interesting yeast wash off of infection

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Formito

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So this is a follow up to another thread that I just started. But long story short, I had a czech pils batch with lactobacillus which resulted in hazy, chunky, very sour beer. Before I realised what had happened(during the first batches lager period), I washed the yeast, stored it in the fridge for a few weeks then used it in a light american lager. This new lager went fresh off a 2 day starter and has been lagering for 2 weeks. I know the general advice is just "taste it" and move on from there but has anyone else had this happen? and is there anything i can do to save my new or old beer?
 
Formito said:
So this is a follow up to another thread that I just started. But long story short, I had a czech pils batch with lactobacillus which resulted in hazy, chunky, very sour beer. Before I realised what had happened(during the first batches lager period), I washed the yeast, stored it in the fridge for a few weeks then used it in a light american lager. This new lager went fresh off a 2 day starter and has been lagering for 2 weeks. I know the general advice is just "taste it" and move on from there but has anyone else had this happen? and is there anything i can do to save my new or old beer?
Click to expand...

No, I don't think there is anyway to separate bacteria and yeast, at least in a homebrew setting.

If your lager is now contaminated, you could try killing the lacto with campden tablets. I'm not sure it would work, but if you're kegging it, it might be worth a try. You can't fix any souring that has already occurred, but you might be able to keep it from worsening by using the campden before kegging the beer.
 
Ok, well it looks like I'll give that a try but the odds are that I lost 2 batches to the germ lol. Oh well lesson learned. Thanks
 
NordeastBrewer77 said:
why did you pitch yeast you knew was infected into a beer?
Click to expand...

I didn't know, that was the point. I made a starter and pitched it while the other was still lagering and I didn't know anything was wrong. Interestingly enough, the new one has been sitting at 35F for a week and is crystal clear while the infected batch never cleared. Is it possible that since the yeast worked faster in the second batch(7 day primary vs 30), the infection may have had less of an effect on the beer?
 
So, interesting follow up. I'm not sure what the optimum temp for lacto is, but I think that because I kept the ferm temps low(even with 2 day diac rest), lagered low, and washed my yeast well, I ended up dodging the second infection. Has this happenned to anyone else? I still plan on completely trashing all leftover yeast but i want to call this the "immaculate disinfection"
 

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