Is This My First Infection?

[beerbog]

Stop taking the lid off. :beerbang:

 

[pk.sax]

Are these the ones you put down since you started sleeping in the fermentation room?

Well, my guess is you came home dead tired, plopped down for a snooze and woke up in the middle of the night to have a lookie but with your dirty work shirt on.. hmnnn...


As an aside, I was reading up a book on lambics, :A Lambic Lesson: The Cult of the Biohazard Lambic Brewers" by Jim Liddil.... brewer maketh the brew... literally
A recipe in there recommends to leave the cooling wort near the kitchen sink so it can pick up enteric bacteria from the surroundings before you pitch the yeast.. hehe... Now, the question is, Is your shirt as good as the kitchen sink!?!?

 

[DJR]

Yeah - if you are continually opening the top to have a look you are letting air in with dust and bacteria all wanting to get into the beer...

Clingwrap over the top, then the black rubber ring that is inside the fermenter lid around the screws on top will let you see the top without opening it all the time. You shouldn't have to open it.

Once you've had an infection get rid of the fermenter and start again.

What sanitiser are you using, might be worthwhile getting some Star-San , Iodophor or other non-rinse sanitiser. Sodium Met is junk.

 

[fasty73]

No report on taste. I only take the lid off to add finnings. The a/c is recent but I don't take my lids off. Maybe I should start trying taste tests. I always clean my fermenters in the laundry sink with hot water out of the tap and a shite load of sanitiser and leave soak for an hour or two. I have put down 22 batches now and these are my first 2 signs of problems.

 

[fcmcg]

Just as a side note...
just wondering what size your fermenters are and how much water are you puting in your brew ?
Seems pretty close to the top , for mine...not alot of head space....
another thing i noticed , from your pic is your fermenter lid seems to be sitting on something like a blanket....when i take my lid off a sanitry fermenter , i always , always , always put it on my stainless steel stock pot , ( 9 liter ) which i have sprayed with iodopher , a no rinse sanitiser...but thats jst me....
Cheers
Ferg

 

[fasty73]

I only sat the lid down to take the pics, I ONLY ever take the lid off to put in finnings, in which case I hold the lid in the other hand.

 

[fasty73]

All in favour of tipping it out??

 

[BrenosBrews]

That's definitely a pellicle caused by some wild yeast (unlikely you have wild yeast floating about) or some sort of bacteria getting in there.

As others have said, you need to taste a beer as it ferments. I assume your fermentor has a tap of some sort? Really not that hard to draw a sample.

If your trying to brew a clean lager this isn't a good thing. Unintentionally infected homebrews aren't usually a good thing but there is plenty of brewers who purposely add wild yeast (Brettanomyces) & lactic acid producing bacteria (Lactobacillus & Pediococcus) to achieve certain outcomes. So not all is lost as long as your willing to embrace the funk!

 

[DJR]

What sanitiser are you using?

2 out of 22 isn't that bad but there must be something you can do to get that number to 0

 

[fasty73]

I have learnt a terrible mistake. I am only using brigalow bottle washing powder!! My bad I guees.

 

[pk.sax]

Could even be that A/C... something you changed in the environment to introduce bacteria an even a little exposure ended up being too much. Or maybe e grommets around your airlocks are goners now! Repeated hot water treatment to rubber parts can do things to them. Something has stuffed up. Maybe your taps are harbouring bacteria!

 

[zephon]

As the tittle says. Ingredients were Tooheys Lager (can goop) Coopers Dextrose and a Brigalow finishing hops half tablet the day after putting it down on 25/9/2010? OG was 1034, todays sg is 1006. Smells like any other brew I have put down.

Looks like the bucket I use as a drip tray after too long between cleanings and I wouldn't drink that!

 

[fasty73]

Yes the grommet on the first pics fermenter is very loose, but thats my fault, I drilled the hole too big,but the last batch out of that fermenter turned out ok. Quick answers. I am about 10 minutes from tipping it out.

 

[fasty73]

ditch it, give up brewing and get off AHB :icon_chickcheers:

NICE

 

[zephon]

Yes the grommet on the first pics fermenter is very loose, but thats my fault, I drilled the hole too big,but the last batch out of that fermenter turned out ok. Quick answers. I am about 10 minutes from tipping it out.

Have you tasted it yet? It won't hurt you.

 

[fasty73]

What taste is good and whats bad?

 

[mxd]

don't forget to taste it, you should taste it when ever you do a hydrometer sample. You'll get to pick things up.

 

[Aus_Rider_22]

What taste is good and whats bad?

If your mouth isn't puckering from the taste and your initial reaction isn't to spit it out then it's most likely not infected yet. Have a smell. Good chance you can tell from the smell. Do both and let us know.

 

[fasty73]

Ok, going to taste it now. Smell is normal.

 

[zephon]

What taste is good and whats bad?

Typically an infection will cause vinegary/sour flavours that you may or may not find offensive depending on your tastes.

It should be fairly obvious if it's bad.

My only advice though if it tastes OK and you are bottling this with the intention of bottle conditioning (adding sugar to the bottles to carbonate the beer) is to use plastic bottles as an infected beer put into glass bottles has a much higher risk of producing a bottle bomb.