I brewed a Stone IPA clone kit from AHS and let it sit in the bottles for the suggested 5 weeks. After putting the first few bottles in the fridge for a few days, I tried it and it was amazing! Now a few weeks later the beer has started to taste bad and has developed way too much head when pouring it. Is this due to a bottle infection that just took some time to kick in? I haven't had any gushers yet.
Bottled beer goes from good to bad
- Thread starter bmwwd6
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What kind of off flavor are you getting?
If all the bottles are like that, it sounds like a bottle infection, unfortunately.
It sounds like an infection. Even when a beer slips past it's prime it is still usually decent. But without testing I can't be sure from here. Try again and make sure you sanitize carefully. The nasty bugs like beer almost as much as you do.
Johnnyhitch1
Well-Known Member
Yes. If the priming sugar is not mixed throughly within the beer it wont carb correctly
Is this happening on every bottle you open now or just a couple?
Also, couldn't the sugar contribute to the possible contamination? Isn't that one of the points of boiling your priming sugar in boiling water to sanitize as well as dissolve into the water?
And I had something similar happen to me like this on my first brew as well. I recently picked up a bottling tree as well as the bottle sanitizing head that sits on top. I'm not 100% certain is was lack of sanitation in my bottles but after looking back on the brew that seemed to be the most likely culprit at least in my case.
Johnnyhitch1
Well-Known Member
I think what he meant was after boiling he forgot to mix the solution into the beer.
Sounds more to me like he forgot to make a solution & just racked the beer onto the sugar.
That's exactly what I got from reading it as well.
IF the priming sugar wasn't mixed in properly or well then the issue would be carbonation only. IF the beer tasted fine and now doesn't, it's infected. Beer doesn't start to taste bad because of improper priming.
chickypad
lupulin shift victim
This is what I was thinking. Might lose some hop aroma but shouldn't taste bad just from some extra carbonation and aging a little.
bmwwd6
Well-Known Member
I wash my bottles out in the sink right after drinking them and let them dry. Then I soak them in Star San on bottling day. Is this not enough? Maybe I should invest in a faucet bottle washer. Has anyone had any experience with those?
carguy13
Well-Known Member
i would think that would be good. how do you bottle? do you use the bottle hose thing?
I've started using my bottle brush every time I rinse out a batch of bottles. Wanna make sure the compacted yeast on the bottom of the bottles gets washed out. Dry on bottle tree & store in covered boxes till next bottling day. Then vinator & starsan,about 5 pumps per bottle. I'm hoping to get the fermtech bottle washer for Christmas. It also has a nipple on it for cleaning your tubing! I already have the sink to hose adapter thing that's only about 3 bucks from midwest who also have all the washer gadgets. I've got their cleaning wand as well,but I think the tip needs to be modded to make it more like a sink style power washer.
It's not just the bottles but the caps, the tubing, bottling bucket, the spigot, everything. If you are having this issue with just some bottles then it is usually confined to those bottles so your inspection needs to be improved. If it's every bottle then it's a batch problem coming from your bottling equipment or it's possible you are not mixing your star san to proper dilution.
Johnnyhitch1
Well-Known Member
When i first started i had a batch that took forever to carb but once it did it had very bitter carbonic bite to it.
Which i would assume is from the co2. Just my view on it
This is completely possible but the OP stated that early on the beer tasted fine and then started to go bad. Carbonic bite would be present early on before complete conditioning and carbonation and adequate time in the refrigerator.
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