Infection?

[hoppywonder]

Bottled an American IPA. During bottling it had what looked like yeast rafts, had a taste and it wasn't brilliant. Anyway, its been bottled for three weeks in the cellar in 275ml bottles, the neck has cleared of sediment and it looks like the sugar has been consumed, but i had a taste of one and it is sharp, almost vinegar. Has it been infected or shall I give it more time?

 

[terrym]

Difficult to tell from what you have said.
Only time will tell.
I certainly wouldn't condemn your brew just yet.
However if it is infected and from what I have read on here, there is a danger that the infection will generate CO2 and that may lead to bottle bombs.
I suggest you put your bottles in a safe place where if they do go pop they will cause no damage to anything and then sample at regular intervals. Also it may be sensible to chill the bottles before opening which helps to avoid gushers.
But hopefully your beer may just be a bit raw at present and conditioning may sort this out.

 

[Covrich]

If it tastes of vinegar and has that acid taste then that is a bad sign I am afraid..

Give it some time and see how it goes, if they all start to taste like vinegar and sour then I am afraid its unrecoverable.

 

[Duxuk]

I've had an acidity which was more green apple/ cider. If your acidity is more like that and not exactly vinegar then it will be an acetaldehyde problem. If it doesn't clear up quickly then again it is curtains for your brew.

 

[hoppywonder]

thanks all - thought that might be the case... :-?

 

[Gunge]

For the first time in a homebrewing 'career' spanning over 35 years, I've got an in-bottle infection. It's slowly developing a haze and a gossamer-thin film is forming on the top. I know where I went wrong. I took a chance and hoped to get away with using oxi to sanitise the bottles in order to cut down on the tedious rinsing of ultra-dilute bleach - a method which has never let me down. Ah well you live and learn.

 

[Personal91]

For the first time in a homebrewing 'career' spanning over 35 years, I've got an in-bottle infection. It's slowly developing a haze and a gossamer-thin film is forming on the top. I know where I went wrong. I took a chance and hoped to get away with using oxi to sanitise the bottles in order to cut down on the tedious rinsing of ultra-dilute bleach - a method which has never let me down. Ah well you live and learn.

I clean with water outside with a hose, then drain , then fill with water again and brush the inside vigorously with my bottle brush and then pass on to a glamorous ( anyone will do) bottling assistant who willthen pour away the possibly dirty water and sediment if I didn't rinse the bottles before putting on the side.

They then put the now empty bottle on the big nipple ( bottle cleaner that shoots the no rinse cleanser inside and to the top of the bottle, even on the big ones) . Of course I have dissolved the no rinse solution in boiling water and have enough in there so I'm basically sterilising the inside of the bottles slightly aswell.

The bottles are then put onto the bottling tree which I have give a quick clean before hand as it would be a shame to have gone to such an effort to then get caught out.

After filling the bottles with (hopefully) delicious brew I leave the caps whichever I had soaking in no rinse solution on the top a few mins to allow excess oxygen to be pushed out!