Mystery recurring issue ruining all my beer

[Chippy_Tea]

Put them in a cold oven then turn it on too 150C and leave them for 40 mins. Wait for the oven to cool down enough to take the bottles out. This will kill sterilize not just sanitize and kill anything in the bottles.

MyQul Is this 40 mins from when the oven gets to 150C or from the moment you turn the oven on.

 

[MyQul]

MyQul Is this 40 mins from when the oven gets to 150C or from the moment you turn the oven on.

From the momement the oven is turned on. You could probably do it for less time if you want. It's just the way I do it and it's worked well for me. If you think pasteurisation of milk is done in seconds at lower temps, 40 mins means anything in the bottles will defiantely be dead

 

[Covrich]

The reason I thought infection was the bad taste which yes can be attributed to anything but given its 1005 That sounds pretty low to begin with when bottling bottled with really low priming sugar and still gushing.

The oven idea is great and works well, just remember to leave them to cool down

 

[MyQul]

The oven idea is great and works well, just remember to leave them to cool down

This is correct. I leave mine in the oven after turning it off, until their cool to the touch

 

[-Bezza-]

This is correct. I leave mine in the oven after turning it off, until their cool to the touch

And remove all plastic and rubber from the bottles beforehand!

 

[MyQul]

And remove all plastic and rubber from the bottles beforehand!

Ah, yes of course - normally in the form of the swing tops for swing top bottles. Paper labels that I haven't managed to get off fully seem to be fine. Perhaps a little bit browned

 

[Dutto]

Here's my pennyworth:

1. How long do you ferment, carbonate and condition for? For me a 2+2+2 (in weeks) is an absolute minimum for each stage.
2. In view of the fact that you are "guessing" at the SG it looks as if you don't keep a Diary of your Brews. Start one and make sure that it is accurate!
3. I've got brews sat in my garage that were bottled back in February of this year and the air temperature in the garage got up to 38*C at least once. The brews are "lively" but no "bottle bombs" and only one "gusher" so far. So are you really only using the amount of sugar that you think you are using? To check, I suggest that you weigh out 20 teaspoonful of sugar on to a set of accurate kitchen scales and check the result; and then go to batch carbonation in line with the Calculator above.

All the other tips are great, but you may still have exactly the same problems if none of the above are addressed.

BTW, don't even think about giving up brewing, until AFTER you have solved your problems!

 

[The Baron]

plus one for getting a new fermentor maybe new spoon and syphon tube and do not use any old equipment on your next brew and see if its any better. It pointed to bottling too early but with subsequent brews doing the same I would say a wild yeast infection that is hard to remove from the fermentor even though you think it is clean.
Good Luck its very perplexing especially when you think you have scrubbed and cleaned everything

 

[The Baron]

Ps when you say you are using a teaspoon to prime they do vary in size believe it or not and do you scrape the back of a knife across the teaspoon so that you get a as near as level teaspoon as a heaped ones will be double the amount of priming sugar

 

[MickDundee]

Ps when you say you are using a teaspoon to prime they do vary in size believe it or not and do you scrape the back of a knife across the teaspoon so that you get a as near as level teaspoon as a heaped ones will be double the amount of priming sugar

This, this and this again.

I had a bottle bomb with my second batch. I bought a spoon scale and it turns out I was priming each 500ml bottle with almost 8g of sugar! I use BF priming calculator and my spoon scale now with no issues!

 

[rubybrewer]

What sort of strainer are you using? If a metal mesh one, that is also used in cooking, there could be crud hiding inside the edge where the metal is rolled over. There usually a little gap by the handle. Food bits can get in there and stick. No telling what is hiding there to spoil your beer. Recommend you boil the hell out of that thing! then soak it in VWP or something.

What bottles are you using? Swing-top? If so, take the seals off when you clean to make sure nothing is lurking underneath.

 

[lawrencedarcy]

Hello all,

Just to say I have read every post carefully and really appreciate you taking the time to reply. I'm going to order a new fermenter, use new bottles, and most of all bleach and sanitise the hell out of everything.

I will also be taking readings more thoroughly from now on!

If anyone is interested I will report back in a month or two with an update.

Thanks again for all your thoughtful and informed responses.

 

[Dutto]

Of course we will be interested.

We love sharing in other people's misery ...

... but report back anyway, even if everything turns out fine!

 

[NIGHTSKY BREWING]

Still learning... started all grain in 2007... please report all news... good or bad.

 

[ExpatBrewer]

I was once plagued with a similar issue - over-attenuated in bottle, gushing when opened. Checking the SG of these brews it was obvious that something had got in and continued to fermented them dry in the bottle ending up well below FG. In my case it turned out to be a recurring contamination, most likely a wild yeast, coming from my taps. Taps ideally need to be disassembled for thorough cleaning and sanitising though this can be difficult to do with some taps. I now just make a point of removing them and boiling them before use. Haven't had a problem since!

 

[NIGHTSKY BREWING]

100 degrees is what I do.....

 

[ScottyDog]

On reading through all of the posts, they sound sensible but then a thought struck me. How sterile is your bottle tree? This solved a similar problem for me last year.

 

[MyQul]

On reading through all of the posts, they sound sensible but then a thought struck me. How sterile is your bottle tree? This solved a similar problem for me last year.

That's an interesting thought (I use a FastRack so wouldnt have this problem.)

 

[Zephyr259]

I spray down my tree with sanitiser before starting, maybe it's not paranoia. :-)

 

[JohnB]

FWIW, there is a bit on a. n. other forum about sterilising...

I'd go with the above, dump a big bottle of bleach in to your bath and Chuck everything, bucket, pipes, bottles, caps, hydrometer, spoons, stirring paddle, sieve...blah blah blah in to the bath.

... that, as Nicks90 suggests, a quite weak solution made up of cheap supermarket thin bleach (NOT the thick jelly-like sticky stuff), simply Sodium Hypochlorite solution, and white vinegar is one of the best cold sterilizers. Mix a tablespoon of bleach, and a tablespoon of vinegar to each gallon of water and soak everything (for 24 hours) if you wish, then simply drain and use. Bleach on it's own is only partially effective and the acidification of the solution is necessary to achieve a complete job - a cheap no-rinse sterilizer.

WARNING!!! Do not mix bleach and vinegar together. Mix the bleach thoroughly with the water first, then add the vinegar - . Mixing vinegar and bleach will result in the rapid release of chlorine gas - .