home products for cleaning bottles and carboy

[mongey]

so my last batch I have had aroudn 50% gushers. thinking some of my bottles may have gotten infected while carbing

maybe I need to tighten up my cleaning . I always rinse well in hot water after drinking a long neck to get any bits out . then usually rinse in boiling water on bottling day, clean with a brush ,rinse again , then sanitise with idophor . havent had any issues in 12 or so brews so far exepct this last one but its annoying so figure it may be worth soaking them in something to degunk them a little more befroe idophor

been reading about all the stuff you get from HBS but I cant get there for a couple weeks .

what around the home options are there ? regular dishwasing detergent seems like a bad idea from what I've read


I have a batch ready to bottle and would rather not wait till I can get to HBS

 

[Camo6]

I use PBW for cleaning and Star-san for sanitising.
Are you sure it's bottle cleanliness at fault? Pretty unlucky to get that many gushers. Any chance you overcarbed or had an infection before bottling? What was the FG and was it the expected FG?

 

[DU99]

unscented napisan/sodium percarbonate,leave overnight,rinse,then hit it with a sanitser.

 

[mongey]

I use PBW for cleaning and Star-san for sanitising.
Are you sure it's bottle cleanliness at fault? Pretty unlucky to get that many gushers. Any chance you overcarbed or had an infection before bottling? What was the FG and was it the expected FG?

used carb drops , 2 in a 750ml , so even if its a little overcarbed for the style, its a porter , we are talking serious gushers

FG was 1008 and was stable for 3 days before cold clearing . it was a FWK not sure what the epxected FG was but I'd guess its around 1008

I thought if it was infected pre bottling then all of them would be affected not just some ?

 

[Moad]

howd they taste?

 

[mongey]

howd they taste?

they tatse good , and no bad smells

evem the ones that have gushed I have saved half the long neck and drank it and it tastes fine . got my missues to try just to be sure I wasnt losing my mind and she said it tatsed good

 

[Camo6]

Sorry, read it as 50 gushers not 50%!

Would've thought your cleaning regime was adequate. Other things to consider are hop particulate matter, time in bottle, time in the fridge etc.

Like Moad asks, was there any funky tastes?

 

[Rocker1986]

It may be worth soaking them in unscented napisan or equivalent. My bottles all get rinsed 3 times straight after use, then when I've collected a carton's worth they all get soaked in nappy wash before being rinsed out, drained and stored before next use. My fermenter also gets the same treatment after every batch. And of course Starsan right before use. Have never had any issues with infections following this regime.

 

[eMPTy]

Probably overkill, but this is what I do.

In addition to the hot rinse after drinking i then spray the necks and insides with no rinse sanitiser before drip drying. I then cover the tops in foil so nothing can get inside. When i have enough i put them in the oven for an hour at 180 deg.

Chuck them through the oven and there will definitely be nothing there to infect your beer!

 

[Nizmoose]

Probably overkill, but this is what I do.

In addition to the hot rinse after drinking i then spray the necks and insides with no rinse sanitiser before drip drying. I then cover the tops in foil so nothing can get inside. When i have enough i put them in the oven for an hour at 180 deg.

Chuck them through the oven and there will definitely be nothing there to infect your beer!

just to add to that, the oven is a great method but leave them to cool inside the oven, don't take them out straight away!

 

[Feldon]

You say you clean with a brush on bottling day then sanitise.

How clean is that old brush?

 

[mongey]

It's not that old actually. Have probably done 5 brews with it and it doesn't look funky.

 

[Vini2ton]

Calcium oxymethingo (beer-stone) builds up on the insides of bottles. I used to just rinse sanitise and fill. One day I held up a few stubbies to bright light and didn't like what I saw. Sod-per lifted that shit right off brilliantly. It was fun to watch the crap floating to the surface. Brew and learn.

 

[Rocker1986]

Exactly why I soak my bottles after every use. It prevents that shit from building up in the first place. I had the same experience with bottles when I was first starting out.

 

[mongey]

So tonight I opened 2 more longnecks that gushed but tasted good

I'm gonna put it down to the beer not fermenting out fully even though it read like it was.

 

[Rocker1986]

What yeast did you use on it?

 

[mongey]

It was a Safale us05. Fridge was set to 17.

Had a look at my scratchy notes and looks like it was only stable for 2 days not 3 before I cold crashed. Have a
New baby so the days sometimes blur.

Oh an my notes said it was 1010 not 1008 as I thought. Still I thought 1010 for a porter would be what you'd expect ?

Lesson learnt. Is not too bad. Now that I know they will all gush I can get them open slowly and only lose Less than a quarter of the long neck.

at least they arnt infected ,so don't need to change too much cleaning wise hopefully.and luckily this batch was in my plastic bottles and don't have to worry about exploding glass

 

[Rocker1986]

US-05 should be fine then, I'd be surprised if it stalled even at 17 degrees, unless it was a big OG beer and there wasn't enough yeast. But if it got down to 1010 I'd say that's not the case. 05 is a reliable yeast in my experience, always gets the job done. S-04 on the other hand has a reputation of being a bit lazy towards the end of fermentation. Most of my porters end up about 1015, although that is deliberate on my part when I mash the grains. I have the same issue you are having with a batch of porter that I'm drinking at the moment, which even resulted in a couple of explosions. They were overcarbed pretty soon after bottling too. I used S-04 on it, and I put it down to that being its lazy self and the beer not being completely fermented when bottled. <_<

How long have they been bottled for? Apparently yeast can release an enzyme that metabolises more of the sugars than the yeast can ferment. I have noticed in the past on some batches that after they have been stored for a long time they seem to have way more carbonation than they did at 1 or 2 months bottled. I dunno if that's the reason for it though. It doesn't happen with all batches either. I have a saved 6 pack from a batch of stout that I bottled about 18 months ago, and last time I tried one it was not over carbed.

I hate to say it but the most likely cause does appear to be a minor infection. Minor enough not to affect the flavour, but present enough to consume some extra sugar and result in gushers.

 

[mongey]

thanks for that



they were in the bottle for 3 weeks when I tried my first one. just over 4 and a half weeks now

oh well if it is infected it tatses good , isnt making me sick and gets you drunk so its still beer

will give eveyrhting a real good clean before my next batch though

 

[stm]

Napisan to clean, Starsan to sanitise.