Vinegar in the air... no fermentation? Explain the science...

So, listen to this weirdness. I made 8 gallons of apple cider vinegar in my house along with Kombucha and now beer and wine will not ferment. I'll repeat that. BEER AND WINE WILL NOT FERMENT. Has anyone else heard of this happening? I've heard it from a few people now that if you make alcohol, DO NOT make kombucha or vinegar in the house b/c it can spoil fermenting beer or wine but I've never heard of it keeping beer or wine from beginning to ferment. It has happened twice now. The first time the beer just stalled after hardly beginning and the other batch wouldn't even kick off. I've been making beer and wine for a while now, this isn't just me screwing up. What in the hell is going on? How is this chemically possible? The beer and wine are sealed! -nick

that is definitely weird, sorry but i have no help

Wow, sorry no help here, but I will have to find a new place to ferment my sauerkraut and pickles.

Using the same buckets to make the vinegar and booze?

Clayton said:

Post hoc ergo propter hoc

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I'm sure he's also confirmed this with his hydrometer and it also has nothing to do with pitching rates, temperature and patience.

We make kombucha and beer in the same house, along with kefir.

There would need to be a description of the whole process, including the vessels used for both to begin to shed light on it now, as Hoppus has said he does both with no effect.

does the wort still taste good, just stalled or not started?

I have a red wine vinegar and a cider vinegar going in my home, but they are kept upstairs away from any of my wine or beer creations.

I have heard that as long as you do not use the same equipment, you should be okay. I keep all of my equipment well cleaned and sanitized and have never experienced the type of problem you have seen.

Good luck.

Salute!

Its operator error dude. Making vinegar in the same room can have absolutely no detrimental effect on how yeast perform. Just think about it for a minute. I agree with Clayton. You are making a logical fallacy just because you observed two things happening.

The reason they tell you not to make beer and vinegar in the same room is so the acetobacter from your vinegar doesn't have a chance of infecting the beer. If you have them under airlocks, the acetobacter (which is a bacteria) isn't going to magically float over to your beer.

How do you know there is no fermentation? How are you pitching the yeast? What type of yeast are you using? At what temperature are you fermenting? Have you confirmed this with multiple hydrometer readings?

Sorry if I sound a little harsh. I wanted to nip this in the bud before other new brewers saw it and possibly took it for the truth.

I should add that the equipment used for kombucha, kefir and beer are totally separate and never the twain shall meet.
I'm betting that more than a few of us also make sourdough bread in the same area (kitchen) in which we brew to no ill effect, other than a fatter belly of course.