this stuff a try-even though I was pretty sure it was botched. It's been 4 weeks in the bottle, so why not. While they all have some rings around the neck, some seem more pronounced than others-and it seems like some have dissapated a little. So I chilled one and tried it-no gushing, no nasty smell like the one I tried at 1.5 weeks-in fact, I could even smell the cascades. Best part is it tasted fine! I even drank another.

I'm just curious to know what's gone on here. Something was definitely off, or else I wouldn't have had the rings...but it has clearly improved. Do bacteria die off over time? Could wild yeast have settled down? I'll have to handle it on a bottle to bottle basis-but I guess the lesson is don't throw out beer that you think is bad.

 

[Speranza]

start the siphon with water? then you don't get that mouth full of sugar crack!

*takes notes for next time*