Musings on gusher batches

[FedoraDave]

I've had a couple of gusher batches, and was puzzled about why. I didn't think it was my sanitation procedures, nor gunk left in the bottles. I was attributing it to a bad package of chocolate malt, but now I've got a gusher batch of blonde ale, and something else occurred to me.

It could be scratches in that one particular LBK harboring goobies. I need to research this a little more and go back and try to figure out which batches I did in that one (it's got the HopSLAMber Ale in it now, I believe, which has yet to be bottled, but there was another batch between the Old Yeller Blonde Ale and the HopSLAMber - just gotta unwind the timeline to find which one).

Fortunately, I have a third LBK that I haven't even been using, so I might just toss the one and use the newer one. I'd hate to see two more batches suffer, but if it confirms my suspicions, it's better to know.

Edited to Add: Okay, it would be the Some Kinda Amber Ale that would be suspicious. I'll have to see what happens when I finally crack open a bottle of that one.

[John Sand]

Dave, I suffered a series of infections from a dented LBK, and failure to follow procedure. At first it was slight, a few milky spots atop the wort, having little effect on the brew. By the third batch it skinned over and tasted pretty sour, getting worse in the bottle. I put the lbk aside, but saved the spigot, blaming the dent. Later, using that spigot, my fermenter didn't get infected, but the beer did once bottled. And it took a while to manifest, letting me infect more. Worse, it had by then contaminated something else, maybe my bottling wand or turkey baster, so throwing out the spigot no longer helped. It went from infection to plague, and the only solution was to clean house, disposing of all plastic, steam sanitizing all metal. I'm thrifty, so it hurt to toss my hardware, but not as much as tossing beer. So, be wary of any plastic used on those batches.

[russki]

If you even have a suspicion that your equipment may be harboring bugs, get rid of it - it's not worth the aggravation of another infected batch. My last two batches turned out mildly phenolic, which could be caused by wild yeast, so I ditched all my plastic equipment, and got new buckets, hoses, spigots, and bottle fillers - even though it cost me $50, the peace of mind that my equipment is not harboring infections is worth it!

[Chuck N]

Are you guys saying that once you get an infection the only way to get rid of it is by replacing all of your equipment?

[jimjohson]

Are you guys saying that once you get an infection the only way to get rid of it is by replacing all of your equipment?

plastic yes. glass and metal can be sterilized

[RickBeer]

No, unless the infection is caused by scratches that allow things to grow, then they will re-occur. If the infection was caused by poor sanitation, then cleaning thoroughly and sanitizing will likely remedy the problem. If necessary, a bleach sanitation, followed by a through washing and normal sanitation can get rid of stubborn infections, again IF not caused by embedded scratches.

An infection can be caused by many things, including what I did - taking hours to cool the wort down.

I had an infection in a batch that strongly tasted of vinegar. I cleaned thoroughly, sanitized, and have made many batches since then without incidents.

[duff]

One thing I took from another brewer on the Mr. Beer forums a long time ago was to label your fermenters and track which ones you use in the batches.

I also replace my tubing every year or any time it discolors.And I did replace my bottling wand when I found a scratch inside it.

Luckily for me though so far I have only had one batch of gushers and even then it's a slow gusher. It takes about 4 imperial pint glasses to hold the beer and the foam produced from a 12 oz bottle. I've reused the same fermenter a few times and have had no further gushers.

[RickBeer]

One thing I took from another brewer on the Mr. Beer forums a long time ago was to label your fermenters and track which ones you use in the batches..

Great point. I did that after my problem. I label both parts of the nozzle too (and take it apart to clean it), and the cap. I don't bother labeling the washer or nut though.

[mashani]

Are you guys saying that once you get an infection the only way to get rid of it is by replacing all of your equipment?

plastic yes. glass and metal can be sterilized

Harder plastic like the fermenters can be bleach bombed too IMHO - but not if it has any scratches. That's the trick.

Mr. Beers "put your tools in your lbk to sanatize" is in general a bad idea in this regards. No matter how careful you are you will get little scratches in there.

I don't put anything in my plastic fermenter except for wort or sanitizer or cleaner, or a soft rag.

But honestly - if you ever get a brett infection and the brett gets out into your house - you may never ever be 100% brett free and may end up with a random brett infected batch, especially if it gets into your HVAC system. That's why most commercial breweries who do wild beers do them on a totally separate premises from their regular beers. And they are designed to be easy places to clean - your house not so much.

This is why I get 2-3 Brett C infections every summer. I just bleach bomb, drink them, and brew on. (luckily it makes good beer, just adds pinapple and wet hay flavors that I don't mind being someone who likes funky Belgians).

[FedoraDave]

I may wind up investing in some 3-gallon carboys that I saw at the LHBS. I don't know if they're glass or plastic, but I've had two of those LBKs for nearly four years now, and it may be time to retire them.

[Brewbirds]

I may wind up investing in some 3-gallon carboys that I saw at the LHBS. I don't know if they're glass or plastic, but I've had two of those LBKs for nearly four years now, and it may be time to retire them.

Wouldn't you be able to see if the older LBKs were scratched up by holding them up to a good light?

I'm talking if it ain't broke don't fix it here; it could be more trouble tracking down the problem than replacing equipment would be but if you dumped a bunch of plastic gear in one big heap and then still had the problem that would be frustrating beyond belief.

What about doing the bleach bomb on anything that is suspect and then introducing each piece back into the line up as a test, starting with fermenters and a cheap DME wort under normal brewing conditions but replacing any inexpensive tubing etc that might be a culprit (keeping notes of course)?

We are trying to track down some weird phenolics in a few random light batches and since our LBKs are numbered and in our brew notes we don't think it is a fermenter. I hadn't thought about tubing but maybe.

[John Sand]

I dumped too much beer to save the plastic. The only things I saved were the hydrometer jar and a new, uninfected LBK. I never pour the sample back, and the LBK is a bottling bucket. It worked, no more infections.

[FedoraDave]

I'm with John. I've had too many batches that were bitches to try to track it down, although I can eliminate some possibilities. I've only had a problem with LBK batches, so it's not the common equipment, i.e. the auto-siphon, the hydrometer tube, or anything else that is used with every batch.

I haven't numbered my LBKs, but going through my sig, I can see the timeline of brewing, so I know which batches were fermented in which LBK. As noted, the Old Yeller Blonde Ale is a gusher, and that LBK also housed the Some Kinda Amber Ale and the current HopSLAMber, to be bottled this weekend. The HopSLAMber is a little young (just under 3 weeks), but I've got a bottle in the fridge, and I'm going to open it probably tonight or tomorrow to see what happens.

[John Sand]

I did the same in tracking down bad fermenters. After the dented one, one of my others went bad. I had numbered them along the way, but my brew diary helped me isolate the bad one. By then I was suspicious of my other plastic. I think my brews have been clean for four batches now, maybe six, as two are not ready to drink. Coincidentally, (I think) I only had infections in extract batches. It is a sign to use grain, as God intended.

[goblin]

what about the yeast?
i have only had one gusher batch, and i did drink it.
i was thinking it was the chocolate malt thing that the "HAT" brought up a while back.
everyone is talking equipment, but what about the yeast and yeast starters.
might be a combination of things.

just sayin
brewon