infection?

[Greg]

Hey guys,

Im a little concerned. Im drinking a 8 week old Coopers Heritage Lager, and its significantly overcarbed. Fermentation was completed and verified by consistant readings over 3 days. Bottles were washed and sterilised by neo-pink sanitiser and morgans sanitize. Neo pink was very well rinsed prior to morgans sanitize being used. All my bottles have been stored in the cupboard, at approx 18-20 ambient temperature. Surely there cant be an infection in my brew? It tastes wonderful and there is no fowl smell. I used carb drops to carbonate, but have never experienced overcarbonation like this before. The brew has been bottled in coopers glass bottles, not PET. Do i have bombs on hand, or should i just bung em in the fride to the disgust of the wife? Perhaps i should go back to individual measurements instead of the carb drops?

[THIRSTY MATT]

first of all dude, open the bottles n let some gas out... then " only if they plastic bottles" re cap em.

tell us a bit about your brew e.g. WHAT DID YOU MIX (kit plus brew enhancer 2? or kit plus 1kg light dry malt?), TEMP YOU BREWED AT, """HYDROMETER READINGS """" , HOW LONG WAS IT ON FOR, "" HYDROMETER READINGS""" and what was your final gravity/ hydrometer reading when you bottled it!!

what im getting at dude is, if it taste ok...its probably not an infection...more likely bottled before fermentation is finished... you can get constant readings if the yeast is crap or drops outta suspension due to a number of reasons etc etc

SO: it stopped fermenting because the yeast dropped outta suspension, therefore you got constant gravity.

BUT: when you bottled it may have stirred the yeast again and it finished fermenting in the bottle, therefore heapsa gas.

thats just one senario..whats did ya brew consist of?

and what was ya hydrometer reaings?

cheers mate

matt

p.s. dont forget to tell us your starting gravity and final gravity ( your hydrometer readings, these are really important).

[Greg]

Thanks for your reply. My ingredients were the kit, BE2, 30g Sazz hops @10mins and saflager yeast. Yeast pitched at 22, then gradually over the next day, temp dropped down to 12-13 +/- 1 degree to ferment. Didnt take an OG, but expected it to be around 1040 given the ingredients. SG after 3 weeks, was 1008 and confirmed by 3 readings on 3 separate days. Temp was raised to 20 +/- 1 degree for last 2 days. No change in SG, so FG was achieved at 1008. Bottled that day with carb drops and Coopers Glass bottles - not PET.

 

Everything i did was correct from my records. My only feeling is that the prime rate of those particular carb drops was too high, or for some unknown reason, i got a slight infection from the sugar in the drops thus creating additional carbonation than desired level. Before you ask, bottles were primed at 2 carb drops per tallie. I just cant explain why this particular batch is overcarbed, or what i like to call a happy beer that likes to greet me when i open it, when based on my records, FG was achieved and everything was clean and well sanitised. I cant explain it.

[Andris]

I think after 8 weeks in bottles they would have already blown up!

As I have noticed, the most volatile reaction in bottles occurs in first 3-4 days in a warm nice place, in a week its clear and settled.

 

 

[THIRSTY MATT]

GOOD REPLY GREG!

when ya got an issue,tellt he whole story it helps someone to help you!

................ but its got me stuffed mate.....PB2?

im interested to see if weve missed anything..paul? anyone?

andris might be right... but ive only had one bottle explode in 4.5years of kit brewing and i had the label on the side of the bottle, so i dont know what or how old it was that blew up!

cheers

matt

[PB2]

Carbo Drops are normally around the 3.0 - 3.3g mark. However, you will find the odd oversized and undersized drop in the packet. The oversized drops can give you overcarbonated beer.

 

You said you bottled into Coopers glass bottles - I hope you are talking about the 750ml bottles, designed for refilling [rightful] If they are the 375ml bottles [pinched] you could always try releasing some pressure with a spanner style bottle opener then nipping them back up.

 

Brewing FAQs - infection

[Greg]

Bottles were all filled using 750ml bottles - 'tallies'. I dont do stubbies, because im lazy and dont want to clean that many bottles. If that were the case of oversized carbo drops, i would expect the odd few over carbed, but not the entire batch. Could storing the bottles at 18+ degrees (for a true lager) be too high, thus creating excess carbonation? Surely FG wasnt lower than 1008. Perhaps i didnt clean the bottles as well as i thought i did. Oh well, thanks for the help. [cool]

[PB2]

1008 is about right for BE2.

Using our 750ml glass bottles - nice one [cool]

 

The amount of CO2 developed in the bottle is determined by the qty of fermentable sugars available to the yeast. However, other organisms may produce more gas. Every brew, we make, carries some level of infection from wild yeast and bacteria.

If you are willing to sacrifice a few crown seals, you could release some gas by prising them off and re-capping immediately.