White Labs Problems

[Maxt]

Had some strange goings on down my way.

A fresh batch of White Labs came in to the LHBS a while ago, cold packs still semi frozen, apparently.

Anyway, seems (at least) 8 brewers have had infected beer from really long lag times.

One of mine took 70hrs to kick off. Most people are reporting at least 36hrs (even after making a starter).
This has been with many different W.L strains.

Have contacted W.L, who credit a new vial to the HBS, which I duly pick up, make a starter for, and then get another infected beer.

The infection seems to be from wild yeast, the real bandaid/chemical taste, and from many different experienced brewers (including the HBS guy himself).

I am hoping this is just an unusual error in the line somewhere, but has anyone else had this issue?

 

[NRB]

You should post this on the green board and see if anyone in the US has had similar problems.

 

[Ross]

The infection seems to be from wild yeast, the real bandaid/chemical taste, and from many different experienced brewers (including the HBS guy himself).

Don't be too quick to blame whitelabs - We have this problem arise in Brisbane from time to time & it's airbourne yeast; several brewers recently all got infected - The way round it here, is to no chill your beer to stop the cooled wort coming in contact with the air. I transfer the wort to the fermenter at 65c & then leave in the fridge overnight before pitching - Doing it this way, I've never lost a brew.

Saying that, it may not be what's happening in your case, especially if you are already a no chiller - but if you subseguently aerate your wort without a filter in place, you're back to square 1 - Also take extra care to make sure your starter isn't picking up an airbourne contamination...

Cheers Ross

 

[Screwtop]

My suggestion is if you've had an infection in your brewery, then bleach everything before attempting another brew.

Screwy

 

[newguy]

This past year I used White Labs for the first time. I had their Scottish ale yeast and their Oktoberfest I believe (WLP028 and 820). The Scottish worked very well (and I made a starter). The lager yeast, on the other hand, produced crap. I made a huge starter with that one too. The lagers were definitely infected with wild yeast and I ended up pouring them out. It's possible that I picked up an infection but given that I don't get infections at all (haven't for years), it's possible that the yeast was bad.

Just one more data point.

 

[blackbock]

The really long lag time is a clue that there is something wrong with the yeast IMHO. Even with wild yeast around in the air, a vial of whitelabs should win the race. Wild yeast usually are slow starters, but have a tendency to taint the brew later, even after kegging or bottling.

 

[Maxt]

Yeah, I can't see how many experience AG brewers who have never had this happen before, all get infections from the same batch of yeast.
Even without a starter, as Blackbock said, the viable WL yeast should get the job done before the wild yeast.