I started brewing back in March of this year. My first beer was a porter, and while there were no visible signs of infection, and the flavor seemed pretty good, I now believe that "something" must have gotten in there during fermentation. And I think the same "something" has been infecting my batches ever since.
Like I said, the beer looked and tasted fine, but after I started drinking it, I started to notice weird changes in my behavior. I started making implausible excuses to run errands in the vicinity of the LHBS. I would go on and on to my wife about topics -- mostly brewing -- that she didn't find nearly as interesting as I did, to the point where she had to flat out tell me to just stop talking about it. I have found it difficult to concentrate at work. And worst of all, I just keep buying more homebrewing stuff!
I am not sure if this could be caused by a bacterial infection or what, but it seems to be a real problem. I know they say that no pathogens that can hurt you can live in beer, that as long as it's beer it's safe to drink, but I'm not so sure... See, the more of the infected batches that I drink, the worse it gets! I just bought my fifth carboy a couple weeks ago, and I have ingredients in the mail from AHS to brew my 9th and 10th batches so far. This just can't be healthy.
I e-mailed a friend of mine who is an experienced brewer, and he said this kind of thing could happen if my beer had got infected by a fungus called Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Has anybody heard of this? If I switch to a different sanitizer, will it fix this problem? Or am I doomed to live with the consequences of this infection forever?
Please help!
Like I said, the beer looked and tasted fine, but after I started drinking it, I started to notice weird changes in my behavior. I started making implausible excuses to run errands in the vicinity of the LHBS. I would go on and on to my wife about topics -- mostly brewing -- that she didn't find nearly as interesting as I did, to the point where she had to flat out tell me to just stop talking about it. I have found it difficult to concentrate at work. And worst of all, I just keep buying more homebrewing stuff!
I am not sure if this could be caused by a bacterial infection or what, but it seems to be a real problem. I know they say that no pathogens that can hurt you can live in beer, that as long as it's beer it's safe to drink, but I'm not so sure... See, the more of the infected batches that I drink, the worse it gets! I just bought my fifth carboy a couple weeks ago, and I have ingredients in the mail from AHS to brew my 9th and 10th batches so far. This just can't be healthy.
I e-mailed a friend of mine who is an experienced brewer, and he said this kind of thing could happen if my beer had got infected by a fungus called Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Has anybody heard of this? If I switch to a different sanitizer, will it fix this problem? Or am I doomed to live with the consequences of this infection forever?
Please help!