Dark day in the brewery...

TheMan · 08-31-2009, 02:44 PM

So me and Yeast Infection (another member here) had 20 gallons to bottle this weekend. Went over to his place to start the process and we popped open the first bucket to see and smell what we thought would be our glorious new wheat beer...boy were we surprised. Mold. The entire top layer was covered. It smelled horrendous.

We have never had an infection before so this was a shocker. We moved to our other beer, which was a 15 gallon batch in 3 seperate buckets. Particles of mold in each, also with a very sour and just disgusting smell.

This is the first time we have used buckets to ferment. We are thinking this is the culprit, since as I said, we've never had an infection before. None of our methods have changed so we cannot think how this could be. Anyone have any ideas?

Nonetheless, we had to dump 20 gallons of homebrew. A moment of silence didn't even feel good enough...

TipsyDragon · 08-31-2009, 03:34 PM

well the obvious is poor sanitation. maybe you guys just missed a step this time around or something. might need to use fresh StarSan, it only lasts so long. is it possible that the buckets where scratched before you used them? those scratches could hide mold and bacteria. did you sanitize the bucket lids? don't always think of that but its possible. how did you aerate your wart? you should always use an inline air filter to prevent accidentally sucking up mold/bacteria and blowing it into your wart.

**pompeiisneaks** · 08-31-2009, 03:43 PM

I've used buckets tons w/o any off flavors or issues, but they were new buckets w/o any scratches etc. They were sanitized w/ iodophor as well. I'd agree w/ Tipsy... Its more likely either you didn't quite sanitize them right, or you didn't get new enough ones and they had scratches that the sanitizing agents couldn't get into... leaving behind some nasties...

TheMan · 08-31-2009, 03:51 PM

none of us recall missing anything. The buckets were brand new from Morebeer.com...so there should not be a single scratch on them. I remember sanitizing buckets and lids. Starsan is only 2 months old, should be fine. We just used our wort spoon to aerate, after sanitizing each time.

Our thought is that there was an air leak somewhere. That the buckets are not sealing airtight. They sat for 4 weeks, 3 of them were secondaries.

We've done 60 gallons prior to this, so we have our process down and have never had an issue. I can't say accidents will never happen, but I just do not see where.

**weirdboy** · 08-31-2009, 03:57 PM

Was there a draft or wind where you were transferring to the fermenters or cooling? You could just have mold in the environment and it blew into the wort during transfer.

TheMan · 08-31-2009, 04:17 PM

No draft. The transfer was done indoors. The 4th one was only primary. So that leads me to believe that if we did something wrong, it was before the secondary since all 4 were infected

**Grinder12000** · 08-31-2009, 04:20 PM

What did you use to sanitize and what was the process. Odd that all 3 or 4 would go belly up.

Sad - I just dumped about 120 bottles done the drain from a bottling side infection. Spigot was hiding gunk for I GUESS 3 batches (3 weeks) before I found it.

TheMan · 08-31-2009, 04:37 PM

This is the sanitizer...Five star Iodine Sanitizer. It has not failed us once so far in 12 + batches.
IO Star Iodine Sanitizer 32 oz | MoreBeer

To sanitize I filled the buckets with water and sanitizer, then i stick my hand in to scrub/rub the sides to make sure it's good and coated for a couple minutes. Rub the lids down with sanitizer. The airlocks and bungs get a nice long soak in a bucket as well. Airlock is then filled with sanitizer.

It's worth noting, there was mold in three of the 4 airlocks. Maybe that helps diagnose? The only thing different between this brew and previous is the use of plastic buckets as fermenters. We've always used glass carboys.

quickerNu · 08-31-2009, 05:05 PM

I have always used buckets for primary and never had an infection. how did you transfer cooled wort to the buckets? I'll bet your nasties were picked up there....

carnevoodoo · 08-31-2009, 05:09 PM

I wouldn't blame the buckets either. Was it like green mold or something more like a white film? You say it is sour? It could be a lactic or an acetic infection.