Brew Infection, Who's Had It?

[the_purple_dragon]

Brewers,

I've been reading heaps about the need for keeping everything clean. Spoons, can openers and even the scissors used for cutting yeast packets.

With all that said, how many of you have been hit by the bug? And if so, how long have you been brewing, whats your strike rate.

Thanks.
Curious brewer.

 

[mckenry]

Brewers,

I've been reading heaps about the need for keeping everything clean. Spoons, can openers and even the scissors used for cutting yeast packets.

With all that said, how many of you have been hit by the bug? And if so, how long have you been brewing, whats your strike rate.

Thanks.
Curious brewer.

Been brewing 12 years now. Havent had infections for the last 10 years - touch wood :huh: All infections way back then, I put down to mis-information. Much more knowledge about it now. I even had infections in about 5 in a row - ended up chucking the fermenter. Did the usual no-no's then, like scratching the fermenter, not using a sanitiser - was told steam was enough... If only forums like this were around then!

 

[peas_and_corn]

I've done a few batches now (I *think* about 44), and I've had a few infections in there. It's never fun to throw away a batch, especially when it's 44L

 

[dc59]

Just noticed my first infection today (bit of a milestone) fortunately it wasn't the whole batch just a single bottle. Well wouldn't call it a bottle. It was a ginger beer I made on request and ran out of bottles towards the end. Needless to say I didn't want to waste any so I sterilised a milk container and put a couple litres in. Just noticed some white film covering the top of the beer today and down the drain it went. Had a sort of sour smell to it.

Not a real lost to be honest (it was made of just some ginger concentrate).

To answer your question I have never worried about sterilising can openers or scissors or any else like that. Just the things the beer touches after the boil, like the fermenter, bottles, hop strainer, etc and not had an infection yet (with exception to the above), although I've only made about 15 batches so far. Hopefully my luck continues.

 

[andrewg1978]

I've fortunately not had an infection yet, is there anything in particular to look for/Smell for?

 

[Mantis]

Must have put down 50-80 coopers can & kilo sugar years ago. Had one or two infected bottles but not one batch. Either that or they were all infected and I liked it LOL

Always just used boiling water to sanitise everything back then. Now I have some phosphoric acid in a spray bottle and use the boiling water plus the acid. So far so good this time around with two batches bottled and two in the fermenters.

 

[sponge]

When i had one of my brews a few nights ago, it tasted like it was fermented pretty high (that nasty intense alcohol flavour you normally get in your first few batches, until u find AHB ofcourse ^_^ ) but ive had two others before and after that one and they both tasted alright. Im thinking i didnt wash that bottle out enough and caught a small infection? not really sure what happened there...

oh well. thats the closest ive gotten to an infection...

 

[boingk]

I've had one real infection - whole batch got bottled even though I knew it was very suspect [bad, sour smell, thin skin on brew]. I'd put it down to a combo of light-strike and leaving too long before bottling. One bottle came out well out of the 30 longies. One. And it was great! DAMN!

I'm now up to my 27th brew in just over 12 months, and that has been my only problem as far as infection goes.

Cheers - boingk

 

[white.grant]

48 brews and no infections. (Fingers crossed)

grant

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

An infection is something EVERYONE gets..in one form or another...

If you stand up here and say you have NEVER had an infection, then the forum will judge you

 

[pint of lager]

Every brew is infected. It just depends on what and how much.

Many infections will multiply at 10 times the rate of your yeast. The by-products from the infections are often detectable at very low levels.

You need to get your yeast in there working before anything else gets a chance to build up. Pitch a good healthy yeast in the right quantity.

Your yeast will protect your beer by removing oxygen, producing alcohol and dropping pH levels, which many infections do not like.

Cleanliness and sanitation are critical to brewing.

Usually brewers do not sterilise equipment, this needs an autoclave to achieve, then as soon as you remove the item from the autoclave, it gets dust on it which is a source of spores and infections. Yeast farmers do sterilise equipment in pressure cookers and use aseptic methods to transfer small amounts of yeast.

Wash every surface thoroughly with a decent cleaner. Rinse thoroughly. Then use a good no rinse sanitiser. Store everything clean and dry. Keep the outside of your fermenters clean, if you dribble some wort on the outside, this is a great spot for an infection to build up, then it may be transferred to your brew when racking or bottling.

