slightly off-topic ross, but you have 23 beers listed as on tap in your signature....have you added a new font? any pics
... they are all on tap, just not all at once B) 
I know that it doesn't pay to assume anything, so I'm asking if you sanitised the fermentor before adding the hot wort. Always a great idea. Not being nasty here, just asking because it wasn't mentioned, and in case it's something you hadn't considered.
And, in the same vein, do you disassemble your tap and clean it thoroughly between brews?
Apart from that, it seems reasonable to suggest that you put some metho or cheap vodka in the airlock, and then plug with some dry or Iodophor-soaked cotton wool. Dry cotton wool should be OK if using alcohol in the airlock. Then screw the lid on tight, to keep the beasties out, and the only way they can get in is through the alcohol-filled airlock.
After all that, I'd recommend to pitch yeast within a couple of days of wort creation, to minimise the chance of contamination in a pseudo-sanitary set-up.
For a fair bit more confidence in your sanitation, use a cube/ jerry-can for a true no-chill.
To reiterate what others have said in many, many threads before: please search for more info on this site. I'd suggest reading more of the no-chill thread, or the no-chill spot in the wiki when/if someone puts it together, and the "no-chill in a fermenter" thread.
Best of luck with the next one. That's gotta put a huge dent in your enthusiasm for all-grain. A poor result with my first all-grain, due to a lack of proper equipment delayed my venture into the depths of brew-mania that comes from grain brewing.
Beerz
Seth
... god I love this all grain caper not going back to kits now )Boy sounds like a strange one.
You do way way way more sterilising than me (I haven't sterilised my mash tun yet, in fact I don't sterilise anything pre-boil).
It is definitely what the earlier guys have said. If you put an airlock on a hot liquid as it cools the pressure will cause the liquid in the airlock to draw back into the wort (big drama).
Reverse thing happens with a cool wort in hot environment. In Canberra weather my brews will often let off a bubble or two around the afternoon as the temp climbs even though they have finished fermenting and are just waiting for transfer to cube/keg.
I use no chill method, but directly in my fermenter. My method is to get liquid into fermenter from boiler. I then put the lid on but I don't insert an airlock.
I have a clean cloth soaked in no-rinse (I use prox) which I then drape over the top of the fermenter.
I then leave the brew overnight and Canberra's winter night does the rest. 8AM the next morning and the wort is down to roughly 25 degrees.
I've done my only two all grains to date using this method and both have been fine (and incredibly tasty and drinkable
Hopefully you can eradicate the infection in the fermenters!
Troy
- If using dried yeast the wort doesn't need aerating. Even with liquids it would appear that just aerating the starter properly is sufficient, though personally in this case, I'd want to aerate the wort as well.
same here
cheers Ross
h34r: . Thanks Troy and Ross.
