Wild Yeast Problems - How you overcame

[TimT]

Just throwing a theory up Manticle. But.... I think it has some applicability, yeah.

 

[manticle]

Hypothesis rather than a theory and I'm not sure it's based on much more than 'I ate dirt as a kid'.

 

[clintonforster]

Sorry - you took the fridge to your mates to ferment in and got the same issue or did I misread?

yeas, i took my fridge and fermenter to my mates place and still got the same problem, which confuses me even more. only thing i can come up with is that the yeast was hiding in my fridge or fv. As i said ive brewed with other people who are brewing great beer and they re way more relaxed wit sanitisation etc. :S

I'm not sure if i had of taken it to his place and given the fridge a good bleach and fermenter a good pbwing if it would have made a difference.

I've talked to a few guys who who have been brewing for like 40 years and theyve run out of suggestions for me except move house! Unfortunately i couldn't afford to move this year, and my place is rad except for this particular problem!

I Aerate by just pouring out of the cube into the fermenter and then shaking the fermenter a little

 

[manticle]

If you took something to your friend's and got the same problem and that something is common to all brews, that something is implicated. Nuke the fridge and if a stainless fermenter, nuke that too. Break apart all taps and fittings and clean the motherfucker.

 

[clintonforster]

unfortunately when i took it to my mates place i took the fridge which had just been thoroughly bleached by my wife and a plastic fermenter that had been used once. I now have a brand new chestie, and brand new brewbucket, same problem. Brew bucket was cleaned with tricleanium and pbw and then passivated and sanitized as well before use. i really appreciate all your advice manticle!

 

[Markbeer]

As much as i love star san if i was op I would be ditching the star san.

No good on wild yeast. Designed for bacteria.

 

[Lecterfan]

I probably still have a persistent infection problem....if I fermented 20 odd litres in my 25 or 30L fermenters...some with glad wrap instead of airlocks etc...some with crazy overflowing top croppers, some with more subdued yeasts then I'd probably have a problem (talking about my location, not the techniques)

I never fixed/solved/explained the problem... but then I started fermenting in the blue willow jerries that have FA empty headspace and, subsequently, I haven't had an infection in precisely as long as I made the change (over 2 years now I think)... I was/am super clean and a diligent brewer...people that haven't had a persistent infection don't get the nuisance factor (pure heartbreak). While I didn't 'solve' my problem, I still found a solution that suits me.

No worries here now. Clean and sanitise the shit out of everything...buy it new if you have to or tevz.

 

[manticle]

unfortunately when i took it to my mates place i took the fridge which had just been thoroughly bleached by my wife and a plastic fermenter that had been used once. I now have a brand new chestie, and brand new brewbucket, same problem. Brew bucket was cleaned with tricleanium and pbw and then passivated and sanitized as well before use. i really appreciate all your advice manticle!

So the fermenter had one nasty in it prior? Hard to remove some bugs from plastic fermenters.

Clean the shit out of everything, try the direct cube pitch method. Worked for me, worked for lecter.

 

[clintonforster]

Manticle,

I've had a few of these posts up in the last 7 months asking for help and i'm pretty sure you've commented on all of them. Thanks heaps. I've read your article on fermenting directly in the cube and it seems so insanely simple that i will give it a try (got no other option anyway!) Though it hurts not to use my freakin' sweet as brewbucket, hopefully this may be a solution for me until i can move house next year.

I will give it a go with my next brew and let you know!

When i'm ready to put into the keg i'm assuming that with the lid open a little the liquid should be easily able to come out through the tap?

 

[Mardoo]

Yes to your cube lid question, but you will be drawing in a small amount of outside air. Given the intensity of your problem you may want to try to following. You could wrap a sanitized or boiled damp dish towel snugly around the lid, crack it open, and use the towel as a crude filter to pick up most of what could be drawn in. Probably wouldn't hurt to put one over the top of the keg as well.

 

[fraser_john]

Last place I lived at whilst building my current house was an aweful place to brew. I was lucky to get 1 out of three brews to be ok. Turned out the floor in the shed was never lined properly with plastic when they poured the slab. When I moved into this house, all my bunnings click together shelves had the bottom shelf GREEN with fungus underneath. The spores must have been thick in the air, even though the room was thoroughly clean and the tops of all the shelves spotless!

If using stainless brew bucket, taps etc. fire cleanses all I use one on my CFC and conical fermenter.

 

[manticle]

Hope it works for you clinton. It really is tremendously flattening when you do everything right and still get shit beer.

 

[oglennyboy]

Interesting & frankly pretty scary thread. I've only just had my first lot of bottle infections and picked up a wild yeast (text book pellicle, mucking around with cherries) and know how it happened, but nothing like your tale.
I was wondering if there might be something external, like if you have a big beard, or ever had a nail fungal infection? Given the common factor outside of the stringent disinfection your gear undergoes is you, is there anything there? A watch, or ring etc.
Good luck!
cheers

 

[clintonforster]

Interesting & frankly pretty scary thread. I've only just had my first lot of bottle infections and picked up a wild yeast (text book pellicle, mucking around with cherries) and know how it happened, but nothing like your tale.
I was wondering if there might be something external, like if you have a big beard, or ever had a nail fungal infection? Given the common factor outside of the stringent disinfection your gear undergoes is you, is there anything there? A watch, or ring etc.
Good luck!
cheers

Actually i wear a ring on my right middle finger that turns my finger green? It was painted stainless but that quickly faded to show that it was copper. I started wearing it about a month and a half AFTER my problems had started.

 

[Mardoo]

Footscray...any nearby industries that could contribute to the problem? It's more likely immediately local, as in your house, but a look around couldn't hurt, fermented products being high on the list.

And yeah, my heart goes put to you mate. Terrible.

 

[clintonforster]

Yes to your cube lid question, but you will be drawing in a small amount of outside air. Given the intensity of your problem you may want to try to following. You could wrap a sanitized or boiled damp dish towel snugly around the lid, crack it open, and use the towel as a crude filter to pick up most of what could be drawn in. Probably wouldn't hurt to put one over the top of the keg as well.

yeah, good idea, I'll fill the keg with Co2 first as well, assuming the fermenting in the cube part works out :/

 

[clintonforster]

Footscray...any nearby industries that could contribute to the problem? It's more likely immediately local, as in your house, but a look around couldn't hurt, fermented products being high on the list.

And yeah, my heart goes put to you mate. Terrible.

I'm just up the road from grain and grape so no idea man! The guys at the store have no advice left to give me and they've all tried my beer and tried to figure it out!

 

[barls]

i had one a few years ago.
i hot causticed everything. make sure its above 65 c and the caustic is above 10% concentration
then sodium per carb again above 65.
and warm psr everything
replaced all taps and tubing.
then starsaned the crap out of the room and i mean i starsaned the room. mop and bucket
got rid of it.
the other thing to be careful of is when cubing is to wipe the top of the cube before pouring.

 

[Weizguy]

I never saw you describe this wild yeast character.

What does it do to the beer flavour?

Did you mention the age of the Starsan?

 

[TimT]

He did in the first post Les -

I've brewed every single week since last June and no matter what i do i always get a wild yeast infection. My brew tastes the same and has the same distinct off flavour no matter what the grain bill, hops or yeast i use. The taste is kind of band aidy or soapy or something i really can't describe it.. it's just not beer.