I am sitting here enjoying my first home brew in MONTHS! It's my Left Over Pale ale (made from left over ingredients and named before the change of Brewery name) and it's green as heck - only carbing for two weeks and no time in the 'fridge - but I couldn't wait to see if I had another infection with this batch. No sour taste and, even though it's so green, it is tasty as all heck. It's going to be a good beer after two more weeks and a week in the 'fridge.
I soaked the bottles in a bucket of Star San and sanitized everything in it. It seems to have turned the trick. I'm back in business, baby!
Things men have made with wakened hands, and put soft life into
Are awake through years with transferred touch and go on glowing
For long years.
And for this reason some old things are lovely
Warm still with the life of forgotten men who made them.
Good deal Chuck, glad things cleaned up for you. I've been busy cleaning all of my brewing equipment too, because in a few weeks I'm going to fill all my fermenters with brew.
Happy Hound Brewery
“I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.”
― Thomas A. Edison
Good news, Chuck! Congrats on getting back on board.
I recently chucked one of my LBKs because I suspected it had micro-scratches and was infected. I've had two gusher batches I can trace to that LBK, and that's enough for me. Now I need to ramp up production and get the pipeline robust and healthy before spring arrives.
Up Next: Littlejohn's Ale Fermenting/Conditioning Old Smokey Amber Ale -- 100 Years War IPA -- Ottertoberfest Drinking: Rocking Chair Orange Wheat -- South Ferry Steam Beer
Great news! I pour a solution of star san into a spray bottle ... and just spray the inside of the bottle, roll around and pour the little bit out. I save a ton on starsan. It works just as good.
That's also how I sanitize the insides of my fermenter pales. Just spray the inside surfaces, then gently wipe the starsan the falls to the bottom around with a starsan sprayed paper towel ... never had an infection, and a small container of starsan lasts FOREVER.
I made up a solution of an ounce of Star San in four gallons of water (a little over-kill but I'm not going to worry about that) in my bottling bucket. Then I dunked as many bottles in the bucket holding them under until they filed with solution. Once the bucket was full I took the bottles out in the order that I put them in, drained them and set them in my tree. Then I putt the caps into a bowl and filled that with solution and set it off to the side until needed. I put the dis-assembled end of my bottling wand into a glass and filled that with solution. Then I put my spoon, bottling wand stem and auto-siphon into the bucket - running solution through the auto-siphon - and let all that soak while I boiled my sugar solution.
I think that in dunking the bottles in the solution I sanitized the two things that may have been causing a lot of my problems: My hands.
Things men have made with wakened hands, and put soft life into
Are awake through years with transferred touch and go on glowing
For long years.
And for this reason some old things are lovely
Warm still with the life of forgotten men who made them.
For those that care (probably no one), I've done the math on figuring out cost.
If you buy a quart of StarSan at the price of $15.99, it works out to 10 cents per gallon of solution.
That's less than 1/2 the cost of Easy Clean / One Step. I used a pound of One Step over about 20 batches, figure a gallon for bottling and a gallon for brewing, so that's 40 gallons or 10 cents per gallon.
The big differences are that StarSan lasts for weeks (not a week sealed like One Step) and that StarSan takes a lot less to do the job and does it quicker.
I don't like how the bottle foams over the top when filling, it makes more of a mess. But it is nice having a spray bottle of it.
I have over 9,000 posts on "another forum", which means absolutely nothing. Mr. Beer January 2014 Brewer of the Month with all the pomp and circumstance that comes with it...
Certificate in Brewing and Distillation Technology
Beers I regularly brew:
Bell's Best Brown clone
Irish Hills Red - I call this "Ann Arbor Red"
Mackinac Island Red - I call this "Michigan Red"
Oatmeal Stout - I call this Not Fat, Stout - Oatmeal Stout
Bottled 5 gallons of Ann Arbor Red on 4/18/17. Bottled 5 gallons of Michigan Red on 5/8/17.
Brewed in 2017 - 22.13 gallons (19.91 in 2012, 48.06 in 2013, 61.39 in 2014, 84.26 in 2015,46.39 in 2016)
Brewed in lifetime - 282.14 gallons
Drinkable beer on hand - 13.58 cases, with 6.11 cases ready in May and early June.
Average cost per 12 pack through all beer brewed - $6.27(ingredients only)
Maybe this is one of those "DUH" moments but the last bottling I did I used Star San for the first time. I dunked my bottles in to a bucket of solution, let them sit a minute or two and then poured the solution out of the bottles and back into the bucket. Well the foam (bubbles) in the bottles was really a PITA as I had to over flow each bottle at filling to get the foam out of the bottles. This time I did the same thing except when I poured the solution out of the bottles I did it slowly - like I was pouring a beer without disturbing the trub - and the foam (bubbles) is non-existent.
Things men have made with wakened hands, and put soft life into
Are awake through years with transferred touch and go on glowing
For long years.
And for this reason some old things are lovely
Warm still with the life of forgotten men who made them.
I use the Vinator and find that there's foam left even if they've been sitting on the bottle tree for 15 minutes. I agree it's annoying, but I'm not dunking 50 bottles.
I have over 9,000 posts on "another forum", which means absolutely nothing. Mr. Beer January 2014 Brewer of the Month with all the pomp and circumstance that comes with it...
Certificate in Brewing and Distillation Technology
Beers I regularly brew:
Bell's Best Brown clone
Irish Hills Red - I call this "Ann Arbor Red"
Mackinac Island Red - I call this "Michigan Red"
Oatmeal Stout - I call this Not Fat, Stout - Oatmeal Stout
Bottled 5 gallons of Ann Arbor Red on 4/18/17. Bottled 5 gallons of Michigan Red on 5/8/17.
Brewed in 2017 - 22.13 gallons (19.91 in 2012, 48.06 in 2013, 61.39 in 2014, 84.26 in 2015,46.39 in 2016)
Brewed in lifetime - 282.14 gallons
Drinkable beer on hand - 13.58 cases, with 6.11 cases ready in May and early June.
Average cost per 12 pack through all beer brewed - $6.27(ingredients only)
This is one reason I usually use one-step on bottles. I do like starsan a lot though and use it on almost everything. I was told at My LHBS the other day that there is something a lot like starsan out there but with less foaming, Do any of you know what that might be? When I go back I'll check into it.
Happy Hound Brewery
“I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.”
― Thomas A. Edison
RickBeer wrote:I use the Vinator and find that there's foam left even if they've been sitting on the bottle tree for 15 minutes. I agree it's annoying, but I'm not dunking 50 bottles.
Yeah, I can see your point there. But with the troubles I've been having I decided to go "all in" and sanitize everything in sight. With dunking the bottles I get the added bonus of sanitizing my hands at the same time.
Things men have made with wakened hands, and put soft life into
Are awake through years with transferred touch and go on glowing
For long years.
And for this reason some old things are lovely
Warm still with the life of forgotten men who made them.
For bottling, a Vinator is one of those items you will really wish you had gotten sooner. If you've got a wish list of brewing items to acquire, I highly recommend putting this towards the top of the list.