Is My Brew Infected?

[Midnight Brew]

Digging up an old thread.

Okay so Im 90% sure my cube got infected. Was a 10litre cube with a boil volume of 10 litres just planned to be an ale. It was an hour stove top boil with hop additions and reached the high 80's in temp. I had already sanitised the cube. I put the boiling wort in it and rotated the cube so all areas were covered by the hot wort. The lid was on as tight as possible. That was last week. Today I open it to pour into my fermenter and the cube has some minor swelling, smells like tomatoes!? and has a little bit of krausen at the top.

So I know its an infection. Take a temp sample of 13C. I pour it into my fermenter and top it up to required amount and took a gravity reading. 1.050.

So is it really infected or just in the starting process?

I have a starter ready to pitch of US-05 and assuming the infection just began could this beer be saved?

Is it worth letting it ferment out? Would it be an ale or a lager if it began at 11-13C?

What the crap do I do? FIRST INFECTION

Cheers
Dickman

 

[hsb]

I don't have any experience of infection (hooray for now)
but I would definitely say - Don't tip it yet! It could be drinkable!!

You probably need a bit more info for diagnosis - smell updates, what you see, readings...? It mightn't be something terminal.

Definitely definitely let it continue to ferment, and say what you see..

13C - US-05 is what I would call Ale, assuming it is staying around that temp.

 

[Midnight Brew]

I don't have any experience of infection (hooray for now)
but I would definitely say - Don't tip it yet! It could be drinkable!!

You probably need a bit more info for diagnosis - smell updates, what you see, readings...? It mightn't be something terminal.

Definitely definitely let it continue to ferment, and say what you see..

13C - US-05 is what I would call Ale, assuming it is staying around that temp.

It smells like tomatoes, like eatible tomatoes but tainted tomatoes. OG reading was 1.050 and temp was 11-13C I think Im gonna pour the US-05 starter on and hope for the best. Worst to worst this batch cost me about $5 cause I already had all the ingredients and it was a tooheys special lager tin as the base with added malt and a little dextrose with POR.

 

[bignath]

Why do you want to ferment it such a low temp with that yeast?

US05 is a very clean fermenting ale yeast at around 17/18/19 degrees. Will most likely just make it take longer....

Not sure if using an ale yeast at low temps causes weird flavours. obviously any yeast fermenting too hot can, but not sure if fermented too cold.

Either way, i use this ale yeast A LOT and i always ferment it at 17-19 degrees. I personally aim for 18, but quite often set my fridge for 17 assuming the ferment will generate heat anyway...

 

[Midnight Brew]

Why do you want to ferment it such a low temp with that yeast?

US05 is a very clean fermenting ale yeast at around 17/18/19 degrees. Will most likely just make it take longer....

Not sure if using an ale yeast at low temps causes weird flavours. obviously any yeast fermenting too hot can, but not sure if fermented too cold.

Either way, i use this ale yeast A LOT and i always ferment it at 17-19 degrees. I personally aim for 18, but quite often set my fridge for 17 assuming the ferment will generate heat anyway...

The cube temp was at 11-13C not the final volume which I topped it up and brought it to 18 C and pitched, hoping to save it but see what happens.

 

[FreeBaseBuzz]

right. Pretty sure my brew is infected.. that's what I get for being slack and hurrying.

it tastes very sour and is quite opaque.

I'm going to toss it, but the question is, is my fermenter stuffed.. Is there a way to get it properly clean and resanitize it? I was thinking of soaking it and all my gear in a 1-10 homebrand bleach/napisan for about a month while I'm away over xmas..

overkill? better way? buy a new fermenter?

 

[brett mccluskey]

right. Pretty sure my brew is infected.. that's what I get for being slack and hurrying.

it tastes very sour and is quite opaque.

I'm going to toss it, but the question is, is my fermenter stuffed.. Is there a way to get it properly clean and resanitize it? I was thinking of soaking it and all my gear in a 1-10 homebrand bleach/napisan for about a month while I'm away over xmas..

overkill? better way? buy a new fermenter?

Overkill in a big way IMO Be careful of your fermenter absorbing the bleach flavour with that length of soaking Wash/scrub/sanitise well ,you shouldn't have an issue Smell your fermenter when it's sanitised and dry.It shold smell of NOTHiNG! If it does ,be concerned <_<

 

[FreeBaseBuzz]

Overkill in a big way IMO Be careful of your fermenter absorbing the bleach flavour with that length of soaking Wash/scrub/sanitise well ,you shouldn't have an issue Smell your fermenter when it's sanitised and dry.It shold smell of NOTHiNG! If it does ,be concerned <_<

Ok, thanks for your help. I've cleaned it and have it soaking in a weaker bleach and bi-phosphate solution (I think it's bi-phosphate anyway, it was the "cleaner" that came with the initial kit I got from the LHBS), and will be emptying it and sealing it with gladwrap before I leave for a month on Friday. Hopefully that should kill any infection and keep it clean for when I get back.

I ended up bottling the batch, as it started to clear a bit, and isn't as sour. I still think I have an infection, but not as bad as I initially thought, and you never know, maybe it'll come out ok.. The opacity could just be due to having quite a bit of yeast in suspension I guess.

 

[malt_shovel]

I ended up bottling the batch, as it started to clear a bit, and isn't as sour. I still think I have an infection, but not as bad as I initially thought, and you never know, maybe it'll come out ok.. The opacity could just be due to having quite a bit of yeast in suspension I guess.

If you have bottled it, and there is a chance it is infected, I would strongly recommend putting your bottles into a large closed esky/container, and somewhere isolated in case they decide to blow-up while you are away.

Infected brews can keep processing sugars and generating CO2 (and hence pressure) long past conventional brewing yeast.

Wouldn't want you to come home to a massive stinking mess to clean up. That would suck.

Cheers
:beer: