BeerBorg

I did the same thing a little while back beerlabeler...I think im going to buy me another BDC and give it another shot.

You may want to check out our new clear fermenters. Now you can watch your fermentation. These will be available in a few days.

oh cool!

The ultimate pervin' fermenter!

When are the 6 gallon ones going to be out?

haerbob3 wrote:When are the 6 gallon ones going to be out?

+1 that's what I want to know

We are cutting the mold right now. It should be ready by summer.

I like the look of that clear conical. Six gallon sounds intriguing also.

what infection would cause gushers? I know that you can get acetobacter which munches on your alcohol and converts it to vinegar... which I suppose could produce extra co2, but is there a specific boojum that does the gushers? or is it speculation?

Pretty much anything from wild yeast to various bacteria. Or even lingering bits of domesticated yeast that attenuates more then the yeast you brewed with. IE if I took one of my bottles from saison and didn't sanitize it well enough, and bottled a "normal" beer in it, it would turn into a gusher or explode my bottles because it would ferment out 10 more points eventually. Also sometimes yeast that flocculated too fast in your fermenter and didn't really finish the beer (it stopped a few points higher then you thought it would be) but wakes up in your bottles due to rousing during racking and the sugar you added can give you over carbonated beer. It may not go spewing 4 feet up into the air in that case, but it will foam out the top of your bottle after you open it, and fill your glass with fizz. (some English yeasts can do this for example).

RE: the acetobacter, I would say in general what folks consider gusher infections are not caused by acetobacter. It will turn your alcohol into acetic acid first and you would *know* your beer was infected as soon as it came near your nose or mouth and long before it turned into a gusher. It could be *much more sour* then commercial vinegar, because commercial vinegar is diluted. In some scenarios, some types of acetobacter will eventually eat the acetic acid when they run out of alcohol and oxygen and turn it back into CO2 and water. There are other bugs that can do this too. That could cause gushers, but it's unlikely that you would not have noticed that your beer tastes totally hideous before hand. But lots of gusher beers are totally drinkable if you can manage to collect the beer in something and let it blow off some of the fizz, and are willing to do so.

Whatever is causing it, it leaves behind large chunks of yeast-like things, which float around in the beer and eventually settle at the bottom of the glass. The beer tastes okay, but it gushes like crazy, and keeps getting worse the longer the beer is in the bottle. I recently posted about a batch of stout from last fall's RCE that resulted in gushers. I kept them too long and eventually opened them in the bathtub. They spewed six feet up, very violently. And there was actual kickback when I popped the caps off.

BrewDemon, can't wait for the 6 gal edition to come out. It would be a cool new thing to use on my summers off. I liked the idea of watching the fermentation. I used a glass carboy once, but was too heavy to move around, clean etc. If your looking for a product tester, sign me up.

Are the exactly 6 gals, or 6 1/2?

Based on the picture, I'm guessing the answer is "no" but I'll ask anyway: Are you (BrewDemon) working on a way to dump the yeast from the bottom? That would be bueno.

Kailia, would the point of that being that it now becomes a secondary? I know some rack to secondary, and that woud simplify process.