Something crazy happened. Out of my last 8 batches of mead and beer 6 came out infected. I am cleaning my equipment with PBW and sanitizing with Starsan. I make my batches in the kitchen (both beer and meads). Using clean tools, always keep at most 3-4 days old bucket with starsan solution, and yet, get every 3 out of 4 batches infected. Does it mean that I got some nasty air bacteria in the air that lands into a …
Just bottled my first contaminated beer, got lazy and didn't freeze/boil the watermelon I added to a wheat beer and got lacto(?) contamination and an amazing sour watermelon beer as a result! But, now I want to know if it's time to chuck the fermenter that had the contamination out (or put biohazard stickers on it and keep it for a deliberately sour beer). I ferment in plastic pails, so no great cost to replace and probably hard to really …
I noticed several small pink colonies on the foam of a second stage starter that I made from recovered yeast (originally Gigayeast: GY 054) that was mixed with 25% glycerin and frozen. They were not fuzzy as might be expected for a mold or mycelial species. I've done some research on the Web and PubMed in particular and have found two genera of wild yeast that might be responsible: Rhodotorula and Sporobolomyces. I didn't find any representations that these were …
For example has anyone done an experiment where they either didn't wash/sterilise any equipment including the fermenter, spoon, jugs, other etc or at most they just rinsed out the equipment with water. If so what were the results, did you get an infection, did you culture botulism, did it turn to vinegar or did it just have off flavours OR did it turn out fine. Cleaning stuff for brewing is a real pain and I do wonder how thorough you …
I did search, but didn't get any proper answer. I have access to bleach and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and silver (Ag) ions (no star-san nor Iodophor). I need to go with a no-rinse sanitizer. I've heard hydrogen peroxide can be a good choice. But the question is that the producer claims it can be effective up to several days, so if I dilute it in water and disinfect my carboy and stuff without rinsing, isn't it gonna ruin my yeast? …
I know that adding Campden kills yeasts. But I read recipes for beers that talk about soaking additional flavoring agents (like coffee beans and chocolate nibs) in vodka to disinfect them, before adding to a secondary. Is the worry that is solved by soaking in vodka taken care of by using Campden tablets? I already use Campden after putting my flavored cider mixes in the carboy and before I pitch the yeast.