The Gusher Bug
Lord save us all. When I opened up the latest batch of Roundhouse Pale Ale, the thing let loose like a geyser, probably shooting beer a good six inches above the top of the bottle. If I’m processing through everything I’ve read correctly, we’ve caught a gusher bug, which is essentially an aggressive wild yeast strain that eats through the sugars that would under normal circumstances remain unfermented. The outcome is essentially hyper-carbonated alcohol water (mmm…), and undoubtedly due to some sanitation glitch.
Right now, we are using plastic buckets for our fermentation. They’ve now probably been through about 10-15 batches of beer apiece. Are there any homebrewers out there who can give me perspective on whether this may be the cause of my gusher bug? Do I need to get new buckets, clean them better, or just switch to glass carboys? Any insight much appreciated. And if you were brewing with us a couple weeks ago and took home a Roundhouse Pale Ale, go ahead and open it before it becomes an alcoholic hand grenade.
Jonathan, Joel & Jeff
April 16th, 2007 at 3:12 pm
[...] Yes, as many of you know, we’ve been in a slump lately. A wild-yeast-induced slump. Unfortunately we didn’t realize this until the first batch became drinkable (or explodable). Since we brew every week, that means there were three other batches brewed using the same processes and scratched up plastic buckets. That means four total botched batches. Consecutively. [...]
June 13th, 2007 at 1:26 pm
[...] Remember that time when we had that sanitation problem with our beer? Yeah, that was fun. Joel found himself dealing with the remnants of said problem on Monday. Take a look at the video and you’ll know why we had to pour it out. It was either that or serve it to our enemies… revenge is a bottle best served cold (and volatile). [...]