Infection

[Minbari]

Completely possible it was just high surface tension, so the co2 was blowing bubbles. Looks suspicious though

 

[BarbarianBrewer]

I opened a bottle from the likely infected batch. It was a gusher! I took a gravity reading (w/hydrometer) and found the gravity had dropped 4 points since bottling 4 days earlier! The aroma and flavor weren't bad; maybe a little tart. So, I think the cause was drawing in some wild yeast or bacteria during the cold crash. Followed by leaving it at room temp for two more days until I could bottle allowed the new buggers to propagate. <insert dumbass icon/>. I put all the bottles from that batch in the fridge while I decide what to do. I'll probably just dump them but, I'm also debating opening the bottles to relieve the pressure and recapping. This was a split batch and the other batch had minor carbonation (as expected) and had the same gravity it did at bottling. So, good news is that the infection occurred in the fermenter and not upstream. Now I have to decide if I should replace my bottling bucket and bottling wand and tubing.

 

[Sunfire96]

I opened a bottle from the likely infected batch. It was a gusher! I took a gravity reading (w/hydrometer) and found the gravity had dropped 4 points since bottling 4 days earlier! The aroma and flavor weren't bad; maybe a little tart. So, I think the cause was drawing in some wild yeast or bacteria during the cold crash. Followed by leaving it at room temp for two more days until I could bottle allowed the new buggers to propagate. <insert dumbass icon/>. I put all the bottles from that batch in the fridge while I decide what to do. I'll probably just dump them but, I'm also debating opening the bottles to relieve the pressure and recapping. This was a split batch and the other batch had minor carbonation (as expected) and had the same gravity it did at bottling. So, good news is that the infection occurred in the fermenter and not upstream. Now I have to decide if I should replace my bottling bucket and bottling wand and tubing.

Do you like sours? You could carefully dump and pitch some lacto and try to turn it into a dry berliner weisse? If I remember you were brewing a kolsch? I feel like that malt bill would do well in a berliner. (Assuming the IBUs were low enough for lacto to grow)

 

[Blackmuse]

Now I have to decide if I should replace my bottling bucket and bottling wand and tubing.

I would replace anything that touched it!

Man- I hope I never see bubbles like that! Those things are creepy. Original poster's bubbles looked worse... creepy.

 

[GFHomebrew]

I opened a bottle from the likely infected batch. It was a gusher! I took a gravity reading (w/hydrometer) and found the gravity had dropped 4 points since bottling 4 days earlier! The aroma and flavor weren't bad; maybe a little tart. So, I think the cause was drawing in some wild yeast or bacteria during the cold crash. Followed by leaving it at room temp for two more days until I could bottle allowed the new buggers to propagate. <insert dumbass icon/>. I put all the bottles from that batch in the fridge while I decide what to do. I'll probably just dump them but, I'm also debating opening the bottles to relieve the pressure and recapping. This was a split batch and the other batch had minor carbonation (as expected) and had the same gravity it did at bottling. So, good news is that the infection occurred in the fermenter and not upstream. Now I have to decide if I should replace my bottling bucket and bottling wand and tubing.

All is revealed in the beer eventually.

I like Sunfires idea
You could just leave a bottle or three and let it age and see if it's worthwhile instead of dumping them all.

You call
Thanks for sharing man

 

[BarbarianBrewer]

Do you like sours? You could carefully dump and pitch some lacto and try to turn it into a dry berliner weisse? If I remember you were brewing a kolsch? I feel like that malt bill would do well in a berliner. (Assuming the IBUs were low enough for lacto to grow)

I'm not a fan of very sour or tart beers but, wouldn't be opposed to something with one toe over the line. Since this beer is already bottled, I'd be adding the lacto by the drop. How many drops per bottle do you think it take to get it there? IBUs on this beer was 19, so should be good on that.

 

[BarbarianBrewer]

All is revealed in the beer eventually.

I like Sunfires idea
You could just leave a bottle or three and let it age and see if it's worthwhile instead of dumping them all.

You call
Thanks for sharing man

I like Sunfire's idea too. I could leave a few unaltered. I would at least open and recap those. Too much risk of bottle bombs without doing that.

 

[Sunfire96]

I'm not a fan of very sour or tart beers but, wouldn't be opposed to something with one toe over the line. Since this beer is already bottled, I'd be adding the lacto by the drop. How many drops per bottle do you think it take to get it there? IBUs on this beer was 19, so should be good on that.

Lacto also produces CO2 as a byproduct, so you should probably put the beer in something that vents

 

[Sunfire96]

I guess there could be some confusion of terms. What I was suggesting was fermenting the beer again with a lactobacillus bacteria culture. They would eat sugars and produce CO2 and lactic acid

You could also dose each bottle with straight lactic acid. That would require some experimentation to determine the right amount

 

[BarbarianBrewer]

I guess there could be some confusion of terms. What I was suggesting was fermenting the beer again with a lactobacillus bacteria culture. They would eat sugars and produce CO2 and lactic acid

You could also dose each bottle with straight lactic acid. That would require some experimentation to determine the right amount

I think the lactic acid in the bottle approach would be the best option, because I don't want to drain the bottles now and rebottle later. Too much oxidation.

 

[GFHomebrew]

I think the lactic acid in the bottle approach would be the best option, because I don't want to drain the bottles now and rebottle later. Too much oxidation.

Yeah I'd just go with the "Wild" theam and let what will be be.

 

[Zambi]

I think the lactic acid in the bottle approach would be the best option, because I don't want to drain the bottles now and rebottle later. Too much oxidation.

Just wondering:
If you ferment again with lactobaccilius, won't that use up the oxygen first? And the only oxidation problem is when bottling (same as always when bottling)?

 

[BarbarianBrewer]

Just wondering:
If you ferment again with lactobaccilius, won't that use up the oxygen first? And the only oxidation problem is when bottling (same as always when bottling)?

I've heard both pro and con on that theory, so I really have no idea. Because there isn't a definitive answer I figure the answer must be somewhere in the middle. My guess is that there is some consumption of O2 but, not enough to stop oxidation.