First Infection Ever...

Well, it happened.

My Holiday Ale will be re-brewed. After a couple weeks in the primary it was finishing nicely, tasted great... all was well.

I dropped in 1oz of dry hops to finish her off.

A week later I return from work to a bubbling airlock... odd, but beer generally knows what it is doing. So I grab the refractometer... odd, the airlock was bubbling pretty steadily but the gravity is almost exactly the same as a week ago.

It was late, so I didnt have time to really investigate until this morning.

I wake up to take a small sample from the fermentor. The fermentation freezer smells... odd, vinegary... not the CO2 sting that I am accustomed to, but very sharp.

I pop open the fermentor, the top of the beer has small bubbles on it, like you would associate with a fermentation that is winding down.

I pull a small sample and smell it. I can almost not smell the cinnamon, ginger and allspice AT ALL over the scent. Again, quite sharp, vinegar like.

I taste it... very sour, sorta hot... I can taste some roasted malts, but none of the spices. It leaves a very bitter and sour aftertaste.

I have brewed this beer before, this is not normal...

A couple things that were different with this brew from the previous times I brewed it.

1. I re-used this yeast. I washed and saved this yeast from a previous match of beer.

2. I dry hopped this batch instead of a "flameout" addition. Though, there is a distinct possibility that there was grain dust on my scale when I weighed out the hops.

I have never had an infection from a dry hop, so I am placing blame on the yeast wash. I am not too heartbroken, for $12 I can re-brew this thing this week instead of making my IAPA... but I am concerned about what caused it in the first place.

The fermentor gets a good Oxi soak... then a thorough rinse, then a Star San rinse... after that it is filled with boiling hot wort. For these reasons I am ruling out the fermentor itself.

Since an infection of my own, one extra precaution I am now taking is to put a blow torch to the outer parts of the spigot on the boil kettle. I doubt it gets hot enough during the boil.

Laughing_Gnome_Invisible said:

Since an infection of my own, one extra precaution I am now taking is to put a blow torch to the outer parts of the spigot on the boil kettle. I doubt it gets hot enough during the boil.

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Good idea, though my wort is nearly boiling hot for a long period after it leaves the kettle.

I think I would tend to think it was the yeast too. How long ago did you wash it? When you washed it...was it the first batch from a new vial/smack-pack? Or was it a wash of brew made with washed yeast?

SpanishCastleAle said:

I think I would tend to think it was the yeast too. How long ago did you wash it? When you washed it...was it the first batch from a new vial/smack-pack? Or was it a wash of brew made with washed yeast?

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I'm with SCA on this - I suspect the yeast. Can you give us any details about the strain, storage conditions, age, etc? There will always be some measure of contamination in a yeast cake; while this isn't always an issue, if the yeast health is compromised in some way, it can become one.

This was S-04...

It was removed from the fermentor 48 hours prior to re-pitching. It was washed and stored in StarSan soaked mason jars in the fridge for 24 hours.

This was the first re-use. I made a stir plate starter from the washed yeast, that took 24 hours.

Without actually seeing and tasting this beer, my diagnosis isn't grounded in anything but speculation; however, I will say that the few times that I have brewed any spiced ale, they always seem to go through that sour/bitter phase before hitting their prime.

flyangler18 said:

Without actually seeing and tasting this beer, my diagnosis isn't grounded in anything but speculation; however, I will say that the few times that I have brewed any spiced ale, they always seem to go through that sour/bitter phase before hitting their prime.

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But, I have brewed this before, this is not the way it has been in the past.

Also, a week ago it tasted awesome... stopped bubbling and FG was steady.

Now, it is "fermenting" and tastes like vinegar, with no resemblance to what it was a week ago.

That to me, seems off.

I have had a couple batches turn to vinegar on me. the suspected culprit was fruit-flies the carry the Acetobacter bacteria which will turn your beer to malt vinegar.

Richard

I am experiencing the same thing (possible first infection ever) with my pumpkin ale. I don't have bad taste or smell yet but, without thinking, I added dry spice to the top of the beer when I racked to secondary and that a spice is bubbling and has turned into a blob of snot floating around the top of the carboy and airlock bubbling has resumed.

My infection sounds similar except it had a white film on top. I had put it down to milling my grain in my brewing area (insert facepalm here)

I also suspected that my washing technique was a bit lax, or had been over-extended.

This stuff almost tastes like bourbon... not good bourbon. Smells and tastes like high alcohol and it sorta stings the mouth.

Ahh well, I will do sparkling cider for Xmas.

I blame the no chill method.

/ducks and quickly runs away

The Pol said:

This stuff almost tastes like bourbon... not good bourbon. Smells and tastes like high alcohol and it sorta stings the mouth.

Ahh well, I will do sparkling cider for Xmas.

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Nah, just tell em its that less famous Indiana Bourbon. Kinda like the more famous Kentucky Bourbon from south of you. Then you can say this is why Indiana is not more famous for it's bourbon

the dry hop and grain dust on the scale are much more likey to me as the source, the grain dust WILL have all the contamation spores needed to sour your batch

ohiobrewtus said:

I blame the no chill method.

/ducks and quickly runs away

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Why duck? It is worthy of debate!

(Also ducks and runs away)

Laughing_Gnome_Invisible said:

Why duck? It is worthy of debate!

(Also ducks and runs away)

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Especially if you've never done the "no-chill" method.

(right behind you two)

I recently tapped a wheat in which I believe I have a bad case of oxidation. I split the batch with a buddy. He bottled and I kegged. His bottles taste great and my keg is (I have decided last night.) undrinkable. It will not carbonate either and I do not know why.

No chill is probably MORE sanitary than chilling... ha ha funny guys

I am suspect of the yeast, and the dusty damn scale tray.

Either way, it is done. I am almost leaning more toward the dusty scale tray, since it was fermented nicely for 2 weeks, tasted excellent... and then after the dryhop from the grain dusty scale tray, things went awry.

Sparkling Apfelwein it is for Xmas!

I'd put the hops intended for dry hopping into a pressure cooker and cook them so they wouldn't loose the aroma (leaving the lid on and letting them cool down a bit)
then i'd put them in
that should probably decrease the chances of getting a infection

Andri said:

I'd put the hops intended for dry hopping into a pressure cooker and cook them so they wouldn't loose the aroma (leaving the lid on and letting them cool down a bit)
then i'd put them in
that should probably decrease the chances of getting a infection

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Ive dry hopped numerous times... never an infection. I presume the lacto from the garin dust is more of a culprit in this one.

I'm also very skeptical of the ability to maintain any dry hop character in pressure cooked hops although I have never tried it so I can't be sure.

I do know that you couldn't really call it "dry-hopped" anymore though.

+1 on the lacto infiltration. Hops alone should not be carrying any beer endangering micro-organisms.

The Pol said:

Ive dry hopped numerous times... never an infection. I presume the lacto from the garin dust is more of a culprit in this one.

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I would bet it might be from the grain dust on your scale. Hard to tell though unless you are willing to duplicate everything during your brewing and try again. I always use plastic containers for my hops that have been bleached prior to weighing on my scale. So far no infections. I hope that it never happens to me. But, never say never. Sorry about your luck.

I would suspect grain dust as well based on the timing of it after your dry hop. Your yeast sounds clean so long as the beer you used it in prior shows no signs of infection and your fermenter has to be damn near sterile.

I have had two recent apfelwine infections with scratched bucket fermenters which has lead me to using SS fermentors. I love boiling water in the fermentor and putting my mind at ease. It's a great feeling!

I measure my dry hops on aluminum foil with some starsan. The foil itself is rather sanitary and with a couple quick sprays it's easy and works.