Question About My Home Made Bottle Tree..........

[Lloyd J]

I've been reading threads regarding sterilisation etc and I'm on the right track.. I rinse each bottle as I use them and dunk in a mild bleach solution, then put on my bottle tree. They may stay there for a week upended and clean till I sterilise with Brewcraft nrs useing a pump. I put them back on the tree to drain and I fill them shorty afterwards. QUESTION : My tree is home made from wood. It gets a bleach solution dribbled on all the contact points on a regular basis. Should I pay particular attention to sterilising it ?

 

[Spoonta]

what sort of wood is it hard /soft

 

[Lloyd J]

what sort of wood is it hard /soft

Soft. My brews seem to be comeing out a bit fizzy . I'm tracking back what I'm doing to see if I'm stuffing up somewhere and mildly infecting my batches .

 

[Cube]

I suppose you can relate it to a wooden chopping board. Plastic is always better and cleaner. I have a personal problem with bottle trees because all the hard work of sterilising bottles etc and then you go and stick something inside it against the inner walls of the bottle. Hence my thick flat sheet of plastic 10 maybe 15mm thick with about 60 round holes drilled into tit. Holes big enough to support an upended stubbie or tallie around the neck/shoulder of the bottle. It's mounted onto an ironing board stand so it folds up and is space saving as well.

Plastic bottle trees must be in my mind better than wood ones. Even have a wooden main structure and have plastic spikes instead of wood spikes? Just a suggestion.

/end paranoid bottle infection

 

[kelbygreen]

that is one smart idea cube. I also wondered when setting up my bottle tree weather it needs to be cleaned and sanitised befor you do the bottles as you would get dirt, hairs and all crap on there when its just sitting there doing nothing.

 

[bum]

Due to the design of my tree's 'branches' there is extremely small contact with the inside of the bottle - one small point inside and two points on the lip (flat edge against curved bottle). Assuming the tree is kept clean this seems much less likely to be the cause of infection than leaving the bottles sitting upright waiting for anything to fall inside.

I'd be a little concerned about a wooden bottle tree too. Sounds pretty hard to keep sanitary unless it is lacquered or something - I'm assuming you're actually talking about some bare dowel or similar?

 

[Lloyd J]

Good call. I will pay attention to my tree and see how it goes, a bit more cleaning may fix the issue but the 'tray' idea of yours is worthy.

ALSO I read in another thread of someone commenting on fizzy outcomes and concluding it was useing carbonation drops as I do .. Hmm.

I'm new to this lark and have tried 13 different combinations of kits and yeasts and malt and corn starch and temperatures to find a brew that works and I can brew. Its been both interesting and frustrating in equal measure.

My conclutions are:

1 Keep it clean ( hence the bottle tree question )
2 Keep it cool ( next project a cooler for my fermenters )
3 Find an effective way to do every task so it doesnt become a chore.

Gentlemen , thanks for your input.

Lloyd.

 

[Lloyd J]

Yes.... Oooops.... Maybe my problem ?? Mind you the point of contact is dripped in a mild bleach solution from my rinse protocol every time.. Tough one eh ? Maybe its the carbonation drops causeing the fizzyness, another post has called this..

The bottles dont POP on opening like some others I got wrong, the fizzy nature of the beer distracts from the taste. I put a small dash of sugar into some and it took the bubbles away to improve it no end.
BTW Is there such a thing as a mild infection ?

Lloyd.

 

[Greg Lawrence]

Heres my bottle tree. Just a bit of mdf with 20 holes drilled in it with a holesaw.
45 degrees seems to be about the right angle.
Fits stubbies or tallies.
As I mainly keg my beer, this does me fine

 

[kelbygreen]

I found carbonation drops made my beer to fizzy, But done 1 beer with white sugar about a tablespoon a bottle I think I added ( was perfect fiz) only done this as I found out ants love carb drobs lol the second brew was with carb drobs and was way to fizzy (not overly just 1/4 glass of head) this one I am trying the carb drops again but I left the fermenter 5 days after FG as my 2nd brew I think may of not quite been finished but it had dry emzymes so I here they can give a false FG as they keep eating the residual sugars once the yeast stops.

I think the holes in something would be good. Dunno about MDF as you spit on that and it grows 2mm lol so wouldnt recomend it if its a weekly thing and wanted to last.

 

[Greg Lawrence]

Dunno about MDF as you spit on that and it grows 2mm lol so wouldnt recomend it if its a weekly thing and wanted to last.

As I said, I keg most of my beer, but for what I bottle, it suits me fine.
Probably just use pine if I was bottling more. The MDF hasnt swollen any after 2 years of use, but may have if I had have used it a bit more.

 

[Nick JD]

Wet MDF is also a perfect breeding medium for fungus. Leave some outside in a shady spot over a wet summer...

I think it's glued with nitrogenous compounds.

That said, Gregor - the hole method is a great idea. Plastic chopping board material and that method would be bulletproof.

 

[Blackfish]

I have a couple of foam boxes (from the back of the fruit shop) drilled in the bottom with a hole saw. Its waterproof, relatively sanitary and needs no stand or other construction. Easy!