WoolyBooger

Recipes 

Well, it had to happen eventually. I brewed a nut brown ale a few weeks ago and racked to my secondary two weeks ago. All taste tests indicated a tasty brew in my future. Went to bottle today and... BAM, a mouthful of vinegary sourness (Acetobacter I'm assuming). I am sooooo disappointed. I almost wept as I was pouring it down the drain. The biggest problem is, I don't know what I did differently than my other batches. I used a blowoff tube, but I ran it into a bucket of starsan. Any ideas on how it got infected?

DrummerBoySeth

Recipes 

Infections are rare, but they do suck, nonetheless. A little more info about your process and sanitation will help, but it is likely something small like not thoroughly santizing your racking cane, or a small amount of krausen stuck in the bottling spigot of your bucket after the last batch. (had that one happen to me once...)

Think back... is there any chance you did not sanitize something, or maybe did not sanitize well enough...

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"Give a man a beer, and he will waste an hour. Teach a man to brew, and he will waste a lifetime!" Bill Owen

SavoryChef

Recipes 

I feel your pain. Just had my first after 41 batches.

rhamilton

Recipes 

Continual use of one sanitizer results in the propagation of bugs resistant to that specific sanitizer. I do a bleach bomb every 10 batches just to keep those bugs at bay -- so far so good *knock on wood*

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On Deck: Cornucopia Oktoberfest
Primary: Centennial Blonde v2, Ed Wort's Kolsch
Secondary: none
Kegged: County Jail Pale Ale, AHS Anniv IPA, AHS Brooklyn Brown, Raspberry Wheat, Blood Orange Hefe, Ranger IPA clone (x2), Newcastle clone, AHS Irish Red, Centennial Blonde
Bottled: Session Series Belgian Saison, Apocalypso, Pecan Porter, DFH 90 Minute Clone, Apfelwein (x2), Wytchmaker Rye IPA Clone, Vienna/Simcoe SMaSH, Munich/Cascade SMaSH

Teromous

Recipes 

Aside from sanitation, you should also look at how much air your beer was exposed to after the completion of fermentation. If you're splashing while racking or racking multiple times after a majority of CO2 has been released, then the exposure of oxygen will promote the growth of acetobacter.

WoolyBooger

Recipes 

I am very meticulous about my sanitation. I only racked one time (to the secondary) and I was quick about it. The only difference from most batches is that I started off with a blowoff tube. I was a little gun shy and trying to be proactive because the previous batch blew out my airlock. But the tube was washed and sanitized and it was running to a bucket of sanitizer. I am really stumped on this one.

DoubleAught

Recipes 

That's actually a very good idea, thanks for the tip.

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In their efforts to regulate beer quality, the ancient Babylonians, who were among history's earliest brewers, decreed that any commercial beermaker who sold unfit beer would be drowned in their own libation.

dwarven_stout

Recipes 

Source? I've certainly not found that to be the case. You aren't sanitizing with antibiotics, after all. A cell can't "build up" a resistance to getting its cell wall lysed, because it either kills the cell or it doesn't happen.

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"I can't believe how many people think Air Lock is pronounced Hydrometer." -BigKahuna
"If you gave me a beer with placenta in it without telling me I would kick you in the nuts." -ODaniel
"We be in a big hurry for dope beer with much alcamahol and flavor, quality, balance, and aroma don't matter. We just wantz to be druck, u know?" -Yooper

eastoak

Recipes 

exactly.