Possible infection in my beer

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arringtonbp

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I just bottled an irish red ale that sat in primary for 4 weeks. When I opened the bucket fermeter, there was a thin white film with spread out half-inch sized bubbles on top of the beer. I would guess that this is some kind of infection. Any ideas? Will the beer carbonate? Can anything be done? etc....

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All of my equipment is plastic. Is there a way to eliminate the infection from the equipment so that it doesn't contaminate future batches?
 
Lots can happen from the boil kettle to the bucket. Once food or wort is below 145 things need to be sanitized. Tell us about your prossess and we can help you out.
 
Sanitation went very well except for one point. We cooled the wort by placing it in a bath full of water and very large (6 by 6 by 4 inch ) blocks of ice. One of these blocks of ice was accidentally dropped into the wort. It was fished out with some tongs that we sprayed with star-san solution.

The other thing is that I brewed a batch of cider in these buckets before the ale, and the cider got infected with the same thing. I thought that sanitizing everything heavily with star san would be enough. I guess not.


It's worth noting that this is only the second batch of anything fermented in this fermenter, and that no abrasives have been used in cleaning the fermenter.
 
If you ever have a infection in a plastic bucket DO NOT use it to ferment in ever again. It is not worth it for the time and $$ just get a new bucket. Whatever you used to bottle and touched the infected beer replace. Just keep going and you will have some great beer soon.
 
beerman0001 said:
If you ever have a infection in a plastic bucket DO NOT use it to ferment in ever again. It is not worth it for the time and $$ just get a new bucket. Whatever you used to bottle and touched the infected beer replace. Just keep going and you will have some great beer soon.
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Is there no way to clean all of the equipment? I don't have the money to buy new equipment right now. Perhaps if I soaked everything in starsan for a day or two?
 
If you would like to keep it on the "cheep" a table spoon or so of bleach in a couple gallons of water will kill any bugs. Just make sure to rinse thoroughly with water and save your sanitizer for brew day or bottling day.
 
In theory fill the bucket with boiling water and soak everything and it should be good. In a restaurant we kit the dishes with 180 for 1 min to sanitize.
 
beerman0001 said:
I hear you but what is cheaper? Looking at bout $30 to replace the plastic stuff.
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Here's what I have:

Auto-siphon
bottling wand
tubing
2 bucket fermenters with drilled lids (one with a hole for spigot, one without)

What, out of that, needs to be replaced? It all contacted the beer. One of the buckets was only used for bottling.
 
It's likely the boiling water would warp the plastic buckets. I'd clean'em with PBW then the bleach soak. Then rinse well Dito with the spigot & seals.
 
Clearly the infection came from the previous batch and remained in the fermenter for the beer that I brewed then?

Also, what kind of infection is this? Will it give me montezuma's revenge?! lol

I am thinking that fill my fermenter with a mixture of about 1/4 - 1/2 cup of bleach and 5-6 gallons of water. I'll put the autosiphon and other equipment down in it. Then I'll just siphon it into my bathtub through the autosiphon. Sound like it would work?

Also, is ammonia an option? (obviously not mixed with bleach)
 
That's be ok I guess. But then you best clean the tub/shower stall as well. I'd let the siphon run off into the toilet myself. Flush it out with the rest of the germs. I dump the trub into the head & flush it away.
 
I'm so discouraged man. It's so simple. Everyone says it's so simple. Second infected batch for me. I have put 200-300 into this and gotten zero valid beer out of it.
 
arringtonbp said:
I'm so discouraged man. It's so simple. Everyone says it's so simple. Second infected batch for me. I have put 200-300 into this and gotten zero valid beer out of it.
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It's like they say with motorcycles, there are those who have crashed and those who will, or there are those who have dropped a bike and those who will.

I don't think I've had an infection yet, but I have had a batch of beer turn out terrible, just one, but it was bad. It's still in the bottles and I'm stupidly optimistic for thinking the winey taste will go away, but whatever, I have the space to keep it.

Just get an easy batch of beer, something like a hefe that's nothing but water, some LME or DME, hops, and yeast. No steeping, no mashing, no dry hopping, no fruit, or anything like that. Just get a basic beer with an easy recipe, focus on sanitation and make a good beer. You'll get it.
 
jtkratzer said:
It's like they say with motorcycles, there are those who have crashed and those who will, or there are those who have dropped a bike and those who will.

I don't think I've had an infection yet, but I have had a batch of beer turn out terrible, just one, but it was bad. It's still in the bottles and I'm stupidly optimistic for thinking the winey taste will go away, but whatever, I have the space to keep it.

Just get an easy batch of beer, something like a hefe that's nothing but water, some LME or DME, hops, and yeast. No steeping, no mashing, no dry hopping, no fruit, or anything like that. Just get a basic beer with an easy recipe, focus on sanitation and make a good beer. You'll get it.
Click to expand...

Lol I think the thing that kills it for me with this batch is that it would have been a good batch of beer if the fermenter it was contained in was not ridden with infection. The beer tastes good right now. It's clear, and I was spot on with sanitation. Sanitation wouldn't kill the bacteria in the fermenter though, so that one oversight ruined it. It's all good though because it won't happen again.
 
Just as an update, I tasted this beer and it tastes pretty nice currently. It's only been conditioning for a few days, so it's not ready. When I poured it it had a 2 finger head and was pretty clear (not crystal clear but almost). Other than a slight bitterness and a flat taste, there were no off-tastes to this beer.
 
