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Scum ring?


RepSpec

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Hey guys

Putting a PET bottle in the fridge to try one of my latest brews and noticed a scum ring around the top, just below the water line. 

There is also a fair bit of floating sediment through the bottle. 

This is the first time I have noticed this. 

I havent done anything different to how I normally brew/clean etc. Brew days haven't changed since I started brewing. 

I'm thinking it's just from the secondary fermentation? And the scum seems like it's where the bottle started when I first filled it...I'm out of ideas. 

The bottles are stored in a room, inside the boxes the bottles come in. Average room temp would be 20-30c on hot days. 

They are on a concrete floor(no carpet). I used to store the bottles in a garage, but have been storing them inside.

Hopefully the photos help...

APA can, 500g ldm, 200g dex, and some mosaic and galaxy... Nothing different...

I had noticed the same ring on some of my Saison brews but put it down to the berries...now I'm not too sure

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When you fill the bottles you might get a little foam. As the foam dies back you will get a scum ring. Not sure how you are filling the bottles. Are you using a bottling wand? Also are you bulk priming? When i bottle i use carb drops and drop them in after the fill. This seems to stop any foaming. Another reason for the foam might be the brew is not quite finished.

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I had this happen in a few early home brew attempts. I was just rinsing bottles straight after use, thinking that'd be clean enough, and then using sodium metabisulphite to sterilise. The beer tasted fine but those brews with the ring didn't agree with my digestive system as well as they might have. On the advice of one of the contributors here I spent $1.50 or $2 on a bottle brush from Kmart and $3.80 on a tub of Coles' laundry soaker (sodium percarbonate). Yes, I have to spend a little more time cleaning bottles than I'd like but I haven't had "ring" since.
If you're already doing a good cleaning regime, I don't know the answer to your problem. Good luck.

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3 hours ago, RepSpec said:

There is also a fair bit of floating sediment through the bottle

I have had similar before although it was confined to the bottom inch or two of the bottle.  It was my first grain steep and hop hot steep addition (Ruddy's {Fast Homebrew} Easy Pale Ale).  I probably did not do so well at keeping floaties out of it.  

The final beer tasted fine, no difference between the beer at the top of the bottle and the lower bit with the cloudiness.

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My mate at work bottled one of his Pale Ale batches into PET, his practices leave a bit to be desired ie. no hydrometer use,  no temp control so obviously no cold crash either. His bottles foamed up upon dropping the carb drops in and all were left with that same scum ring.

I've never had the 'ring of scum' but I cold crash most of the time and make sure my brews are finished before bottling.

Cheers, Lee

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