Is It Possible For Kegs To Get Infected?

[ekul]

When i was bottling i would get the odd infected batch, this is not surprising considering i bottle right next to the lawn mower in a dirty shed that has mould on the walls and floor (spilt beers gets funky).

Anyway, when i first started kegging i thought that the infection rate for me would go up, as a few minutes exposure to the air when filling is (to me) a long time. I decided to do a search and for the life of me i can't find a thread where someone has had an infection in a keg, unless it was one that was present beforehand OR if they are naturally carbonating at ambient temps.

I have figured that the low temps coupled with the acidity of the beer would mean that uninfected beer would remain uninfected for a long time. In fact a few weeks ago i just hosed out a keg with tank water and then filled up with beer to find out what would happen. So far nothing, no infections at all.

So my question is, has anyone ever had an infection in a keg that has been gassed and stored in the fridge?

 

[Tony M]

I kegged 40 litre in two kegs a few months ago and one drank really well whilst the other had a slight sourness to it ,so I guess it was a badly sanitised keg.

 

[felten]

storing the keg cold straight away probably helps a lot, bottles go through an incubation stage.

 

[QldKev]

I would say it depends.

If you are kegging cold crashed beer, hitting it wth CO2 and then putting it back into a fridge I think it would be pretty hard.

But if you want to keg warm beer and naturally carb it, then I think it could happen.


My kegs only get sanatised if they have sat around empty. Normally I leave them full of CO2 when they spit and store them back in the fridge until I need them again. Then to reuse it's a quick hose out and refil.

QldKev

 

[Jazzafish]

I personally have not had an accidental infection. Basic cleaning principles apply, as it is possible... but agree the acidity, alcohol, CO2 and cold temperatures makes slow work for some bugs to wreck a beer. But given enough time it will give it a good nudge...

I have purposly left a poppet valve open on a half keg to sour up and create a bluberry lambic I brewed a while ago. Left in in the shed like this, been a few months now and slowly getting some extra sourness an inspired by Doc's soured gose.

 

[quack.sawbones]

Mine have been pretty good so far. My understanding is that once sanitised and ready to fill, the action of filling the keg slowly forces the air (containing some of your your lawn mower bugs) out. "Burping" your keg a few of times once connected to your CO2 will help force out the remainder of the "wild" air and make it harder for foreign bodies to colonise (especially if they are aerobic bugs in the air and you are making the keg an anaerobic environment).

While you will always get SOME bugs in there (it is pretty much impossible to be 100% sterile), bad bugs generally only start to colonise once the yeast have stopped working and start to lyse and die out. There is ALWAYS a bug strain that will survive in ANY environment, but they generally don't work very well in fridge conditions (hence why meat in the fridge lasts longer than on the kitchen bench). Plus, while the yeast are alive, they compete for resources with wild bugs, and the yeast are bigger and stronger when drenched in beer (like a rugby player).

As long as your gear is clean and sanitised to the best of your abilities, kegging is pretty reliable. QldKev's method of keg storage is pretty much what I do, but I give it a quick blast with the sanitiser before using them again.

ENJOY THE MIRACLE OF KEGGING!

NB: This is based on my knowledge of microbiology and experience at home brewing. Happy to be countered or corrected.

 

[Bribie G]

As my kegs are getting onto their nth brews, nowadays I unscrew the beer-out post, slide out the pickup tube and give that a good wash and run through with a kettle of boiling water (caution) and meanwhile napisan, rinse and starsan the main body of the keg, put all back together again and haven't had an infection yet. There's really nowhere for bugs to hide and to be on the safe side you can throw the lid and o ring into a bucket of strong hot Napisan solution overnight as well.

 

[mickpc]

Ill add that I think it is much easier to sanitise a keg than a large number of bottles, so the more fussy people end up over cleaning the keg (well I do.)

Beers Mick

 

[michaelcocks]

I did get one recently buy the keg had been out of the fridge and was leaking co2 from around the o ring
So o2 and temp where above normal keg levels .

Never happened other than that one time.

I usualy leave with co2 in when theyrun dry and a quick rinsearoundwith napisan the rinse and spray with iodophor before refilling. Every about 6 refills I do take part and clean everyting just in case. Also this is a good time to check all the o rings and poppet valve seals.. And lube up a bit..