harrymanback92
Well-Known Member
I had my first infection
It was a combination of me being lax with sanitation and fruit flies. Here's what happened:
I fermented an ESB and had it sitting in primary. We had a fruit flies in the house so I just didn't open the primary until last night (three weeks after brew day) and was hit with an overwhelming vinegar smell, and it was clearly infected. I'll attach a pic I found online that looks very similar to what was growing in my beer. So, after I knew it was infected and I began to look over what could have possibily lead to the infection. I've never had one, and I'm generally pretty good with sanitation. There was a small, small hole in the fermenter near the airlock where fruit flies had gotten in.
Now, I've already tossed the beer. That batched was ruined and I accepted that; it was a very painful learning experience.
But here's the kicker: In another room I have a Saison that has been resting in primary for a bit now. The saison smells like a Saison, doesn't have the same growth but there is something floating around atop the beer. To me, it looks like yeast, but I'm concerned I spread the infection to my Saison. About a week ago, I had some friends over and we took gravity readings and tasted the samples, of both batches. I know that I took the sample from the ESB(the infected batch) first, sprayed my turkey baster with some sanitizer, and than almost immediately went upstairs and dunked the baster into the Saison.
I really don't want to ruin two batches. So, what can I do? I was thinking I could pasteurize the Saison, add new yeast and then bottle? Has anyone done this? Is it even do able?
For the record, I'm not going to toss the Saison unless it becomes clearly infected. Right now I'm sanitizing another fermenter I had around to get it off the yeast cake and transfer it to secondary. What can I do guys?
I have 25 batches under my belt, and this is the only one I've had infected. I'm only worried about the Saison because of the potential cross contamination.
PS: The pic attached is not of my beer, but it was almost the same growth, if not the same very similar. It also didn't really have a sour smell, but a vinegar smell. It was similar to very very strong smelling Kombucha.
It was a combination of me being lax with sanitation and fruit flies. Here's what happened:
I fermented an ESB and had it sitting in primary. We had a fruit flies in the house so I just didn't open the primary until last night (three weeks after brew day) and was hit with an overwhelming vinegar smell, and it was clearly infected. I'll attach a pic I found online that looks very similar to what was growing in my beer. So, after I knew it was infected and I began to look over what could have possibily lead to the infection. I've never had one, and I'm generally pretty good with sanitation. There was a small, small hole in the fermenter near the airlock where fruit flies had gotten in.
Now, I've already tossed the beer. That batched was ruined and I accepted that; it was a very painful learning experience.
But here's the kicker: In another room I have a Saison that has been resting in primary for a bit now. The saison smells like a Saison, doesn't have the same growth but there is something floating around atop the beer. To me, it looks like yeast, but I'm concerned I spread the infection to my Saison. About a week ago, I had some friends over and we took gravity readings and tasted the samples, of both batches. I know that I took the sample from the ESB(the infected batch) first, sprayed my turkey baster with some sanitizer, and than almost immediately went upstairs and dunked the baster into the Saison.
I really don't want to ruin two batches. So, what can I do? I was thinking I could pasteurize the Saison, add new yeast and then bottle? Has anyone done this? Is it even do able?
For the record, I'm not going to toss the Saison unless it becomes clearly infected. Right now I'm sanitizing another fermenter I had around to get it off the yeast cake and transfer it to secondary. What can I do guys?
I have 25 batches under my belt, and this is the only one I've had infected. I'm only worried about the Saison because of the potential cross contamination.
PS: The pic attached is not of my beer, but it was almost the same growth, if not the same very similar. It also didn't really have a sour smell, but a vinegar smell. It was similar to very very strong smelling Kombucha.