Change your cleaner and no rinse sanitiser around to keep your local bugs on their toes. A spray bottle full of sanitiser is easy to use on everything. On brewday, I use a bucket with 4 litres of no rinse sanitiser made up. This is used to rinse fermentrs and somewhere to throw in airlocks, grommets, spoons etc. That way the spoon never lays on the bench.

Your finished beer can resist some infections, but not everything. People report finding weird things in their fermenters and bottles and the brew is not infected, then other brewers go to great lengths to find the source of an infection.

Tipping a batch out is a sad day, but most brewers have been there and done that. Just ask Tony, I think he threw out 400 litres.

If all your brews have a similar sour flavour and aroma, they are most likely infected.

 

[Tony]

Closer to 500 liters mate but back on track now.

I had been brewing for years and making award winning beers when it hit. I make 50 liter batches so i lost 10 batches.

It wasnt one thing........ i found:-

leaking fitting dripping pool water i was using to chill brew into wort
mould inside ball valve that ran from the cooled kettle to the firmenter.
A dodgy firmenter with a pinhole leading to a cavern of death for my brews. That firmenter killed 200 liters before i worked out wat was happening.
small fruit fly type bugs having mass orgies in the tap outlets on my firmenters. had a few brews thet were great till i racked them!
Picking up firmenter and forgetting to loosen lid so airlock liquid containing above mentioned ******* bugs was sucked in.
not tasting yeast fron the starter bottle before bitching.

anyway......... im a bit more anal now........ not much more but enough to be making good beer again.

cheers

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

It happens Tony....it happens..

Been there...done it....

But havnt we all been there...

 

[Mantis]

500 litres, bugger :blink:

 

[mckenry]

Closer to 500 liters mate but back on track now.

You threw out 500L of Lambic according to your signature :lol:

 

[Daawl]

Just Picked up my first infection 2 weeks ago :angry:

Put it down to learning. (Don't try & Rush)

thats for about 30 K&K & extract brews.

 

[Adzmax]

I've never had one (well a detectable one according to the posts above) in 2 years of brewing *touch wood*. I think it's very important to use a good no rise sanitisers (I use Starsan) and make sure you're cleaning everything, all your utensils that will touch the wort including hoses, spoons etc and I also boil the tap to heat it so I can pull it apart and clean it out - tends to get quite a build up. I also use keg and line cleaner then no rinse the kegs and push it out the dip tube/lines with gas. I figure you should flush all line. I had the wind put up me by all the posts but don't stress, just make sure you take your time and be careful.

 

[Cortez The Killer]

Haven't had any in 20 K+K + 20 AG

Fingers crossed

I find that cleaning things straight away is good practice as is having a spray bottle of sanitiser handy - everything always gets a squirt

Cheers

 

[mfdes]

Hey Ducatiboy,

I agree that, while many people may not have had an infection that they noticed, careful sanitation is essential to good beer.
I think very many or most homebrewers have had infection issues that may not show in the form of gushing bottles or medicinal tasting beer, but certainly impact longer-term stability or just generally affect the flavour in a subtle but (to the trained palate) easily noticeable way.
I for one used to top up with unboiled water from my water tank. I didn't think I had an infection till someone told me. I had started to notice a certain 'house flavour' that eventually turned up no matter what yeast strain I was using. It might start to be noticeable after 2 weeks conditioning, or sometimes after a couple of months in the keg. I'd convinced myself that my off flavour was just a 'homebrew' flavour that couldn't be helped.
If your beer is in any way inferior to a commercial beer and you're using quality ingredients, I would say it's likely to be only one of two things: poor temperature control, or most often poor sanitation.

An infection is not necessarily noticeable by you.

MFS.

 

[mfdes]

small fruit fly type bugs having mass orgies in the tap outlets on my firmenters. had a few brews thet were great till i racked them!

Hi Tony,

I find it interesting that many of my friends are totally anal about most aspects of sanitation and yet they use tapped fermenters. I have always found the tap and thread of plastic fermenters to be among the most common causes of infection.

Racking only with properly sanitised equipment for me... and no mouth syphoning!

MFS.