rawlus

Recipes 

Aside from maintaining clean equipment and normal sterilization protocols to limit cross-contamination, are there any other special concerns for someone who makes a sour beer from time to time but is also active in winemaking with grapes? Is this a particularly risky practice just asking for trouble?

Maintaining separate tubing and other plastics (aside from better bottles) is not a problem. Stainless and glass equipment would be shared (but cleaned and sanitized)

What is the inherent danger of bugs "in the air" that could contaminate an expensive batch of wine?

Conditions are condo, normal kitchen, storage in generally the same area but no open spills or other opportunities for cross contamination.

Thanks for any feedback based on experience.

maskednegator

Recipes 

Whatever bugs that would be "in the air" from sour beer are already "in the air" from the grains you're bringing into your condo. Those things are covered in brett and lactic acid producing bacteria.

DannPM

Recipes 

Anything you pitch into a wort does not fly around in the air. Unless you're throwing dregs on your ceiling, the bugs in your wort are only in your wort and whatever your wort touches. They don't fly out of your fermentation vessel, they have no way to defy gravity. It's the same reason a sanitized tin foil cover over your carboy works, it keeps things from falling in there. That's all an airlock does, it keeps things from falling in. Jamil had a mini-rant in a show about this, makes sense to me, I believe him.

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rawlus

Recipes 

Thanks guys, makes sense. I was paranoid after reading about winemakers who refuse to step into breweries that deal with bugs and sours, it would seem that as long as I take proper precautions, I should be safe from contaminating my wine with anything I'm using in the beer making and that it CAN be controlled.