DaBills

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I have an infection in one of my batches: http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/pics-ugh-infection-358081/. The only thing I can think is that my starter became infected while sitting in the fridge. What do you think, I didn't use it right away and it sat in the fridge covered with tin foil. There are things like veggies and milk in the fridge too. Do you think it became infected this way? I am planning on doing a Chimay clone kit and I spent $50 on the ingredients. I have a starter that has been in the fridge for a week and I'm worried it could possibly be infected. Do you think I should buy new yeast and make another starter and keep it out of the fridge? The yeast I used was Wyeast Belgian Strong Ale. Is there a dry alternative I could use instead?

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duboman

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Something is amiss in your sanitizing process, whether it is in the starter or the process of going into the fermenter you are not being careful somewhere along the line.

What is your cleaning an sanitizing process and what product are you using. I have had starters in the fridge for a week covered with foil and have never experienced an infection in almost 350 gallons of beer.

You can take your current starter out of the fridge and let it sit at room temp for a couple days and see if something starts to grow to see if it's infected.

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DaBills

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I clean with oxy clean and then I rinse everything that touches the wort with star san at the recommended dosage. I was sooooo friggin careful my family thought I was psychotic. That's why it sucks so much.

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duboman

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Those are the correct products to use. You are not rinsing off the star San are you? Don't fear the foam.

Somewhere you are missing something. I highly doubt it came from the starter just siting in the fridge in a sealed vessel.

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HoppyDaze

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it could have happened in the fridge. curious family member opens the foil lid or it gets knocked off. Lots of nasty bacteria in the fridge. I highly recommend wearing a rubber next time you make a starter

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Hopper5000

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Agreed with dubo, don't rinse the starsan off. I actually got some spray bottles recently which I believe have aided me in my sanitation. I basically spray down everything before I start messing with it.

DaBills

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No I love the foam lol. Well I don't know how this happened my other 2 batches came out fantastic. Oh well I'll just have to be more compulsive about it next batch.

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DaBills

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I do the same. When I'm finished brewing I can skate across the floor in my kitchen there's so much star san on it.

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Hopper5000

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how are you making your starters? Do you do all grain or extract?

DaBills

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I make a wort using extra light DME with a gravity of between 1.03 and 1.04 (1.03 this time.) Then I sanitize a clean growler but this time I used a sanitized plastic jug that had reverse osmosis water in it so I could make a bigger starter. I put wort in there and pitch yeast after it's cooled down. I cover with sanitized foil and intermittently shake. I step it up 2 or 3 times depending on what yeastcalc tells me to do. This time it exploded out the top it was very active but the foil stayed on and the beer just dripped down the sides making it all sticky so I rinsed it off with water with the foil still on.

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