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You are here: Home --> Forum Home --> Brewing Forum --> Is it infected? --> Finding the Root Cause of an Infection

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flapjackcarl
Houston, TX
Posts


Yea. I'd lean towards that as well. Perhaps replace carboys that have seen infection, bungs, airlocks, and my thief. 



Posted 34 days ago.

mchrispen
Bastrop, TX
485 Posts


When I have gotten a contaminated batch, I most always was able to trace it to my cleaning regiment, and I am very careful about it.

I clean carefully, soak in PBW, rinse, StarSan - let soak and store under plastic wrap.

When getting ready to rack a mead yesterday, I noticed my Better Bottle had some crud still stuck in there, despite that regimen. I suspect that when I am using stuff with foam, some of the smaller bits become harder to see through the plastic. So now a very careful inspection after the foam disappears is in order.




Posted 34 days ago.
Edited 34 days ago by mchrispen

flapjackcarl
Houston, TX
485 Posts


Out of curiosity, are you an advocate for or against replacing equipment post infection?





Posted 34 days ago.

mchrispen
Bastrop, TX
485 Posts


I am one of those folks that make the wild beer folks crazy that hands down contaminated gear to my occasional sour/wild beer.

I would replace anything that you no longer have confidence in producing clean beers. So I suppose yes. Buckets and even old conicals can be re-purposed in the brewery so I keep them around - marked for no fermentation use. Racking canes and tubing are cheap enough that I replace them regularly anyways - especially if they start to look cracked.

You are asking all of the right questions... I had a series of contaminated batches a couple of years ago and went through the same drill. Nearly gave up brewing. Then suddenly the beers started coming out right as I increased my cleaning and sanitation routine, as well as spent more effort in sanitary yeast wrangling. Never REALLY figured out where the contamination happened with any degree of certainty that time.

With the occasional contaminated batch, I can usually isolate something I skipped or was lazy in cleaning/sanitation.





Posted 34 days ago.
Edited 34 days ago by mchrispen

flapjackcarl
Houston, TX
485 Posts


It's really the carboys that I'm hesitate to replace. I guess given my cleaning method (rice) it may be wise to replace all 3 and move to a gentler method of cleaning. But I'd prefer not to do that. :/



Posted 34 days ago.

chino_brews
Charter Member
Eden Prairie, MN
301 Posts


My guess is the rice in the PET* fermentor. It will eventually be an infection vector even if it is not today.

I haven't heard of the O2 stone/wand being a vector -- if it is, I'm interested to hear more. I finally broke down and got one and have used it three times so far.

In terms of diagnosing it, what you need to do is brew a normal batch, and run a wort stability test using a sample from every step of your process post-chill (direct from kettle, through ball valve, through ball valve and tubing, and from fermentor), as well as a pitched wort stability test using a sample direct from the kettle.




Posted 34 days ago.

ingoogni
nl
314 Posts


There are two problems I have with PET carboys, the narrow neck and they can't deal with my cleaning procedure. 3-5% NaOH solution @ 80°C. They start to crackle because of the temperature.

I use wide mouth PE drums, clean them with a soft cloth and then fill with the above solution and let it sit for a few days, tubes etc. also go in. Then rinse with hot water and dry, rinse with StarSan before use. I do not use separate equipment for normal and brett/sour/wild fermentations. No cross contamination so far since using these, about 120 brews.






Posted 34 days ago.

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