A Kombucha Invaded My Fermenting Stout - Help

[peterhop]

My last ferment seemed to go normally, except that when I came to bottle I found a kombucha had grown in it, giving it an off smell and taste. I make kombucha tea and beer in the same kitchen, but they don't share fluids or equipment. For beer I clean with PBW, sanitise with starsan and sterilise my stainless fermenter by boiling some water in it before use. A brew made a few days earlier was fine.

The only thing I can imagine is that the kombucha must have got into the wort from the air when I siphoned the cooled wort into the fermenter to aerate it. And it seems that to fix the problem in the future I should sterilise everything with something other than starsan and siphon to the fermenter in a different room.

Any suggestions ?

 

[NickB]

What's Kombucha?

 

[felten]

sour tea
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kombucha

 

[browndog]

What's Kombucha?

From what i can gather it is some sort of fungus they use to make fermented tea, it grows on top of the medium/tea like a transparent pancake.

-Browndog

 

[peterhop]

Kombucha is a stable group of organisms that will sour a sweet liquid. It is like a thick jelly several milimeters thick. The one that grew in my wort was thin and had holes in it.

Other examples of similar things are 'ginger beer plant' and kefir grains.

 

[brocky_555]

Seems that some of the bacteria has become airborne and has infected your beer. I have had a similar problem in the past, to solve it I mixed up some idophor in a spray botlle and sprayed it every where but especially where I prepared my beer i think i sprayed about 5 or so litres of liquid around aver a few days to make sure i got everything.

 

[Newbiebrewer]

I would just move to another room or ferment the kombucha in a fermentor with an airlock.

 

[drsmurto]

The kombucha mushroom people, sitting around all day........... :super:

 

[JonnyAnchovy]

The kombucha mushroom people, sitting around all day........... :super:

who will believe you?