I decided to finally pour out bottles from last year that were past their prime. To my surprise, all gushed foam, and a lot of it, except one. They all smelled like beer, but i did not taste any. The beers were from two different batches - one a pale ale and the second an IPA. Both of these beers were ok when fresh, at least to my untrained palate. The pale ale i entered into a club competition and it did well, especially considering it was my third brew ever. At the time, i was using carbonation drops for priming to save myself a transfer. (My fermenter is ported.) My two brews this year i transferred to a bottling bucket and used a sugar solution instead. Otherwise, I have not changed my procedure to clean and sanitize bottles from last year.
I am thinking along the lines of a slow growing infection. Am i right in thinking that either the carbonation drops or my bottle cleaning are the most likely culprit? I checked my notes from those two brews and nothing else stands out. I am also thinking that this may be the time to change out my hoses.
Lori_B