infections

not really a begginer but i thought this would be a good place for some advice. my last 3 batches have been infected with acetobacter.{no doubt about it straight vinegar} the only difference in my process was that i changed to a six and a half gallon carboy. can too much headspace cause an infection? i use a blowoff hose into starsan

Yeah from what I know too much headspace is a common cause of infection.

payton34 said:

not really a begginer but i thought this would be a good place for some advice. my last 3 batches have been infected with acetobacter.{no doubt about it straight vinegar} the only difference in my process was that i changed to a six and a half gallon carboy. can too much headspace cause an infection? i use a blowoff hose into starsan

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Too much headspace is usually a cause of oxidation and long conditioning and the infiltration of O2

Infection is always due to poor sanitation practice. I'm not saying its not possible but the infection could be coming from anything that is not properly sanitized after the wort cools. Any piece of equipment that comes in contact with cooled wort or fermented beer such as racking canes, tubing, chillers vessels, thieves, hydro meters, hop sacks, etc.......

ezzellca said:

Yeah from what I know too much headspace is a common cause of infection.

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No, that is complete shenanigans. Headspace does not magically introduce acetobacter. As a previous poster said, headspace, especially in a secondary, can lead to oxygen exposure, oxidation, etc. Poor sanitation causes infection. If it has happened three batches in a row, I'd ditch the soft plastics (hoses, racking cane, etc.) and bleach the fermenter. Pay close attention to anything that comes into contact with the wort.

I stand corrected.

Headspace is absolutely not the issue here. Your sanitation has to tbe the culprit.

It's possible that you may have gotten something into your plastic items. If a long sanitation hasn't done things for you, be sure you are disaseenbling things like racking canes, bottling tips, nozzles, etc. If you have been, you may need to look replacing all plastic items: tubing, bottling bucket, etc.

it was ininfected in the primary. i brewed outside this summer, maybe there was something happening during chilling when the wort got below 200 and before i got to pitching temp

payton34 said:

it was ininfected in the primary. i brewed outside this summer, maybe there was something happening during chilling when the wort got below 200 and before i got to pitching temp

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One batch? Maybe. Three batches in a row speaks to an ongoing sanitation issue.

How are you getting your wort from the brew kettle to the primary?

beerman0001 said:

How are you getting your wort from the brew kettle to the primary?

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Through the acetobacter-infected hose, of course.

pabloj13 said:

Through the acetobacter-infected hose, of course.

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Yep. Something, somewhere, is harboring this. Infections - despite all of the scare threads you read on HBT every week - are very rare overall... even moreso with good sanitation. The chances of you getting three infected batches in a row with no underlying cause has to be up there with lightning strike risk.

i think the acetobacter infected hose is right. i run boiling wort through it before i chill but must not be enough. all plastic hoses will be replaced before i brew again. by the way i brewed all three batches in
one weekend

I still use the original hose to attach to the auto-siphion I got with my first beer kit from over a year and a half ago. Soaking in oyxclean or bleach and then star-san has kept it in good shape. I have yet to brew an infected beer.

Gary