A great way to test your sanitation techniques

[niquejim]

Found this today and I think it is a nice tool to see if your sanitation is as good as you think

This technique comes from 'An Analysis of Brewing Techniques' by George Fix, page 92.

The only equipment required is a sealable jar (canning jar, baby food jar), your nose, tongue and a calendar. As you are filling your fermentor, before pitching, divert a little wort to a sanitized jar; seal and store in a warm place (0.5L & 86F are suggested). Check it a couple times a day until you see signs of infection (cloudiness, surface growth, bulging lid). The time to infection evaluation is:

< 24 hours serious trouble - toss your beer and review sanitation procedures.
24-48 hours less serious but unacceptable sanitation, expect some off flavors
48-72 hours Beer will not be affected, but better sanitation is called for.
> 72 hours the desired situation.

The nice thing about this simple test is that it's then easy to smell and taste the very same infections that are likely to appear in your beer. If you have a microscope it's a great opportunity to ID the organisms present.

 

[cubbies]

Wouldn't it make sense to keep it at the same temp as the fermenting beer? I am far from an expert on bugs, but isn't it possible something could grow at 86 that wouldn't at 60?

Very cool idea though. I think I am going to try that.

 

[k1v1116]

Ive done this by accident (pitched dead yeast) it took me about 5 days to get more yeast and I had no signs of infection so I guess my sanitation was good.

 

[niquejim]

No, they will grow at both temps, just faster at 86. The "danger zone" for growth 40-140( food safety training)

 

[ScubaSteve]

This is probably a pretty sound experiment. +1 to keeping it at actual fermenting temps. I'm not sure what criteria he's going for with the 72 hour time frame. Even when culturing organisms in microbiology, we had to wait 48-72 hours for any significant growth. That was after intentionally innoculating an agar plate.

I guess this goes back to the old sanitation vs. sterilization debate. 10/10 brewers are going to grow something in a jar using this experiment...I guess it's just a question of the bacterial load, osmotic pressure of the wort (SG), temp, ph, and a whole mess of other variables.

 

[niquejim]

This is probably a pretty sound experiment. +1 to keeping it at actual fermenting temps. I'm not sure what criteria he's going for with the 72 hour time frame.

I guess this goes back to the old sanitation vs. sterilization debate. 10/10 brewers are going to grow something in a jar using this experiment....

I believe the 72 hrs at the higher temps will speed the growth cycles so that the test works without taking weeks.

 

[kappclark]

Fast fermentation using good starters may help overcome some of these dangers ...

Get the food to the yeasties first !

Still, I wonder even with a good healthy fermentation you cld still have infection plms ?

 

[McKBrew]

I think some of us are overly obsessed with sanitation, I'm backing off a bit. Nothing wrong with good sound practices but when you are more careful making beer than when cooking food, maybe we all need to RDWHAHB?

 

[niquejim]

Fast fermentation using good starters may help overcome some of these dangers ...

Get the food to the yeasties first !

Still, I wonder even with a good healthy fermentation you cld still have infection plms ?

With a good healthy fermentation you greatly reduce the chance of infection, but have a fruit fly land in your fermenter while checking gravity and you could be f*cked

 

[remilard]

I think some of us are overly obsessed with sanitation, I'm backing off a bit. Nothing wrong with good sound practices but when you are more careful making beer than when cooking food, maybe we all need to RDWHAHB?

Unless you hold your food at room temperature for weeks or months before eating it, it makes sense to be much more particular about sanitation in beer making.

 

[niquejim]

I think some of us are overly obsessed with sanitation, I'm backing off a bit. Nothing wrong with good sound practices but when you are more careful making beer than when cooking food, maybe we all need to RDWHAHB?

I'm far(very far) from obsessed.
I saw this today, and being that alot of new brewers are checking in this time of year, I thought this might help someone who is having problems. Like anything else it's a tool to be used when needed

 

[niquejim]

$159 for that book
Amazon.com: An Analysis of Brewing Techniques: George Fix: Books

I don't have it, but Ray Daniels said the same thing in Amazon.com: 101 Ideas for Homebrew Fun: Ray Daniels: Books