Chasing down an infection

High temp in mashing leading to astringency also needs a high pH. Getting a high pH is fairly hard to do if you batch sparge and bloody hard to do if you no sparge. It's mainly a concern for fly sparging.
 
SabreSteve said:
That's what I'm leaning towards although my last batch finishing so low still has me concerned about the fermenter. I did get a bottle sprayer before this last batch and all bottles were cleaned with PBW and then hit with Starsan before bottling but that was my process last time minus the sprayer
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How clean were the insides though? I use one of those bottle blasters that fit on a sink tap and spray the hell out of the inside of the bottle.
 
Hawkbox said:
How clean were the insides though? I use one of those bottle blasters that fit on a sink tap and spray the hell out of the inside of the bottle.
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The bottles are always rinsed out well and then dried upside down. Day before bottling they're cleaned. All get filled with PBW and cleaned. Inspected visually before cleaning, any with visible debris/gunk get soaked in the PBW. All get rinsed and put back in the drying rack. On bottling day while the batch is priming in the bottling bucket they all get Starsan and then go back upside down in the rack till filled
 
Here's a bit of an "out there" hypothesis. Imagine you had a bit of grime in the spigot that had been happily growing bacteria since the last time the bottling bucket was used. Now imagine liquid starts flowing through there. The first few bottles would dissolve a lot of the gunk, carrying the bacteria with it into the bottles. As the process proceeded, because the gunk is soluble, there'd be less until eventually there was none. So those first bottles would be infected, the last would not. Admittedly, it's a wild-a**ed guess but plausible... There's always bacteria in beer but as with Covid, it's the load that counts.
 
Nosybear said:
Here's a bit of an "out there" hypothesis. Imagine you had a bit of grime in the spigot that had been happily growing bacteria since the last time the bottling bucket was used. Now imagine liquid starts flowing through there. The first few bottles would dissolve a lot of the gunk, carrying the bacteria with it into the bottles. As the process proceeded, because the gunk is soluble, there'd be less until eventually there was none. So those first bottles would be infected, the last would not. Admittedly, it's a wild-a**ed guess but plausible... There's always bacteria in beer but as with Covid, it's the load that counts.
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I suppose it's possible. Considering I do remove the spigot to clean I don't know. Just hoping being more vigilant this time will solve everything
 
Keep on with the PBW but maybe try using Iodopher or bleach cut to proper solution. I've heard Denny Conn and Drew Beechum discussing changing up sanitation solutions periodically to help ensure that you're getting everything.
 
Nosybear said:
Here's a bit of an "out there" hypothesis. Imagine you had a bit of grime in the spigot that had been happily growing bacteria since the last time the bottling bucket was used. Now imagine liquid starts flowing through there. The first few bottles would dissolve a lot of the gunk, carrying the bacteria with it into the bottles. As the process proceeded, because the gunk is soluble, there'd be less until eventually there was none. So those first bottles would be infected, the last would not. Admittedly, it's a wild-a**ed guess but plausible... There's always bacteria in beer but as with Covid, it's the load that counts.
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That actually sounds quite plausible! And it wouldn't be too hard to test either. You could number each bottle cap as you fill it the bottle. Then drink them in random order but note the number of the bottle when you find a bad one.
 
I'm officially blaming the bottles. I've had some very good beers out of that batch in the last week. I found this tonight though:
IMG_20201211_201216__01.jpg
Sorry if the picture isn't great but took it with one hand while holding the bottle to the light. That dark blob is on the inside and doesn't look like yeast to me...
I just feel like a dum-dum that I could miss something like that
 
Nice catch. I remember reading somewhere (might have been a Craft Beer & Brewing magazine, but I’m really not sure) that bottles are the most likely source of contamination in a homebrew setting. I wouldn’t beat yourself up over it, lesson learned. I’m sure it won’t happen again.

And I know this might not be in the cards just yet, but cleaning one keg is soooooo much easier than cleaning 40-50 bottles.
 
Megary said:
Nice catch. I remember reading somewhere (might have been a Craft Beer & Brewing magazine, but I’m really not sure) that bottles are the most likely source of contamination in a homebrew setting. I wouldn’t beat yourself up over it, lesson learned. I’m sure it won’t happen again.

And I know this might not be in the cards just yet, but cleaning one keg is soooooo much easier than cleaning 40-50 bottles.
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Yeah help me convince my wife it's time to invest in a keg or two...
 
SabreSteve said:
Yeah help me convince my wife it's time to invest in a keg or two...
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Haha! No thank you.

In the end, my two kegs cost me 3x the price of the actual kegs, once you factor in all the times my wife used the “Yeah, but you bought two kegs...” excuse on me. Still worth it though. :)
 
SabreSteve said:
I'm officially blaming the bottles. I've had some very good beers out of that batch in the last week. I found this tonight though:View attachment 13202Sorry if the picture isn't great but took it with one hand while holding the bottle to the light. That dark blob is on the inside and doesn't look like yeast to me...
I just feel like a dum-dum that I could miss something like that
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Shame on you Steve, big fail there buddy:D:D:D:D:D
 
Hawkbox said:
I don't get many chances so I take every one of them.
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Well with that nice Canadian division you guys have going this year you should have a pretty easy path to the playoffs as long as you can stay ahead of Calgary. We basically have the group of death. Only team I'm for sure we're better than is New Jersey, maybe the Rangers
 
Hawkbox said:
Yeah that's going to be weird.
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I mean I think that's the easiest division besides the Pacific. I think Toronto and Vancouver compete for the top spot and the only other serious challenger besides the Oilers is the flames
Nosybear said:
Biggest problem with bleach is using it at too high a concentration. 1 tablespoon per gallon is enough. Be sure and rinse well....
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Is that like regular old school bleach or like the 2x concentrated that's mainly what you find now?
 
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