Lacto infection in a keg

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Laurel

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So for my maiden voyage into kegging, I kegged up an APA, and HWMBO got one of our cornies filled at the local brewpub with his favorite Scotch ale.

I asked them if the keg needed to be sanitized, and they said no, they'll take care of it because "we have special commercial sanitizer that home users don't have." Whatever that means. I was going to run starsan through it before bringing it to them, but after disassembling, scrubbing, soaking, removing all o-rings, lubing, and reassembling 6 kegs, I was perfectly happy to let them do it.

So we got it filled, hooked up the gas to a corny with starsan in it, and ran a couple gallons through, and let it sit for 20 minutes. Then hooked up the keg, after misting the poppets with starsan. 2.5 weeks later, the Scotch is starting to taste a little off. HWMBO brings a glass over to me and says "I think the Scotch tastes a little funny." I had just eaten a coconut popsicle, and when I tasted it, it was a little sour and I figured it might be a lacto infection, but then my palette wasn't exactly clean and I forgot about it.

A few days later (saturday) I taste the Scotch again, and it definitely has an off flavor. It's almost like someone mixed some wine in there, it's tart, bordering on vinegary. I've never tasted lacto, but I assume that this is what it is. I'm going to call the brewpub and ask them if they want to try it, and get them to replace the keg (they're closed sunday and monday).

I have 9 feet of beer line that I just bought and was going to hook up before all this hoopla occurred to fix the foaming issue that we've been having, so replacing the line shouldn't be an issue.

I'm worried that the lacto infection somehow made it's way up through the CO2 lines and into the regulator(which does have dual check valves, but still!) Should I be this paranoid? Do I need to bleach the QD on the gas side and replace the gas line? What do I do with the regulator?

I might be overreacting, but I'm a sanitation nazi and have yet to have an infected batch in nearly 9 months and I'm not ready to start battling lacto infections in my brews.

Any other suggestions? I want to make sure this is dead
 
Coconut Popsicle? Not even going to go there.

Please Post Back about what the pub says.

I'd think that the constant flow of gas from regulator to keg should keep that part clean, but I'm thinking everything on the beer side should get a once over with the most caustic stuff you can convince yourself to use.
 
What's more caustic (and still safe for my pretty little perlicks) than bleach? I want to be sure that this is wiped out the FIRST time.
 
Alright. I called the owner of the brewery and he didn't sound too happy. I told him that the keg has a lacto infection and if they were milling grain or something in the brewery when they were filling it, maybe some dust got in, and he got fairly defensive. He sounded like he didn't believe me, which is what bothered me. I told him that I ran starsan through the lines for that keg, and my other one, but the scotch is the only one that's infected. He also asked me if I cleaned it. (No, I didn't clean it. I actually gave you a keg full of old pepsi. The seals were cracked and I didn't put any lube on them.
hsugh.gif
) At one point he said "so what's wrong?" "The beer's sour." "oh." Maybe he figured that I had gone through most of the keg and wanted free beer, but I'm only halfway through. I offered to bring in a sample first, which he refused. Anyway, he told me to bring it back and they'd sanitize and refill it.

When I brought it back, he was short with me, but I saw that he had a customer at the bar, and didn't mention anything about an infection, just that I had talked to him on the phone about my keg. He wasn't unpleasant, and got a lot nicer after seeing that I didn't mention the infection in front of his customer. Maybe he's just embarrassed, but as a business owner, IMO, one needs to admit when the screwed up and humbly rectify the problem. At least he's replacing the beer for free. :hs:
 
What concentration of bleach to water should I be using to soak my equipment? I wanna get on this before the replacement keg makes it's way home.
 
I'm quite new here, and I won't be brewing my first batch until tomorrow... but, as a Cell Biologist *dons lab coat* we use 10% Bleach when everything simply must die.
 
I'm quite new here, and I won't be brewing my first batch until tomorrow... but, as a Cell Biologist *dons lab coat* we use 10% Bleach when everything simply must die.

WOW CHUCK! Welcome to the forum...and posting in Laurels thread....Brown Noser!

+1 10% Will KILL EVERYTHING....Includign that new pair of Funderoos, so don't get it on anything!

Please Update. Did they give you a new keg?
 
I'm quite new here, and I won't be brewing my first batch until tomorrow... but, as a Cell Biologist *dons lab coat* we use 10% Bleach when everything simply must die.

I guess that's cheaper than my lab using 100% EtOH and UV:)

P.S.: Lactic acid (produced by lactobacillus and pediococcus) = tart, sour (like a warhead) ; Acetic acid (produced by acetobacter) = vinegar.
 
"eating a coconut popsicle" sounds dirty. :drunk: You definitely had some bad bugs, laurel. AZ_IPAs link should be good enought to kill the infection.
 
I took the keg back and he said that he'd have his guys sanitize and refill it. They're closed Sun and Monday, so I'll get it Tuesday evening. That should give me enough time to soak everything in a 10% bleach solution and replace the lines.
 
I guess that's cheaper than my lab using 100% EtOH and UV:)

P.S.: Lactic acid (produced by lactobacillus and pediococcus) = tart, sour (like a warhead) ; Acetic acid (produced by acetobacter) = vinegar.

100% ethanol actually won't kill a lot of things. 95% is much more effective, you need a bit of H20 in there to lyse the cell walls of the nasties.
 
bleach will pit your stainless steel corney keg.

I don't see why just taking it apart and washing everything with dish soap (scrubbing with a rag and brushing out the tubes and gas fittings) first, then an oxyclean bath and then starsan wouldn't kill what ever is in the keg.

I've had bleach pit pots when I was younger and not brewing beer. Don't do that to you kegs.
 
I think my first kegged batch is infected as well, although it has been kegged for quite a while (2 months).

Can someone go through proper cleaning and sanitation of the keg. I thought I did it really good, since I hooked the CO2 to run cleaner and sanitizer through all the lines and and the dip tube in the keg.

Thanks
 
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