How do you kill this stuff?

So I started my first sour in August, I added a Whitelabs mixed culture that had Sach, Brett, lacto, and pedio, I added some Alminac dregs as well...This is all fine, sitting in secondarry with a nice pellicle.
I did the primarry fermentation for this sour in my 6.5 g glass carboy, thinking that I should be able to clean glass well enough to then use the carboy for clean beers...wrong.

2 of the 3 beers I have made in that carboy sinse making the sour, have been "contaminated" and grown a pellicle. The 1 beer that didnt show signs of contamination was only in the primarry for a couple weeks before going into a keg, so it likely had the same contamination but I never noticed it.

The contaminated beers have a slight pellicle, they taste good but a bit fruity...I assume that they are contaminated with Brett. I have not decided weather to drink them as is, or sour them (one was a Belgin Wit, the other was a Dunkelweisen).

I washed the carboy well with TSP and have used 70% isopropanol, full strength bleach, and my usual star san multiple times...each sucessive beer still eventually shows signs of contamination.

I am planning to give up and devote this carboy to funky beers, but I want to know how others are sanitizing (glass and stanless) gear between funky and clean batches of beer?

Also, now I am afraid to rack these "contaminated" beers into my kegs...Will my kegs be forever contaminated with Brett if I do?

What is the best way to clean this equipment?

Have you replaced your stoppers and airlocks, or at least given them a good bleaching? It might not be the carboys that are infected.

Burninator...I have not shared any rubber or plastic between the origional intentionally sour batch and the rest.
Seperate airlocks and stoppers, and I replaced my racking cane...all of this may need to be replaced again, as I have used the new "clean" equipment on the beers that have later shown signs of infection.

Looks like I may end up with a very solid pipeline of sour or funky (depending on what exactly is living in there) beers.

Legume said:

Burninator...I have not shared any rubber or plastic between the origional intentionally sour batch and the rest.

Seperate airlocks and stoppers, and I replaced my racking cane...all of this may need to be replaced again, as I have used the new "clean" equipment on the beers that have later shown signs of infection.



Looks like I may end up with a very solid pipeline of sour or funky (depending on what exactly is living in there) beers.

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Yeah, I don't think it's the glass, but everything else you are using post boil.

Maybe the glass isn't probable, but it is possible. I don't know much about it, but I do know that Brett and LAB can create biofilms on glass and stainless equipment, which may not be easily cleaned.

Im using glass for sour and clean beers and have not had any issues. Here is what I do. Immediately after racking I clean carboy well w garden hose and scrub brush focusing on krausen ring. Once it looks clean I soak it in warm PBW/oxy clean (or both together depending on my inventory) scrubbing again as needed. Rinse w warm then cold water. I then sanitize by sloshing star san/DI water around. Invert and allow to drain. I use separate transfer tubing. I have not kept good track of airlocks or bungs and have had no problems. I clean those in pbw before sanitizing. Make sure whatever your making your starters in (if any) is also getting the same treatment. Always keep transfer tubing for clean and sour beers separate. If your still having problems use chlorine dioxide at 50-100 ppm.

Thank you all for your replys.

I have dedicated plastic and rubber equipment for both Brett and sours. But any glass car boys I use with not a single issue. I fill it with pbw for at least 24hrs to clean it. Could it be the infection got in there through some other source other than just the ferment or?

Fill with a mild bleach solution. 1 Tablespoon per gallon, Place on a stopper and leave for a few days.

Rinse a few times with HOT water.

I use glass carboys interchangeable between sour and regular beers with no issues.

I've re-used my glass carboys for sours and clean beers without any issues. I've even used the same racking cane and hose on both without transferring bacteria to any clean beers. As long as you are very good about your cleaning regimen, you shouldn't have cross contamination. If you are getting it, it would be from plastic/rubber rather than the glass.

Since you are here in CA (hoping that you are in CAlifornia, not CAnada). You can put the carboy outside where it will get as much direct sun as possible. The heat should kill most things that may be living on the glass surfaces.

CA_Mouse said:

Since you are here in CA (hoping that you are in CAlifornia, not CAnada). You can put the carboy outside where it will get as much direct sun as possible. The heat should kill most things that may be living on the glass surfaces.

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i'm not a microbiologist, but i'm pretty sure that won't work. not all bugs are inhibited by light, and the heat certainly isn't enough to kill them. most microflora is happier at 110*F than it is at 75*F. now if you could get that thing heated up to 160*F or more then you'd start killing off bugs.

sweetcell said:

i'm not a microbiologist, but i'm pretty sure that won't work. not all bugs are inhibited by light, and the heat certainly isn't enough to kill them. most microflora is happier at 110*F than it is at 75*F. now if you could get that thing heated up to 160*F or more then you'd start killing off bugs.

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It was said more in jest. Most homebrewers in California complain about the heat.

m00ps said:

I have dedicated plastic and rubber equipment for both Brett and sours. But any glass car boys I use with not a single issue. I fill it with pbw for at least 24hrs to clean it. Could it be the infection got in there through some other source other than just the ferment or?

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Accidental Sours

^ lol, busted by the forum police

Yeah my bad. I shouldve said ive been doing fine with the glass carboys with no contamination. That fermentor may have just gotten too old, but Im pretty sure it got infected from some really weird chunky candi syrup and the like 9 minutes I had it exposed that it took me to squeeze it out of the pack

Of the 2 "infected"/accidentally funky beers that resulted from the contamination described in this thread...1 was a dumper (it was not going to be a fantastic beer anyway); the other is exelent!

The good one was trying to be a (gluten free) Dunkelweisen, but the flavor was completly changed by the brett...It is not even close to a dunkel at this point, but I am thouroughly enjoying it.