More Gushing!

After all the gushing that I suffered last year at this time, which I thought I had tracked down to the used plastic conical I purchased, I fear that it may have a new infected batch.  My second runnings beer is quite phenolic and tart, and it gushes when opened.  I have some bottles in the fridge and some stored in the garage.  Fridge is holding at 35*F, garage is floating in the 40s.  The garage bottle gushed out for over an hour, slowly.  The fridge bottle foamed up quite a bit up to the lip but never gushed over the edge.  I repitched the yeast from my Fresh Hop Brown Ale for this batch, as well as my Wee Heavy that this beer came from.  The Wee Heavy doesn't seem to be showing any off flavors or over carbonating, but it was in the secondary for a month longer than this one.  Also, the Brown Ale is great, even after 4 months, no phenols, no tartness, no carbonation issues, so I am not sure what is happening with this new batch of gushers.  

I did ferment it with oak which might have introduced something wild during the longer than expected lag phase.  

Another possibility could be that since almost all of this batch was bottled in used swing tops that maybe the rubber grommets on the bottles had wild yeast on them from previous beers (a few of my sour Wits and Saisons, as well as last year's infected beers).  I will be replacing all my grommets, boiling them before every new batch. 

Now that I think about it, I did ferment this beer in a 5 gallon glass carboy, which I had my Lambic in for over a month prior to bottling to get it off the oak.  With the lag phase, and the possibility of having some of those bugs in there, it's possible that this is the cause (I have since sold my 5 gallon glass carboys and switched to plastic).

No matter what caused it, I pray that I don't end up with the same issues as last year.  Good thing I dumped the yeast after that batch and went with a brand new package of West Yorkshire on my IPA.  I am getting a new SS racking cane and new tubing to replace my auto-siphon (which forced too much air into the beer before all this happened), and using my new CO2 tank to force transfer from here on out which should keep the infection from spreading to any new batches.

And Another One, and Another... Gushers Update

Seems as though the infection spread further and goes back farther than I had originally thought.  But this does help to close in on the issue.  I had brewed 2 ESBs to do a side-by-side comparison on two yeasts.  The one that happened to be in the fermenter that had housed the infected batches was very slow to start fermenting and had lots of phenols once bottled.  It seemed to have better carbonation than the other version as well.  I had originally thought that the phenols were from a stressed fermentation since the yeast pitch came from a local brew-pub, was from an Imperial IPA, and was mostly hop sludge.  Turns out, after 4 months at room temp, we have gushers again.  Looks as though the gusher bacteria took hold while waiting for the yeast to grow and work.  

I also found one last bottle of Free Bag O Malt Mild, the first brew from the conical which happened to be in the fridge since bottling back in September 2011.  Gusher.  I think my hunch of the bacteria inhabiting the used conical is more than a hunch.  The second batch in that fermenter was only in it for 1 week, and it had some fairly powerful bubbling when I popped the last one of those this weekend too, never gushed though.  So first batch in conical, gusher.  Second, over carbed.  Third, gusher.  Fourth and the one from my other fermenter that got a re-pitch form conical #3 batch, gushers.  Another fermenter repitched, gusher (5th from conical seems to be okay even though it has the same repitch as the other fermenter, yet it is a 10.6% beer).  Yet another batch from a different fermenter that had housed 2 infected repitched batches, gusher.  

Needless to say, I pulled the American Blonde that was fermented in that Better Bottle from the fridge to leave in the garage for a few weeks at 70+ degrees to see if it gushes as well.

Review: The Callen

I set out to do a partigyle Wee Heavy and 80 Schilling.  The hope was to brew a big Scotch Ale to name after my son Callen as an owed to our heritage, as the label reads:

"For such a wee lad, he is a heavy one.  Assertive and bold, but effervescent, one would do well to watch in amazement as this one ages.  Or enjoy him while he is young and smooth, w/ hints of flowers and earth; ne’er a harshness to him at all.  Take your time with him, and ponder the many intricacies of what he is; if you go too fast you’ll miss the wonders of truly knowing him, and he may just sneak up and bite ya’ in the ars!"

To start with, C120 and Special B may not have been the best choice.  But knowing exactly what went wrong on this batch recipe wise will not be easy since the yeast that I pitched was a slurry of 1056 from a previous batch that I had no idea was infected with a wild yeast.  Gushing bottles, fruity esters, what might be Brett L.  Makes for a decent Belgian Dark Strong, too bad that's not what I was trying to brew.

Appearance:  Pours a deep copper (muddy from the yeast being stirred up by the gusher infection) with a super thick beige head that persists for days and leaves a thick cap for the entire drink.  Great lacing, and lots of carbonation.

Smell:  Smells of fake cherries, dark fruits, burnt sugar, faint bread crust, pears, strawberries, flowers.

Taste:  Tastes like it smells, cherries, burnt sugar, toffee, fruity, pie crust, spicy heat in the finish - smooth yet warm.  Honestly I get hints of Trader Joe's 2012 Reserve Belgian beer less the chocolate and over the top spice.

