Re-PItch Infections Help Needed

I have had two separate infections this year where the beer tastes like horse hair. Both were re-pitched from sanitized mason jars, but I did not create a starter. Rather, I just decanted the top liquid and pitched. On both batches, there was a 12-18 hour lag and fermentation was rather fast.

I ferment in plastic food grade pails. My sanitation technique is okay and make very clean tasting beers consistently (with these exceptions). I have had very good results pitching on top of a yeast cake so this is an issue when the yeast is re-pitched only.

I've been brewing for many years but just started experimenting with re-pitching and am obviously making a mess of this. I would really like to develop a house yeast so a suggestion about buying a new packet is not really helpful.

Is this as simple as doing a starter so that the wild yeasty's don't take over

I regularly repitch straight from mason jars, and never had a problem. Smell it before you pitch, and if there is any question, make a starter with it to check viability.

How old is the yeast you are repitching? What is the color of the yeast? How are you storing them? What is the water source?

The water source is boiled water that is cooled to swirl around. The yeast is from this summer and it is color of peanut butter

While yeast can be viable from the summer I'm guessing there has been mutations and many dead cells. I put mine in a sanitized jar but only keep it for no more then a month. Yeast is cheap enough I don't really think its worth it to waste a 5gallon batch on.