1st Infection

[Bamsdealer]

It's official. I finally got my first infection after a few years of brewing and countless batches of beer. I was starting to think it couldn't happen to me, but I was playing with fire after several generations of yeast I harvested from a can of Heady. Also, I was on my original bucket fermenters. I knew it when my hydrometer sank to 1.001. A taste test confirmed it. I'm actually excited because now I can get some new equipment.

It was probably just the yeast, but I'm going to take precautions and buy a couple new buckets, some airlocks, a siphon, tubing and do a thorough cleaning of my pot and valve.

Looking for some advice on cleaning my pot. The threads my thermometer and valve screw into have a bunch of caked on gunk. It'll be hard to get at with a wire brush. Is there a product I should look to do dissolve it? Also, is there any reason I should replace the ball valve? I typically just flush it with some hot water, working the valve a few times and letting it air dry.

 

[FVillatoro]

It's official. I finally got my first infection after a few years of brewing and countless batches of beer. I was starting to think it couldn't happen to me, but I was playing with fire after several generations of yeast I harvested from a can of Heady. Also, I was on my original bucket fermenters. I knew it when my hydrometer sank to 1.001. A taste test confirmed it. I'm actually excited because now I can get some new equipment.

It was probably just the yeast, but I'm going to take precautions and buy a couple new buckets, some airlocks, a siphon, tubing and do a thorough cleaning of my pot and valve.

Looking for some advice on cleaning my pot. The threads my thermometer and valve screw into have a bunch of caked on gunk. It'll be hard to get at with a wire brush. Is there a product I should look to do dissolve it? Also, is there any reason I should replace the ball valve? I typically just flush it with some hot water, working the valve a few times and letting it air dry.

How long did you use those fermenting buckets for?

Thanks

 

[Jim311]

Soak all your gear in a bleach solution. 15ML bleach per gallon of water, including your ball valve.

 

[Calder]

Soak all your gear in a bleach solution. 15ML bleach per gallon of water, including your ball valve.

Bleach will attack metal. Do not soak any metal in bleach for any length of time.

 

[Bamsdealer]

I used the buckets for about 3.5 years so they're getting replaced. Probably around 100 batches.

I was looking for something to loosen and dissolve some caked on gunk in the threads of my pot. I can hit it with bleach to sanitize afterwards, but I want to get it nice and shiny first.

 

[slym2none]

Would hydrogen peroxide work?

 

[Yooper]

I used the buckets for about 3.5 years so they're getting replaced. Probably around 100 batches.

I was looking for something to loosen and dissolve some caked on gunk in the threads of my pot. I can hit it with bleach to sanitize afterwards, but I want to get it nice and shiny first.

have you used PBW?

It's an alkali cleaner. Then, after you rinse, you can use acid #5 for the acid rinse if you want.

 

[Jim311]

Bleach will attack metal. Do not soak any metal in bleach for any length of time.

Yeah but you only need a 30 minute soak time and the solution is 15ML per GALLON.. super weak as far as corrosion. Just don't let it sit in it for like a week or something.

 

[bbohanon]

I just went through the eradication of an infection in my brewhouse as well that popped up in a porter batch..I "think" it came from the plate chiller (which I have since stopped using), but I learned the following in getting rid of it:

- Boiling water with OxyFree placed in kegs holding any affected beer along with boiling all small parts(poppets, etc. and replacing o-rings) is a must. Bleach in kegs is a no-no. Make sure you rinse well and star-san the parts post boiling water/oxyfree cleanout.

- Replace all plastic buckets (or repurpose them for non-fermenting purposes), hoses, siphons that came in contact with the beer. The amount of time you will do bleach bombing, rinsing and then hoping you got rid of it when you rack the next batch to the buckets using the affected plastic parts is just not worth it. Just replace it all and be done with it. I ended up turning those affected buckets into a few grain bin buckets for grain storage.

- I stopped milling my grain near any of my other brewing equipment...I read somewhere that grist dust contains nasties so I mill my grain outside of my brew shed these days.

Hope it helps and good luck with it..If you do sours, you could keep that plastic equipment for those batches. Otherwise again..I would toss it all.

On your pot, I would fill a sink with hot water and Oxy Free and let is sit in that overnight..Oxy Free will pull almost anything off including beer stone which is most likely what that stuff is. I use it all the time when I need to do a brewhouse cleanup on my gear.
Again, rinse well and run some Star San through your pot when you reassemble it just for good measure.

 

[Bamsdealer]

Thanks for all the tips. I'll toss all my stored yeast just to be on the safe side. I need to give my wort chiller a good cleaning as well. It's stainless, so I'll soak it when I clean my pot and hope that takes care of everything.