Infection?

The Homebrew Forum

Help Support The Homebrew Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

teadixon

Active Member
Joined
Oct 16, 2016
Messages
79
Reaction score
20
Location
London
I've been brewing for a bit more than 18 months, just over 12 months all grain.

I've got a few beers now that I've kept for a while - I opened up a porter that I've had for a year tonight, and got a couple of bottles of last year's Xmas brew saved up too. I've found that when I open them up they fizz up a lot. Not immediately, not explosively - there's a small delay and then they foam like hell. Even when very well chilled this happens.

They taste largely fine, though there is a very mild flavour that I've started to notice in all my brews. It's very hard to pinpoint and describe but I thought it was maybe my water (London water) so I had started to try things out with water treatment - no success in getting rid of it. It's been there since my first AG brews but I didn't notice it until I'd done a few.

Some of my recent brews are also turning out pretty fizzy, though it takes time to set in; the first few bottles are fine, but then as the weeks go on they start to fizz like mad when I open them.

Does this sound like an infection of some kind??? Some kind of wild yeast that's got in maybe?
 
It maybe an infection but I doubt it.

Gassiness

I've recently been finishing off a Mild Ale that I brewed back in February and it became what I consider to be very gassy. I put this down to the fact that the yeast had managed to eat everything in the bottle and that it was actually fully conditioned. I think I drank it before it had time to "go off"! :thumb:

Maybe you are over-carbing your beer. Personally, I hate cold gassy beer so I normally carb at a low rate.

I Batch Prime using Brewing Sugar (also known as Dextrose or Corn Sugar) and generally use +/- 85g for a 22 litre brew.

I then carbonate in the fridge at brewing temperature for two weeks and condition on the shelves for another two weeks before tasting.

Taste

Apart from the water and an infection there are the usual zillion different variables that may affect the taste of the beer. One of the most common is pitching the yeast at too high a temperature.

Hope this helps. :thumb:
 
I've been brewing for a bit more than 18 months, just over 12 months all grain.

I've got a few beers now that I've kept for a while - I opened up a porter that I've had for a year tonight, and got a couple of bottles of last year's Xmas brew saved up too. I've found that when I open them up they fizz up a lot. Not immediately, not explosively - there's a small delay and then they foam like hell. Even when very well chilled this happens.

They taste largely fine, though there is a very mild flavour that I've started to notice in all my brews. It's very hard to pinpoint and describe but I thought it was maybe my water (London water) so I had started to try things out with water treatment - no success in getting rid of it. It's been there since my first AG brews but I didn't notice it until I'd done a few.

Some of my recent brews are also turning out pretty fizzy, though it takes time to set in; the first few bottles are fine, but then as the weeks go on they start to fizz like mad when I open them.

Does this sound like an infection of some kind??? Some kind of wild yeast that's got in maybe?

Beer will continue to ferment after bottling. Up to 3 months or so is not really noticeable, but on the length of time a Xmas beer is on for, it is very noticeable.

My brew for the festive season, of which there may be as many as 6 left, has got progressively more fizzy with each passing sample.
 
I've been brewing for a bit more than 18 months, just over 12 months all grain.

I've got a few beers now that I've kept for a while - I opened up a porter that I've had for a year tonight, and got a couple of bottles of last year's Xmas brew saved up too. I've found that when I open them up they fizz up a lot. Not immediately, not explosively - there's a small delay and then they foam like hell. Even when very well chilled this happens.

They taste largely fine, though there is a very mild flavour that I've started to notice in all my brews. It's very hard to pinpoint and describe but I thought it was maybe my water (London water) so I had started to try things out with water treatment - no success in getting rid of it. It's been there since my first AG brews but I didn't notice it until I'd done a few.

Some of my recent brews are also turning out pretty fizzy, though it takes time to set in; the first few bottles are fine, but then as the weeks go on they start to fizz like mad when I open them.

Does this sound like an infection of some kind??? Some kind of wild yeast that's got in maybe?

This can be the main downside to batch priming a beer that you drink over many months. my last few bottles of whose gaarden were 80% foam 20% beer. I use around 7g per litre or 3.5 g per 500ml. On a per 500ml bottle basis you could use 3.5g for the first 1/3 3g for the 2nd 1/3 and 2.5g for the final third. That would give a more even carbonation over the whole drinking period than the same amount for all your bottles. In fact i'm going to adopt variable priming rates after my next brew and put 1-3 dots on the bottle cap to indicate low, med.high priming rate so I leave the lower primed bottles to last :grin:
 
something definitely happens the longer u leave it. I've got a couple beers stored up from a year ago. Not only do they seem more carbonated, the bubbles seem smaller, the head from it is so creamy like nitro poured Guinness. Taste wise they are fantastic though.
 
From the OPs description it sounds like the combination of further fermentation and nucleation of co2 from trub in the bottom of the bottle.

For beers you plan to keep for a while, it is probably worth giving a longer conditioning time before priming and bottling. With beers thar are higher ABV or have more complex dextrinous wort, working off the 2+2 theory probably isn't enough. Transfering to secondary is an advantage, as it'll get the yeast back into suspension, aiding attenuation, and also remove any trub.

Had a 13 month old RIS the other day that was fine. Looking at my records it had 3 weeks in the FV and then 4 weeks in secondary before bottling.





"Inspiration is the impact of a fact on a well-prepared mind" Louis Pasteur
 
From the OPs description it sounds like the combination of further fermentation and nucleation of co2 from trub in the bottom of the bottle.

For beers you plan to keep for a while, it is probably worth giving a longer conditioning time before priming and bottling. With beers thar are higher ABV or have more complex dextrinous wort, working off the 2+2 theory probably isn't enough. Transfering to secondary is an advantage, as it'll get the yeast back into suspension, aiding attenuation, and also remove any trub.

Had a 13 month old RIS the other day that was fine. Looking at my records it had 3 weeks in the FV and then 4 weeks in secondary before bottling.





"Inspiration is the impact of a fact on a well-prepared mind" Louis Pasteur

Interesting Sadfield and thanks. I have a stout which I may keep some back for next year. I'll maybe split the batch and secondary some of it based on this.
 
Well I had a recent ESB brew that was similar, I had to refridgerate the bottles and after opening pour them into a 2 L jug - giving me about 1cm beer and a jug full of foam. Leave it for 5 minutes after pouring, though, and the beer had all settled out and to be honest didn't seem all that highly carbonated. Certainly not as fizzy as most shopbought bottled beers.
It could have been - slight overpriming combined with a lot of torrified wheat for head retention. Or a wild yeast infection. Or the brew hadn't quite finished fermenting when bottled.
Take your pick. But the beer still tasted fine.

Your funny taste is probably your water. Do a brew using bottled water to see if it has it or not.
 
You would know if you had an infection - the beer would be hitting the ceiling upon opening one (been there!). And/or exploding bottles.

I wonder what temp they were stored at? Because mine definately do this in summertime if brewed that time of year, however I don't tend to get it this time of year because the garage where I store all my bottles is so cold. You say some from the fridge do it, were they put in there straight after 2-week conditioning? I can't see how a yeast will continue fermenting at <5C?
 
Wow - thanks everyone. Lots to think about there, but less worried about infection!
 
teadixon, you don't say what your FG is; are you priming and bottling too early?

Confident it's not that - this is across several beers, some of which have been left too long in the FV due to negligence and business. I'm always careful to get the same gravity readings over several days and will leave it longer if in doubt.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top