House Infection?

[HoppingMad]

Wow. Plenty of ways to skin a cat since I last posted :blink: Complicated ways too!

The most comprehensive list of all your options is actually here on the middle of this page:
John Palmer's Cleaning & Sanitising Table of Options

Still reckon cleaning with Odorless Homebrand Napisan (Aldi, Woolworths or Coles- the active ingredient is the same as the Brewcraft stuff - sodium Percabonate), sanitising your gear with bleach, rinsing and then striking with boiled water keeps it simple. Sometimes low tech is good tech.

Buying pressure cookers, using multiple pricey chemicals? Man you guys are making this all too hard. Yes those chemicals are good, but the result is the same - a clean sanitised rig. So if it were me I'd hold onto your brewcash for decent ingredients. Buy some hops, a temp controller or save up for some keg gear.

I had this problem in 2008 and killed all the bugs in my system and knocked them flat after 4 straight infections in 2008. Haven't had one infection since using this method.

Simple works. It really does.

Hopper.

 

[Steve@PMF82]

This is a great broadcast. Worth a listen even if your not interested in using the method
This method is all i have ever used along with boiling water.
Cheers

1oz bleach, 1oz vinegar, 5 Gallons Water = NO RINSE Sanitiser (1.6ml bleach, 1.6ml vinegar, 1 litre water)
Charlie Tally, founder 5star chemicals, makers of starsan, Basic Brewing Radio, 29/03/2007.

Something many brewers do wrong is mix their sanitiser wrong. Always follow the instructions and don't mix the solution stronger than recommended. If you do you no longer have a no rinse sanitiser and risk harming your yeast and leaving your beer with a strange taste if you don't rinse.
More is not necessarily better!

Cheers
Nige

 

[felten]

Wow. Plenty of ways to skin a cat since I last posted :blink: Complicated ways too!

The most comprehensive list of all your options is actually here on the middle of this page:
John Palmer's Cleaning & Sanitising Table of Options

Still reckon cleaning with Odorless Homebrand Napisan (Aldi, Woolworths or Coles- the active ingredient is the same as the Brewcraft stuff - sodium Percabonate), sanitising your gear with bleach, rinsing and then striking with boiled water keeps it simple. Sometimes low tech is good tech.

Buying pressure cookers, using multiple pricey chemicals? Man you guys are making this all too hard. Yes those chemicals are good, but the result is the same - a clean sanitised rig. So if it were me I'd hold onto your brewcash for decent ingredients. Buy some hops, a temp controller or save up for some keg gear.

I had this problem in 2008 and killed all the bugs in my system and knocked them flat after 4 straight infections in 2008. Haven't had one infection since using this method.

Simple works. It really does.

Hopper.

Homebrewers are renowned for being cheap, but c'mon. 500ml of starsan is 21 bucks (1L = $36), that's good for 333 litres of sanitiser, 1L of which is enough to sanitise all your gear on a brew day, and is also reusable for a long time if stored properly. It also doesn't require rinsing.

Not knocking the bleach method as I've used it before and will again in the future.

 

[chromakey]

Thanks again everyone.

I have purchased some starsan, and have had all of my gear soaking in sodium percarbonate over night.
I plan on rinsing the gear with boiling water when it has finished soaking, and then mixing up some starsan to give the gear a quick soak. I will then shake it around the fermenter. I will do the starsan right before i am about to use the fermenter.
I will also have some starsan mixed up in a cleaned spray bottle to use when needed as I am making another brew.
Glad wrap with a spray of starsan will be used instead of the lid and airlock.

I will let you know how I get on with the next attempt.

 

[petesbrew]

I guess the next think will be mention all the ingredients you're using - and make sure the wort is 20c (or close enough) before you pitch your yeast.
No need to make a starter with the dried yeast. It might help, but it's not necessary.

Still suggest keeping with simple coopers k&k until you get something drinkable.

 

[sim]

Chromakey, do you happen to get a heap of those little vinegar flies around you place? Not sure what the real name for them is. They're supposed to give you infections if you even mention them near a brew.

Drosofila - friut flies - bar flies. If a beer doesnt get finished the next day its a fruit fly trap! They often carry acetobacter which turns beer and wine into vinegar.


sim

 

[stux]

Thanks again everyone.

I have purchased some starsan, and have had all of my gear soaking in sodium percarbonate over night.
I plan on rinsing the gear with boiling water when it has finished soaking, and then mixing up some starsan to give the gear a quick soak. I will then shake it around the fermenter. I will do the starsan right before i am about to use the fermenter.
I will also have some starsan mixed up in a cleaned spray bottle to use when needed as I am making another brew.
Glad wrap with a spray of starsan will be used instead of the lid and airlock.

I will let you know how I get on with the next attempt.

I use two piece taps (the snap lock ones), means I can dump them in the PBW (think sodium percarbonate+) and I also use two piece airlocks, again, so I can clean them...

I let them soak in the pbw, rinse, then soak in starsan.

i use a tap hole bung to turn my pail fermenter into a soaking bucket, which means I can soak the taps and stuff (and lid) in the bucket

I make up 1-2L of starsan on brew day, it goes in to the fermenter... shake shake shake, then in the jug for soaking, then gets decanted into a spray bottle for whatever else

I also fill the airlock with starsan, the neat thing is, you can see bubbles after they bubble then because of the foam... which means you don't have to wait around for to count bubbles/minute etc... if that's what you like... when there aint any bubbles visible it hasn't bubbled for a long time. and no wasting vodka


then the trick is to minimize infection vectors...

 

[stux]

Drosofila - friut flies - bar flies. If a beer doesnt get finished the next day its a fruit fly trap! They often carry acetobacter which turns beer and wine into vinegar.


sim

And they love cider dregs!!!

 

[chromakey]

Hello again everyone.

I thought I would report back after using the tips in this thread.

I cleaned everything with sodium percarbonate and rinsed with starsan (pulled the fermenter tap apart to clean).

I then made a simple Pale Ale kit.

I ditched the fermenter lid and airlock and used gladwrap.

2 weeks later, I bottled a beer that is not sour or vinegary, just a simple beer that tastes like beer.

So thank you all for your help

 

[Vitalstatistix]

Nice work and good on you for hanging in there!
:icon_cheers:

 

[flano]

duno if this helps
I thoroughly clean all my gear after each batch.

Then I fill my fermenter with a few litres of that pink cleaning stuff and water with all my bits and pieces in it in between brews.
I always run some of that stuff through the tap before leaving it .

Then clean it all again before use.

I reckon you may have somehow had an dodgy seal with the old lid.