Extremely dry beer

[chocko]

Hi all
I am having a bit of a problem with some of my bottles of beer being extremely dry to the point of being undrinkable.
I have done 8 different brews using saflagaS23 due to the current temperature and i have been using Coopers drops , one per stubbie , i am finding each bottle from the same brew to be very diffrent from the last, some are quite nice others just crap and they are stored in the same ( Large ) cupboard in the brew room.
The temperature in my brew room is a steady 16 degrees ( under the house ) , i have left the brews in the fermenter for 2 weeks at a time due to work commitments and found they had finished fermentation within 5 days , due to this i havnt racked any brews but always found them to be very clear.
I scrub and sanitise everything that i use without fail.
The only common ingredients in all of the brews is the drops and the yeast , other than that i have used various ingredients from different suppliers with no difference.
Any help or sugestions would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers Chocko

[bullfrog]

If each beer from the same batch is different, I'd be looking at your bottles, mate. I know you say you scrub and sanitise everything but the bottles seem to be the only variable in your bad beer equation. How do you clean and sanitise your bottles?

[warra48]

Extremely dry beer indicates the possibility of fermentation continuing after you have bottled your batch. That may well be an infection in the beer, as it tends to ferment otherwise unfermentable components of your beer, thus drying it out.

What was the OG and FG of your beer?
What are you using for cleaning and sanitising your bottles?
Can you give us one of your recipes from a batch with this problem?
I take this as happening only with some of your bottles? If so, it may well be as bullfrog indicated.

[barrelboy]

Hi Chocko. Here are two variables a lot of people forget. 1) Do you sanitize the outside part of the bottle neck where the bottle top or caps go? 2) Do you sanitize your caps or bottle tops? If not either or both could cause variable changes to your beer. Hope it helps.
Cheers BB

[emnpaul]

+ 1 on all of the above.

Also when bottling do you thoroughly scrub your hands and avoid touching anything, particularly your mouth and nose before handling priming drops, caps and bottling wand? Do yuo give the outlet on your fermenter a spray with sanitizer and rinse before allowing beer to flow through it. You can't be too thorough.

[Oliver]

Chocko,

If you can answer all the questions posted above then it would help troubleshoot.

And when you say some bottles are dry, you're meaning that they taste very different and it's not just a difference in carbonation?

Oliver

[bullfrog]

I should've thought that the carb drops were a relatively controlled measure so wouldn't cause noticeable fluctuations in carbonation levels between bottles. Never used them, though, so don't know how carefully (or perhaps carelessly) they're made.

[chocko]

Hi all, thanks for all of the replies .
All of my stubbies are brand new picked from a freshly opened pallet and put into boxes for storage.
My first brew i only sanitised the bottles but after that all bottles were washed with pink brewers detergent and sanitised imediately prior to use using a bottle pump from brewcraft, the bottle necks are swished in the sanitising solution before going into the rack.
My bottles are put into a stainless steel rack to drip prior to using, the rack holds the bottles on the outside of the neck about 2" down.
The caps are either soaked in boiling water or put into sanitising solution prior to use.
I wash my hands prior to bottling and dont touch anything while bottling a brew ( i dont even have a brew while bottling, very sad ).
The only thing that goes into the bottle are the carb drop and the filling straw , which is washed and sanitised prior to use and sprayed with sanitiser again imediately before bottling.
The fermentors are washed with pink brewers detergent after use.
The night before brewing the fermentors are washed with pink brewers detergent and soaked overnight with 2 cups of plain napisan to 30+ litres of water.
On brew day the fermentors are washed with water numerous times then sanitised before adding the wort etc.
During brewing i wrap the taps with gladwrap and secure with a rubber band as the both weep a little during brew.
On bottling day i wipe the taps with a tissue and wash/spray with sanitiser before fitting the straw and after.
I use brewcraft pink stain cleaner and brewcraft sanitiser, 2 caps per liter of water.
There is some diffrence in carbonation , but also in flavour and really different in mouth feel,no really bad flavours but soooo dry they can be undrinkable.
Dont know the OG FG as i dont have a hydrometer, part of the reason for the 2 weeks in the fermenter.
Even the Coopers Pale ale kit had its fare share of dry brews.
Some recipes

Coopers International Cervesa can.
Brewcraft BE #10
Saflaga S23
23 Liters
Pitched @ 16 deg
Dry hop with Citra @ 10 grams once ferment has finished

Brewcraft Czech pilsner
Brewcraft BE # 20
Saflaga S23
23 Liters
Pitched @ 14 deg
Dry hop with Saaz and hallertau @ 15 grams

Coopers Australian pale ale can
BE #15
500grms light spray malt
Saflaga S23
23 Liters
Pitched @ 15 deg
Steep 15 grams of Cascade, 15 grams Galaxy for 20mins @ 65 deg,
Simmer 320 grams honey. Add to wort
Dry hop with 15grams Cascade and 15 grams Galaxy

Coopers Australian pale ale can
BE #15
500Grams LDME
Saflaga S23
23 Liters
Pitched @ 15 deg
Steep 15 grams of Cascade, 15 grams Saaz and 5 grams Citra for 20 mins @ 65 deg,
Simmer 300grams honey. Add to wort.
Dry hop with 15 grams galaxy and 15 grams cascade

Coopers Pale Ale
Coopers BE#2
Saflaga S23
23 liters
Pitched @ 13 deg

After writing it all out i dont think i have missed washing and sanitising anything.
Cheers Chocko

[Sonny]

Gee Chocko, you're doing a lot more than I am.
After drinking a bottle, I rinse my bottles immediately in tap water to remove the yeast trub on the bottom prior to a quick spurt and a small splash/rinse with either sanitiser,metasulphite or just a water/bleach solution that I have in a spare fermenter sitting in the garage, and then I store them upside down in a milkcrate until filling time.

Sounds silly. But I'd stick all of your bottles in a dishwasher with no soap, then give them a quick sanitising rinse and store upside down until bottling day. If you have a spare fermenter, I'd begin bulk priming.

The problem may go away and you'd never know what even caused it.

[jello]

Where do you store your bottled beer Chocko?

[chocko]

The beer is stored in a large cupboard in the same room as the fermenter under the house at a steady 16 deg. no sunlight at all.
I have only used the same spring water for my brew as i live in adelaide and our reputation for really bad water is well deserved. I might try using a water filter for tap water next and see if there is any difference!

[rotten]

Use a filter, it makes a big difference. I never liked S-23 when I used it, it could just be the yeast as your sanitation etc seems excellent.
Cheers

[bullfrog]

Do you rinse your bottles thoroughly after using the pink cleaner and before sanitising? That pink stuff is pretty horrid and any residues may be the cause of your problems. Residues would be in varying amounts which could explain the variance between bottles of the same batch.