I reached into the fridge to crack my last bottle of Dead Ringer. Brewed it just before Christmas.
Didn’t look too close at the bottle, but when I cracked it open, I had a gusher on my hands. Luckily I was over the sink. The whole bottle fizzed over. Maybe half a sip of actual beer left after the foam.
I looked inside and saw a black sludge on the bottom (pictured).
Oddly, it smelled rather pleasant. It had that heavy banana/clove aroma that you get from a Belgian Tripel.
I didn’t sample any of it.
I noticed some black specks in my previous bottle of Dead Ringer that I opened a week or so ago. That one too seemed overly curbed, but tasted great. I must have drank the rest of this batch before anything took effect inside.
Just curious - do you think the black specks were caused by the brew, or perhaps from the bottle? In other words, was the bottle the source?
I have been given bottles that had nasties caked in the bottom that I just tossed for fear of not being able to clean them out appropriately.
[quote=“tookalisten”]Just curious - do you think the black specks were caused by the brew, or perhaps from the bottle? In other words, was the bottle the source?
I have been given bottles that had nasties caked in the bottom that I just tossed for fear of not being able to clean them out appropriately.[/quote]
I’m honestly not sure. I wonder if it might have been the bottle since all the other ones I had were fine - except for the one before this, which also had some black specks and was over carbed, but otherwise tasted fine.
This was our first AG batch and I thought we were pretty diligent about sanitation, but perhaps not.
You either didn’t scrub out the bottles well enough or residue from a prior beer caused the mold. I do believe that mold is the problem here. I’ve had it a few times myself.
