bernerbrau
Well-Known Member
So after close to a year and several failed batches, I'm ready to declare myself the victim of a house lacto bug.
My latest ruined batches were a pair of lagers. I used my autosiphon to take a sample one weekend, then again the following weekend, and the second weekend there was this awful bitter funk that's not hoppy in the slightest, and a thin waxy film had formed on both beers.
Thing is, the autosiphon is covered in little miniature cracks on both the outer and inner tube, so I'm willing to bet the autosiphon is what's harboring it. I'm relatively sure this is lacto because of (a) the appearance of the waxy film compared to lacto pictures, and (b) I both ferment and crush grain in my garage.
So here's the plan:
0. Pitch fresh krausen in the ruined lagers to try and salvage them.
1. Replace my autosiphon, hoses, carboy caps, beer lines, airlocks, better bottles, funnels, thief, and buckets.
2. Bleach bomb my keezer, fermentation freezer, kegs, starter flask and one remaining glass carboy.
3. Shop vac the whole garage and install an air filter.
4. In the future, condition my grain before milling to reduce airborne grain dust, and mill outdoors away from all active fermentation.
Any other advice?
My latest ruined batches were a pair of lagers. I used my autosiphon to take a sample one weekend, then again the following weekend, and the second weekend there was this awful bitter funk that's not hoppy in the slightest, and a thin waxy film had formed on both beers.
Thing is, the autosiphon is covered in little miniature cracks on both the outer and inner tube, so I'm willing to bet the autosiphon is what's harboring it. I'm relatively sure this is lacto because of (a) the appearance of the waxy film compared to lacto pictures, and (b) I both ferment and crush grain in my garage.
So here's the plan:
0. Pitch fresh krausen in the ruined lagers to try and salvage them.
1. Replace my autosiphon, hoses, carboy caps, beer lines, airlocks, better bottles, funnels, thief, and buckets.
2. Bleach bomb my keezer, fermentation freezer, kegs, starter flask and one remaining glass carboy.
3. Shop vac the whole garage and install an air filter.
4. In the future, condition my grain before milling to reduce airborne grain dust, and mill outdoors away from all active fermentation.
Any other advice?