Clean the fermenter out real good,take apart the spigot & clean that,the seals,& mounting hole as well. Then maybe soak it with PBW or Bleach & water to the top for a week or 2. I get mine clean fresh smelling that way. Just make sure to rinse really well. I put in rinse water,swish it around,& dump it out. Then fill it part way to rinse again. Only let the open spigot run into the sink to rinse the spigot out well too.
 
Just remember, there is a difference between sanitizing and sterilizing. I'd go for sterilizing before you do your next batch. The cheapest as mentioned above is use some bleach. Just make sure to rinse it well. There is nothing wrong with using bleach....just rinse it. That should sterilize your equipment. Then, when you do your next batch, sanitizing should bring down whatever got in there between the time of sterilizing and brew day to a minuscule number which shouldn't take over your beer. Just my .02 however.

EDIT: It should be pretty simple if you used a fermenting bucket that doesn't have a spigot to rinse and clean out out. Also, you mentioned dropping ice into the wort...that right there was probably your issue. Ice is F'in dirty. Ice makers and freezers are loaded with nasties.
 
Brewnoob1 said:
Just remember, there is a difference between sanitizing and sterilizing. I'd go for sterilizing before you do your next batch. The cheapest as mentioned above is use some bleach. Just make sure to rinse it well. There is nothing wrong with using bleach....just rinse it. That should sterilize your equipment. Then, when you do your next batch, sanitizing should bring down whatever got in there between the time of sterilizing and brew day to a minuscule number which shouldn't take over your beer. Just my .02 however.

EDIT: It should be pretty simple if you used a fermenting bucket that doesn't have a spigot to rinse and clean out out. Also, you mentioned dropping ice into the wort...that right there was probably your issue. Ice is F'in dirty. Ice makers and freezers are loaded with nasties.
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Typically I use star san. I soaked the fermenter for 3 hours in oxyclean, scrubbed with a soft rag, and soaked it again in the same solution for another hour. I rinsed well, then filled the fermenter with 6 gallons of water and 1 cup of bleach. I let that soak overnight, and I rinsed it out 4 times. There is the faintest smell still, but it's not even enough of a smell for me to decide whether it's the same smell.
 
To anyone who may be interested: I have consumed almost all of this beer at this point. It came out crystal clear, carbed up, and very clean tasting. There's a slight bitterness at the end, but I don't think it's from the "infection." Is it possible that this was just yeast rafts? That was some pretty horrible looking stuff floating on the top, but the beer tastes and looks pretty damn good!
 
My understanding is it takes about two months for the infection to kill you.
 
arringtonbp said:
Just as an update, I tasted this beer and it tastes pretty nice currently. It's only been conditioning for a few days, so it's not ready. When I poured it it had a 2 finger head and was pretty clear (not crystal clear but almost). Other than a slight bitterness and a flat taste, there were no off-tastes to this beer.
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I would personally recommend soaking in hot ~160-180F PBW solution and scrubbing the bottom/sides/lid with your bottle brush. Soak that for a few hours, dump it, and then soak it in your star san solution for a day or two, lid and everything. Flip the siphon around every once and a while.

it is discouraging to get a batch with the white film, i’ve had my fair share. But they still carb, they still taste good, and the next time you brew you know that you just have to be extra careful with sanitation.

keep a spray bottle with >70% isopropyl alcohol and just spritz anything you’ve got doubts about.
Clean/at least rinse everything after you’re done using it. Just be mindful of mess, floating particles in the air, and what touches your wort/beer in general. cheers bro
 
2011 thread.
brothernature said:
scrubbing the bottom/sides/lid with your bottle brush.
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Scrubbing plastic is inadvisable because the resulting micro-abrasions may harbor microbes.
brothernature said:
soak it in your star san solution for a day or two,
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Soaking in Star San serves no propose. Sanitization occurs within minutes.

On the other hand, Star San can leave a film or even degrade some plastics if left soaking, so that's not a good idea in general.
brothernature said:
it is discouraging to get a batch with the white film, i’ve had my fair share.
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With the right process, contamination should be pretty rare. Your cleaning and sanitization regimen may need some work if you experience contamination on a regular basis.
brothernature said:
spritz anything you’ve got doubts about
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All surfaces that touch the beer on the cold side should be clean and sanitized.

:mug:
 
Hey everyone! New to brewing. Was looking in my krausen, and wanted to see if the brown looking substance into the foam is normal
 

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How about this one? I thought it was just krausen - but looks like cottage cheese and bubbles. icky.

Its my first all-grain, so after cooling in the Brewzilla (the coil was boiled for 10 min), it was pumped into this sanitized carboy. I had a heck of a time cleaning the carboy, as the previous batch was a dry-hopped. But it was soaked and scrubbed for days, then star-san before use.

Maybe the silicon tubing on the Brewzilla between boil and cool picked something up? I don't think I ran the pump while the wort was boiling - didn't know if the zilla could handle that safely.


unnamed.jpg
 
... IIRC tap water might have leaked a few drops into the batch during cooling while I adjusted the hose clamps. Dang it... Need some guidance there.
 
NightFlight said:
How about this one? I thought it was just krausen - but looks like cottage cheese and bubbles. icky.

Its my first all-grain, so after cooling in the Brewzilla (the coil was boiled for 10 min), it was pumped into this sanitized carboy. I had a heck of a time cleaning the carboy, as the previous batch was a dry-hopped. But it was soaked and scrubbed for days, then star-san before use.

Maybe the silicon tubing on the Brewzilla between boil and cool picked something up? I don't think I ran the pump while the wort was boiling - didn't know if the zilla could handle that safely.


View attachment 675023
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Assuming everything looked normal throughout the rest of the process, your photo just looks like bits of leftover krausen. Therefore, it's nothing to worry about.
:mug:
 

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