Rubber gasket in Fermenting Bucket Warning
 

I just got my first infection after three years of brewing.

The culprit was the rubber gasket in the lid of the fermenting bucket.

I have super sanitized everything and have thrown away the rubber gasket and have no intention of buying a new one.

The question is except to form an air tight seal why should I need a rubber gasket in a lid with a 1" hole in it?

The other fermenting bucket I have has no such rubber seal and works very well.

Another reason to use the ferment in a bag method.

Cheers

Glass carboys man. Avoid plastic all together and you wont have to worry about any of those crevis's and scratches. If you going to get another fermenter, just go glass.

Just my opinion.

How were you able to pinpoint the gasket as the culprit? Just curious.

Plus, how can you be sure the top of the bucket really touched that much wort? I think the rubber gasket on the spigot would be much more likely to cause infection.....

+1 This is leaping to a conclusion for sure. There are many possible sources in addition to the gasket. Also, the gasket can be sanitized as well as any other piece of equipment. I've been using the same two plastic bucket fermenters w/spigots for nearly ten years without contamination/infection problems. It seems rather silly to hysterically scream a warning about gasket type plastic lids/buckets with so little evidence.

Nah, go stainless. I ferment in Sanke kegs. The best part about that is that I can set it on my burner and boil a gallon of water for 15 minutes to sanitize. Cover the opening with aluminum foil to build a little pressure, and it's better than sanitized, it's sterilized.

source of infection
 

It was the rubber gasket as I took the whole bloody thing apart looking for mold.

The mold was hiding beneath the gasket.

The beer does have to touch the gasket to get an infection just be near enough for the mould spores to drop in.

Anyway what is the purpose of the gasket? Like I said the other bucket has no gasket.

No, then it wasn't the gasket at all. It was your poor cleaning and sanitation methods that are at fault. The purpose of the gasket is to insure a positive seal between the lid and the bucket. Plastic bucket fermenters are not all identical. Some have gaskets and some do not. Some buckets were designed as food containers and others to hold various other materials which may or may not require an air tight seal. Those deigned as food containers would obviously require an airtight seal. You can brew beer in a fermenter that lacks an airtight seal, but this increases the risk for contamination and may also contribute to oxidation problems. The gasket was not at fault. You were.

Well said. Brewers need to understand their equipment and any negative qualities it may have.

I have a threaded spigot on my fermentation bucket, and I know that if I don't clean & sanitize it well enough it will harbor bacteria. Someday I probably will lose a batch because of this, but I'm certainly not going to post a rant on the internet about the evils is threaded fittings.

Me too! My plastic bucket fermenters both have threaded spigots. I never bother to disassemble them though I know I probably should. I figure that the hot cleaning solution and the sanitizer will contact all the same exposed surfaces that the wort may reach. Like you, I expect that someday this may cause a problem and I may have to dump a batch, but so far, it's been nearly ten years without any problems. Murphy is bound to catch up with me sooner or later, but when he does I will only have myself to blame.