Fermenter Seal Or Sanitation...

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Snap Devo!....

Sloth - what's your yeast regime? Do you have starters or are you pitching dry yeast in your infected brews? What sort of lag times are you getting with the yeast?
Can you describe the infection? Is it an odour? Is it actually an infection or are you noticing undesireable flavours in the beer? Is the infection apparent before you bottle/keg the beer, ie, is it present in the fermenter or do you notice it after you rack the beer?

A bit more info on the infection may help find the culprit...
Cheers,
TL
 
okay TL, the yeast was in dry form - both batches were ginger beer for which I did not use liquid yeast.
Not sure exactly what the lag times are but they were no different from other dry yeast I have use, hence really pushing the tap idea.

In regards to the infections, the first was noted but the exploded bottle which blasted a hole through the lid of the crate they were stored in. this batch was then disposed of ( :( ) down the kitchen sink in order to avoid more explosions. All bottles had a very vinegar taste to them.

The next batch was an non-alcoholic batch and hence was in the fermenter for approx 30 mins and then bottled. The only problem with this batch was a ring of dark murky film on the top of the liquid in the bottle. Taste great by the way but still not the norm.

Infection is not present in the fermenter, hence i beleive the issue lies in the tap.

In regards the comment made by Batz, i have replaceds the tap, given the fermenter one hell of a clean. i will brew one more batch in it before deciding if it gets the boot.

I figured this info might help any ither brewer who have had similar prblems.

Cheers, Sloth. :beer:
 
Not sure exactly what the lag times are but they were no different from other dry yeast I have use, hence really pushing the tap idea.
No probs - lag time is commonly considered to be the time elapsed between pitching the yeast and the appearance of active fermentation in primary, including the formation of krausen (the dark coloured / highly bitter foam layer on top of an actively fermenting wort). Usually brewers like to keep the lag time to under 12 hours and if you pitch well planned yeast starters at high krausen the lag can even reduce to under an hour. Lag time is not necessarily a bad thing, but the sooner your yeast finishes the aerobic adaption phase (where the cell population grows) and starts the anaerobic attenuative phase (where the yeast population starts to reduce the gravity / sugars in the wort and converts it to alcohol and CO2 byproducts), the better. All of this, of course, is dependent on a myriad of factors, including starter size, volume of wort, temp of wort, viability of original yeast, characteristics of each yeast strain, and some have even argued the geometry of the fermenting vessel itself!

All bottles had a very vinegar taste to them
Ok, that tends to support the bacterial infection issue - the vinegar / acetic acid taste is often caused by aceto bacterial contamination or a wild yeast strain. You may have an infected tap or you might have scored a poor yeast sachet, or you overlooked or undershot on your sanitation protocols.

The next batch was an non-alcoholic batch and hence was in the fermenter for approx 30 mins and then bottled. The only problem with this batch was a ring of dark murky film on the top of the liquid in the bottle. Taste great by the way but still not the norm.
30 minutes in the fermenter? :blink:
The ring of dark murky film you describe was probably krausen! :huh: Obviously, I don't know what you made the non-alcoholic batch out of, but surely you used some sort of sugars in the solution, which the yeast converted to alcohol and CO2. You must have had some sediment in the bottom of the non-alcoholic bottled batch...Why only 30 mins - that's a sure fire way to make a bottle bomb - unless you used next to no sugars and didn't use any yeast at all?

Giving everything a damn good clean and replacing the tap are good ideas but I'm not convinced beyond reasonable doubt that it's the tap at fault - perhaps you did something that contributed to an infection, that more than likely ended up at the tap...I hope you have better luck with your future brews after the big clean. ;)

Cheers,
TL
 
Thanks TL,

Sorry about my poor english, I know what the definition of lag time is, what I meant to say was I didnt know the length of mine...
Anyway, the info posted here will no doubt help somebody else out.

In regards to the non-alco batch, there was only enough sugar for carbonation in the bottles. Each was carbonated perfectly and no bottle bombs thankfully!

Sloth.
 

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