what's going on in my bottles?

[BrewDey]

So I've had a few batches where I've noted no visible activity after bottling, but on three batches, including a current one-I've seen some wild stuff. Here's a summary, and I was wondering if anyone had any insights:

1)I had an IPA that I'm pretty sure had a wild yeast infection. A week after bottling, there developed a scummy ring around the bottle neck. The beer itself was rather couldy, and I could see tons of particles in suspension. It was very bitter to taste-a few months out, it's now drinkable, but has lost much if the aroma/flavor it's 'supposed' to have.

2)A brown ale was exposed to a lot of oxygen and diluted a bit while racking to secondary. After bottling, there were 'chunks' of particulate close to the surface (in the neck of the bottle). Some of this also stayed in the beer, and didn't settle to the bottom, it was white in color-as was the sediment at the bottom. This stuff tasted fine. Not perfect-a little tang that may have been due to the oxygen-but overall it was good.

3)Current IPA was bottled 10 days ago. It's a little bigger (7% I think), and it too has some 'chunks' collecting on the sides of the bottle near the surface. Overall, the beer is really clear, but near top, there are tiny particles in suspension. Is this the yeast doing their work near the top? I tasted one after just a week, and it is still a bit rough, but for the most part it seemed pretty tasty.


I'm not too paranoid, just curious. The white chunks looked bad, but the beer tasted fine. It's really wild stuff to watch.

 

[ohiobrewtus]

I was thinking of making the exact same post. I have 4 batches bottle conditioning at the moment. The other night I went to pull a sample from each (all have been conditioning for at least 2 weeks) and noticed that a few of the bottles had the same symptoms that you described. 5-7 days prior to this when I last pulled samples this was not an issue, nor has it been an issue in any of the previous batches that I've done.

At first I thought that maybe it was a temperature issue, but the air is always on 76 or lower in the house and the bottles are on the first floor, in cardboard, not exposed to any direct sunlight.

I would also be very interested in any suggestions that anyone may have.

 

[jdoiv]

How soon are you bottling? The white chunks sound like the yeasties to me. Perhaps another week in the primary/secondary to clear up before bottling. If you are getting a substantial amount of yeast in the bottle, they could leave a ring in the neck if they beach themselves.

 

[cubbies]

According to Palmer (I think), a ring around the bottleneck is a sure sign of infection. I would suggest reviewing your sanitation techniques.

 

[BrewDey]

According to Palmer (I think), a ring around the bottleneck is a sure sign of infection. I would suggest reviewing your sanitation techniques.

After the 1st batch with the scummy ring-I got pretty anal about bottling. The 2 other instances of it really look like pieces of yeast as opposed to a solid ring. Not for sure though.

 

[efreem01]

Just a few questions for both of you:

What do you do to sanitize the bottles?
What sanitizer are you using?

Anything else you do that you think may introduce bacteria or infections, append to the answers of above.... Maybe something is off with the process. I've done 5 batches so far and none of them have gotten infected. The first two were with bleach. The third with a mixture (different stages) of bleach and C-Brite. Now i use stricle One-Step for all of my sanitizing.

For sanitizing bottles, i cook them in the oven for about 20 minutes at 375 degrees. This sterilizes them.

 

[BrewDey]

Just a few questions for both of you:
What do you do to sanitize the bottles?
What sanitizer are you using?
QUOTE]

1)let soak in bleach water to get labels off
2)rinse out with hot water
3)let dry on bottle tree
4)store on shelf once dry
5)at bottling, rinse out again with very hot water
6)rinse out with one-step
7)rinse again with hot water
8)let sit on bottle tree until i actually fill it

I've heard that dishwashers are a good idea-unfortunately I don't have one. If the oven method works-that sounds good to me. Do you rinse them out with one-step after they're done in the oven?

 

[Beerrific]

It seems to me that if you have an infection (they taste bad) they will not get better with age. I think you are seeing yeast in suspension/sticking to the sides and you are tasting green beer.

Suggestions:
-go over techniques for clearing the beer, homebrew is notorious for being cloudy
-after carbonation is complete put them somewhere cold this will drop the yeast and preserve the hop flavor
-after about 7 days into carbonation give the bottles a stir, this will loosen the yeast stuck to the walls and have them go dormant on the bottom of the beer not the sides

 

[tbone]

Just some comments on the oven method. I do mine for an hour at 338 degrees. I put aluminum foil on each bottle and when I take them out of the oven, I just put them in an empty case to be used whenever. I always have bottles ready to go with this method. A caution. Put the bottles in a cold oven and let them cool in the oven before taking them out. What I do is put 24 in the oven and set the oven to bake at 338. When it heats to that temp I set the timer for an hour.

 

[efreem01]

Just a few questions for both of you:
What do you do to sanitize the bottles?
What sanitizer are you using?
QUOTE]

1)let soak in bleach water to get labels off
2)rinse out with hot water
3)let dry on bottle tree
4)store on shelf once dry
5)at bottling, rinse out again with very hot water
6)rinse out with one-step
7)rinse again with hot water
8)let sit on bottle tree until i actually fill it

I've heard that dishwashers are a good idea-unfortunately I don't have one. If the oven method works-that sounds good to me. Do you rinse them out with one-step after they're done in the oven?

OK, i have a few notes about your process. First of all, you really shouldn't be using bleach water to get labels off of commercial beer bottles. Buy a container of Oxy-Clean from your local drug store and that's really the key to removing beer labels. Bleach can introduce a whole host of off flavors in your brew if you don't remove it.

When you store it on the shelf, you're putting the bottles in a perfect position to be reintroduced to any nasty bacteria that may be in the air. In fact, forget half of the procedure you used. It's redundant in multiple ways. If i were you, I would take the beer bottles and remove any hardened material with hot water (if there is none, why bother). After removing any gunk, just sanitize the bottles with either one step, an oven, or a dish washer set to the hot water miser (sanitizer, no dish soap). Once sanitized, don't forget to sanitize the bottle tree itself. I always dip a paper towel in One Step and wipe it down. Now once you sanitize the beer bottles and put them on the bottle tree they should be OK for a while.

I've only been brewing for 6 months, but i've learned a lot. Bottling doesn't need to be a 5 hour procedure (it was for me at first). Be a minimalist and focus on what's truly important. Remove any hardened material from the bottles (havens of bacteria) then sanitize the bottle. That's really all you need.

 

[BrewDey]

Just some comments on the oven method. I do mine for an hour at 338 degrees. I put aluminum foil on each bottle and when I take them out of the oven, I just put them in an empty case to be used whenever. I always have bottles ready to go with this method. A caution. Put the bottles in a cold oven and let them cool in the oven before taking them out. What I do is put 24 in the oven and set the oven to bake at 338. When it heats to that temp I set the timer for an hour.

That sounds pretty solid-so do you put the foil over them before they 'cook', or after?

 

[Beerrific]

That sounds pretty solid-so do you put the foil over them before they 'cook', or after?

Put it on before, but make sure the bottle is dry or the steam will blow the foil off.

 

[Levers101]

I didn't know many people sanitized their bottles by baking them. I use StarSan for all things that need sanitizing. I always fully submerse my bottles in my bottling bucket full of StarSan by letting all the air bubble out, and let them stew for a few minutes. I also don't worry about sanitizing until right before bottling, since I always give my bottles 3 or 4 rinses with hot water after pouring them. To me, this method takes a lot less time than the time required to sanitize in the oven.