Mouthfeel:  Medium-full consistincy, sweet but warm finish, carbonation makes it lighter on the tongue and leaves a smooth finish.  (If I add a touch of Lactic acid to the glass it makes the whole thing pop).

Overall:  For a Belgian Dark Strong it would be very nice (maybe back off on the fake cherries some though).  As a Wee Heavy if fails miserably.  The gusher infection is very fruity, lots of cherry, and tears through residual sugars thus the gushing.  Hoping that the pie cherry flavor eventually begins to morph to some horse blanket and some acid as well, thinking Old Ale after some time in the cellar maybe.  We'll see where this one goes in time.

If It's Infected, Why Not Infect It?

I've been thinking a lot about sours and wild brews lately, much of this is from the infections in 8 batches and the despair that I may not be able to brew clean beers again. Then a shipment of Cantillon came in and I was able to get a bottle of 1900 and Rose de Gambrinus and a renewed desire to brew sours on purpose arose. I have the American Blonde going in my fermenters right now, and was able to get an extra 2.5 gallons of wort out of it which got straight Brett B from a starter I had made from Orval (huge pelicle right now). I am planning on diverting 3-4 gallons of the Blonde to another fermenter for souring upon bottling, some with oak, some with Apricots, all with a blend of bugs. This new joy for sours got me thinking... I have a case of infected stout that I am not going to drink... why not sour it all? So I did. Last night I popped the top on the whole case of gushers and poured them into 2 - 1 gallon glass jugs. The foaming was outrageous; it took 3 shots of foam control in each jug to get them full. Once I got them filled I hit them each with a bug blend I have of Lacto, Pedio, and Bretts. One of the jugs overflowed when I hit it with the solution. Both jugs were still throwing off tons of CO2 10 hours later (not too worried about oxidizing these since the airlocks are more active then the fermenting Blondes). I'll give them a few months to go wild and see what comes of it. If they turn out to be drain pours then I've lost nothing but part of an evening and a few drops of foam control. If they turn out to be awesome wilds, then great, glad I did it and saved a batch of beer that was just going to get poured out.

Beyond Just Bottles

As previously posted, I had a bad score from my Brown Ale at a BJCP home brew competetion that showed signs of infection, and after some research and questions about cleaning and cleaning products, and sanitization, I seemed to be getting some headway... or I thought. I was under the impression that this was a bottle here, and bottle there, and had established what I was going to do to fix it...that was until last night. I opened another Brown Ale to see if it would have issues, and was met with Old Faithful. I grabbed that last 5 bottles and one, after the other, nothing but gushers. Alarmed doesn't begin to describe it; neither does rage, but that wassn't the end of it. I grabbed one of the Ambers that I had made 2 weeks after the Brown, that consequently I had repitched the yeast on. No gushing, but the flavor is lacking all the crystal malt character and it is watery. Open the 90- (repitched the yeast into this as well) from the partigyle I had done: GUSHER! Run to the cellar and grab the Wee Heavy from that same partigyle (which got the same repitch as the 90-): GUSHER! Grabbed the Session Stout with Orange Zest and Cinammon (repitched from 90-): GUSHER! This beer had been entered into the same competion and received remarks about over carbonation and lack of flavor. This beer was also a partigyle with my 10.6% Imperial Stout that also received the same yeast; it is carbing up right now, and have no clue about how far the infection has gotten on it, but over the course of the month it aged on cherries the FG dropped from 1.028 to 10.24. I will be crash cooling this one and drinking quicker than expected.

I thought it was all about the bottles, but with the rapid advance of the infection in all the batches it appears to be the repitching of the yeast. The Brown took 5 months to show signs of infection. The Amber 4.5, and is not fully there yet (only a 6 pack left). The 90- and Wee Heavy 3 months, the Stout, less than 2. I am still going to have to get all new bottling equipment as well since all 5 batches went through it all and I'd rather not risk the infection having taken hold of in my nozzle, tubing, wand, bucket, etc., and end up in my other beers as well. This is causing some paranioa as well; my 8 gallons of ESB had all new yeast, and I under primed due to a mishap with the app I use, and thought it would never carbonate. But now it has a decent amount of carbonation. Could just be the time and temp finally giving it what it needed. Could be the same infection (they have the same "oil slick" on the top of the beer as all these others had, could be residual cleaner, could be infected). I am going to get all the ESB in the fridge and drink quick. I will leave out a few bottles for a couple months and see if they turn into gushers as well just so I can know for sure. If the Saison gets infected, I am not too concerned, but still would like it to stay clean. I also am now concerned about the West Yorkshire and 3726 Farmhouse Ale yeasts I used, since I washed them and kept them, but I used the same mason jar lids w/ rubber seals that I used for storing the 1056 that infected all the others, and I didn't boil my jars or lids, just StarSan.

Time to go back to the basics again. Gonna drain-pour multiple batches this weekend, have to buy new Bottling Bucket, spigot, tubing, wand, and I have an email out to the Mad Fermentationist about the best way to kill any bacteria in my Better Bottles since he moves from wild to clean to wild to clean in his with no ill effects.