Infected carboy :(

BrewSwag 728
Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
C

chemman14

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 3, 2009
Messages
1,645
Reaction score
38
Location
Newbury Park
So it happened, I got an infected batch :/. I figured out the culprit though, I let the vodka in the airlock evaporate and a fruit fly or two got in. What is the best way to disinfect? I assume I should just fill it with a solution of bleach, but at what ratio? Is there a better way? I dont want this infecting any other batches!
 
For bleach I believe the ratio is 1 TBSPN to 5 gallons. You of course will need to rinse afterwards. However I would recommend ditching the bleach and use a no rinse sanitizer like Idophor or Starsan.

Just remember sanitizing is different than cleaning... You can use a soak in Oxiclean or PBW before sanitizing to take care of that. Or if you have a glass carboy a brush and dish soap.
 
MachineShopBrewing said:
Just clean and sanitize as normal.
Click to expand...

Yes,

I clean with cold water as Oxyclean... you don't have to over do it the OxyClean is you let it sit for a day or so until it clears up..

Rinse with Hot Water, using to much Oxyclean can "cake-up".

Sanitize, again I use a warm/hot solution to make sure not Oxyclean remains.

DPB
 
Ah ok! DUH!!! hahah didnt even think about that. OK I will soak it in PBW then sanitize as normal. thanks guys!
 
nsrooen said:
For bleach I believe the ratio is 1 TBSPN to 5 gallons. You of course will need to rinse afterwards. However I would recommend ditching the bleach and use a no rinse sanitizer like Idophor or Starsan.

Just remember sanitizing is different than cleaning... You can use a soak in Oxiclean or PBW before sanitizing to take care of that. Or if you have a glass carboy a brush and dish soap.
Click to expand...

1 tbsp per quart = 4 tbsp per gallon = 1.25 cups per 5-gallon carboy. I generally use 1 cup per carboy.

For a deep soaking of an infected carboy, nothing beats a bleach solution.

MC
 
Misplaced_Canuck said:
1 tbsp per quart = 4 tbsp per gallon = 1.25 cups per 5-gallon carboy. I generally use 1 cup per carboy.

For a deep soaking of an infected carboy, nothing beats a bleach solution.

MC
Click to expand...

See this is what I was thinking. I want to be SURE that everything is dead in there. But then again, an overnight PBW soak followed by 6.5 gallon iodaphor soak should do the trick. This is a glass carboy btw
 
Wait you got a fly in it and you are calling it infected and dumping the batch?? I sure hope not but in regards to cleaning I just dump some oxyclean in hot water, use a scrub brush designed for cleaning carboys, and let it sit over night. In the morning I dump the carboy rinse with hot water.
 
biohaz7331 said:
Wait you got a fly in it and you are calling it infected and dumping the batch?? I sure hope not but in regards to cleaning I just dump some oxyclean in hot water, use a scrub brush designed for cleaning carboys, and let it sit over night. In the morning I dump the carboy rinse with hot water.
Click to expand...
not just any fly, a fruit fly. Which cary lactobicilius. The top of the beer is covered in big white bubbles
 
Oh that sounds unpleasant! I take it you can't save it at all either! I was lucky I had 4-5 fruit flys in my air lock at one point but they got trapped and killed in the sanitizer.
 
edmanster said:
i would still drink that!! would be ready for summer.. sour in the summer is a great mix :mug:
Click to expand...

yeah, well im pretty sure I messed that up already haha. This was a batch brewed back in August and it has sat in the primary the whole time. I assume it now has yeasty off flavors along with the infection. I am just so afraid with putting any of my currently un-infected brewing equipment anywhere near it!
 
chemman14 said:
yeah, well im pretty sure I messed that up already haha. This was a batch brewed back in August and it has sat in the primary the whole time. I assume it now has yeasty off flavors along with the infection. I am just so afraid with putting any of my currently un-infected brewing equipment anywhere near it!
Click to expand...

well i would taste it first anyways!! my first time i did it i wasn't ready either..lol.. i just used a piece of hose i was gonna replace anyways and actually used 2 ltr soda bottles and racked it to all 9 of them and put them away for a while. even sucked on the end of the hose cause i didnt care..lol.. just used regular table sugar and carbed them too.. didnt even desolve the sugar..lol.. there was no co2 in solution so i didnt have volcanos. think mentos in diet soda if you have any carb stored in before putting in raw table sugar..lol.. if its been in there since august im sure the co2 level is little to none.. i drank all of them with friends and it was awesome!!:mug:
 
edmanster said:
well i would taste it first anyways!! my first time i did it i wasn't ready either..lol.. i just used a piece of hose i was gonna replace anyways and actually used 2 ltr soda bottles and racked it to all 9 of them and put them away for a while. even sucked on the end of the hose cause i didnt care..lol.. just used regular table sugar and carbed them too.. didnt even desolve the sugar..lol.. there was no co2 in solution so i didnt have volcanos. think mentos in diet soda if you have any carb stored in before putting in raw table sugar..lol.. if its been in there since august im sure the co2 level is little to none.. i drank all of them with friends and it was awesome!!:mug:
Click to expand...

you're a braver man than I haha
 

Similar threads

M
Infected equipment
Replies
38
Views
1K
mac_1103
mac_1103
T
Acetobacter recurring infections
Replies
7
Views
639
Tancred the Brewer
T
chrispokey
Time for another round of "Is this beer infected?"
Replies
15
Views
397
IslandLizard
IslandLizard
D
Years long infections
Replies
30
Views
801
depecid
D
M
Infection after 2weeks in bottles?
2
Replies
53
Views
2K
IslandLizard
IslandLizard
Williams Brewing 300

Latest posts

Back
Top