Bottling the Red

Last weekend, I bottled the New Year's first batch, which I brewed during the first days of the new year. This was brewed with Merced River water, taken from the Merced River in Yosemite National Park. The water sat in a bottle for several months before use. This was the second batch of beer brewed from the Merced River water which I collected last September. My previous batch was an IPA, but I ended up pouring the last 20 bottles down the drain because it was too frothy. There was so much carbonation that it couldn't be poured into a glass, and as soon as the bottles were opened, it would start gushing out.

I discussed the foaming problem with a couple of experienced brewers, who suggested it might be contamination or the cleaning agent I was using to prepare the bottles. Contamination was actually ruled out by the fact that the beer tasted just fine, and bacteria will make beer taste acidic like vinegar or sour milk, depending on the contaminating organism. My thought is that the fermentation didn't complete, leaving too much sugar in the wort, and when the bottling sugar was added, the yeast became active and fermented some more in the bottle.

The other brewers suggested it might have something to do with the cleaning or rinsing part of preparation, particularly the cleaning agent. I was using OxyClean, a non-sudsing oxygen bleach, which is a household cleaning agent popularly added to laundry. My brewer supplier said it was just as good as PBW, Professional Brewer's Wash. I have since stopped using OxyClean to wash my brewing equipment. I will say that up to that time, I had used OxyClean on every batch from the third one on, until this latest one.

After fermenting for about 4 weeks, I put it in a cold place, and let it settle for another 3 weeks. On the last weekend, I put it in bottles, with the help of my lovely Brewmeistress, Shannon. I used PBW to clean the bottles, and decreased the bottling sugar slightly. It should be ready to drink by St. Patrick's Day. I should be getting ready to brew another batch, but I'm holding off until this one is ready. I want to see the amount of carbonation that is produced.

For a future brew, I have been thinking of a custom recipe. I plan to take a standard Pale Ale kit, and add some extra hops and sugar to make an IPA. Instead of making an IPA with extra sugar, like my first IPA, which was the frothing monster from Heck, I want to use agave nectar. I also want to add some lime peel to the wort for flavoring. I want to call it Margarita IPA. We'll see how it turns out, whenever I get the adventurous spirit.