Infected due to lager temps...

[Brewskii]

Well, my 1 st brew this year has gone south. A cream ale PM I received as a gift. I was using my fermenting freezer and decided at week 3 to lower to lager temps (48F) from the 63 I had it fermenting at in a typical cream ale fashion.
This caused the airlock to suck back and I am comfortable that there was cross contamination.
I use starsan in my airlocks but it foams an evaporates so after primary is done I usually top off with bottled water.
Now, I have been looking forward to this ale for a while and it has been really good up to now. I check on it almost every day and was going to bottle it today but yesterday I looked in the carboy and there is a Pellical on it and it's infected. Because I watch it so closely I know this happened within the last 2'days...about 7 days after the temp drop.

I'm about to do a lager... How do I avoid suck back from the temp drop after primary and I suppose if I were using vodka this would have been avoided? For that matter I have noticed the same thing happen from cooling to ferm temp after I rack to secondary. Does anyone else have this problem?
Help... I cant believe how bad I feel that this sucker went south on me and I want to keep this from happening again.

 

[bdupree]

i use a blowoff tube on a 3 piece airlock when dropping temps -- that way it can't suck back. Another option is to use a "S" type airlock -- when filled to the proper level, it shouldn't have any suck back.

 

[theredben]

+1 for a "S" airlock. Best 1$ I have ever spent.

Also, if you are looking for great ways to encourage infection, then keep opening the bucket every day. It is a great way to get foreign material in your beer. But seriously, stop opening your fermenter. I would be willing to bet that cracking that lid is what caused the infection.

 

[Brewskii]

Thanks for the feed back but... No chance." Watching it daily" is my opening the lid to my ferm freezer and looking through the glass carboy w/a flashlight (hell -it 's probably light struck). Never touched the bung until I saw the pellical.

 

[Zamial]

Also, if you are looking for great ways to encourage infection, then keep opening the bucket every day. It is a great way to get foreign material in your beer. But seriously, stop opening your fermenter. I would be willing to bet that cracking that lid is what caused the infection.

I agree. One of THE BEST PURCHASES I MADE was sub $2 for a 12" pipette.(A long glass eyedropper with a silicon rubber bulb) If you want a tiny sample it is easy to grab one by removing the airlock and going through the hole it was in...

 

[wildwest450]

48f is "lagering" temp?


_

 

[Brewskii]

I re-read my OP and I think I made you think I've been sampling it regularly.... I never sample other than hydro samples at ferm fill and again when I rack to secondary... Again, in this case now 9 days ago, 7 days before the first indication of the infection. That is what leads me to believe that it is from the airlock.
Regardless, this is a huge wake up call for me to be extra cautious with the sanitation. I was hoping to get some tips to avoid the "suck back" when you crash after ferm is complete. I think I will switch to vodka in the airlocks and maybe a blow off hose at lager time?

 

[Brewskii]

48f is "lagering" temp?

_

It was 43 ( my bad) and while not in the mid-low 30s it was nearly a 20 deg crash. It's my first cream ale and I was being what I thought was cautious .

Edit- I am getting ready to do my first lager so I know I am going to see this again unless I change something

 

[IffyG]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but it generally takes a lot longer than 7 days to get a pellicle to form. If you got something that quick, sanitation was a problem well before the suck back occurred.

 

[Brewskii]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but it generally takes a lot longer than 7 days to get a pellicle to form.

is that true ? Tasted it at secondary transfer and it was clean.... Not sour at all after 7 days... It definitely Has a dull whitish flim across the entire surface.
I have only experienced this one other time and the film formed in the bottles -but that did taste sour after 7 days primary and I blamed it on letting it go 48 hours before realizing the yeast was not viable and then re-'pitched. In that case it was nearly 3 weeks before you saw the Pellicle and it was in every bottle.

 

[Homercidal]

I can't imagine you'd get anything looking infected in that short a time. Maybe some foam residue hanging around...

I'd ride it out and see what it tastes like after your lagering is complete. I'm guessing it's going to be ok.

 

[Revvy]

Can we see a picture of this supposed infection?

 

[Brewskii]

Can we see a picture of this supposed infection?

hard to see from the condensation in the Carboy but you should be able to see the cracks in the surface film that occured when I lifted it out of the Freezer. Some of these breaks clumped up and are now thin snot-strings hanging down into the liquid.
As I said, I use star San in my airlocks and i have seen the "rainbow film" that it leaves...this is different...and it smells not good (and I did take the bung out for that)

 

[jrg42]

If you are doing a lager from the beginning, just pitch at the same temp. Since there will be no temp change, there will be no pressure change causing suck back.

When I cold crash an ale, I sanitize a piece of cling wrap, place it over the carboy mouth and then put the carboy cap back on top.

 

[Brewskii]

Thanks to those offering advice. I guess 'better luck next time' is the common theme here.