Second brew gone bad at 2 wks in bottle

[weirdboy]

How many batches have you made using this process before it started happening?

My guess is you have a bit of gunk stuck somewhere in your spigot, hose, bottling wand, or autosiphon. I know I have had some crud inside each of those before that was basically impossible to get out just by normal cleaning and sanitizing procedures.

Look VERY CLOSELY at each one for spots and what have you. Especially the spigot...those can get mold & bacteria forming in the ring between the outer and inner sections of the valve that you sometimes cannot even see without taking it apart.



The timing certainly suggests the infection is being introduced as part of the bottling process.

 

[lgilmore]

Maybe also include the dishwasher as part of your bottle prep. While paper towels are better than nothing, they may not be completely sanitary. I prefer the last steps in bottling to the be dishwasher where both hot water and high heat kill anything I might have missed.

 

[RM-MN]

Well it's another sad day for my homebrewing. I recently had a stout which got infected and really started to show the flavor transformation at 2 weeks in the bottle, and since then I have brewed midwest ferocious IPA and bottled it. I started drinking it at a week, and now after it's been in the bottles for 12 days, I just cracked one and it seems to be going down the same road. Worst part is, I am getting a big kettle for full boils and a patio burner for Christmas but I'm just about ready to quit brewing.

Once again, all sweetness has disappeared from the beer and turned into a very unpleasant sort of acidic bitterness. Last time there was a heavy taste of cloves, I'm not getting that so far but definitely the same mouth feel. I'll probably have gushers in a couple days. I took every sanitation precaution this time, and this still happens. I have no idea what to do.

I wouldn't touch my stout at 2 weeks in the bottle. They taste terrible then. Give it 12 weeks and then sample. If it tastes bad then, you have a reason to dump and cry.

 

[StophJS]

I figured I'd post an update on this thread. At about three weeks in the bottle now, I've opened a few more of these. I've found a few bottles in the batch that seemed to have the gusher bug, and the rest are perfectly fine. I can only conclude that I had a few dirty bottles in the mix, probably with some left over wild yeast from my previous infection. Thanks for helping me troubleshoot.

 

[midfielder5]

That is good news.
It also might be an indication that you aren't cleaning all bottles as thoroughly as you should.. Even though you rinse after use, they can still be dirty (it only takes one bit to ruin the bottle they say). I always rinse after use too. It might be overkill to some people, but before use they get a short soak in oxyclean free (the one w/o any scents added) and I visually inspect them for any bits of residue. Those which are still dirty get a scrub w bottle brush and re-inspected before going into my Star-san bucket.

 

[StophJS]

I plan on doing an oxyclean soak before next bottle. I also discovered my dishwasher is very well suited for washing/sanitizing bottles so I plan on giving that a shot, either on its own or in addition to the usual iodophor soak before bottling.

 

[midfielder5]

If you mean wash, as in the inside- I don't believe a dishwasher can't reliably reach the nitty gritty at the bottom of each bottle bc of the small opening/distance. It takes a bottle brush imo.

 

[ValleyBrew]

IMHO, I agree that you need to use a bottle brush to clean. On bottle day eve, I always put my bottles in the dishwasher on the sanitize setting with some star san instead of soap and give it a run and don't open it until I'm ready to pull them out to bottle. No worries!