A lot of infections all of sudden?

[bill42]

I have been brewing for over 4years, and never had 1 infection....until recently.

my last 4 or 5 batches all developed a white film on top, white white air bubbles on top also. It appeared a few weeks after its been in the primary, or secondary. it didnt occur until a week after it was in the bottles for one batch.

what is the likely culprit for this sudden increase in infections? I use starsan as my sanitizer, and make a new mixture of it for every batch. Is it possible the starsan expired? I purchased the 32oz container in June 2010

 

[gregger]

Could be the starsan is no longer good, could be your fermenter is harboring bacteria in scratches or cracks and needs to be replaced, could be both. Could be your other equipment isn't being sanitized properly. Not sure where you would start though to narrow it down. Has it been tasting ok?

 

[mtnbikerbrewer]

I would look into any equipment that touches your beer after the boil, especially anything plastic. It is unlikely that the StanSan is the culprit and if you have been brewing for four years, I doubt your method is the culprit (unless you're getting lazy ). Like gregger (which is actually one of my nicknames) said, there could be scratches or cracks that are harboring wild yeast and/or bacteria that you can't quite hit well with sanitizer. I'd replace tubing right away, since it's cheap and closely inspect your fermenting vessels to see if they have been physically compromised. Hope this helps.

 

[brewmonk]

tear it ALL apart, i think you have an "unclean area". somewhere there is a skank-nastie!

i had that last century till i tore it all down to valve parts in alcohol, new hoses, etc. I never did find out WHERE the problem was, but I never did get it back either.

p.s. you sure that 4 or 5 batches ago you didn't do something with raw raspberries or other fruit, etc. or a brett? good luck.

 

[mcaple1]

what exactly is the issue...this doesn't completely sound like infection. little groups of white bubbles on the fermenter are often yeast colonies that group together and hang out on the top of the beer. nothing to worry about...unless I am missing something. I have seen this on nearly every batch of beer I have made thus far...no infections from what I have tasted.

 

[Irishpenguin13]

This reminds me I need a new bottling bucket.

 

[bill42]

i did use raspberries in one batch a couple months ago but that was in one carboy...ive been this problem occured in multiple different carboys.

is it possible im crushing the grain in the basement where i ferment? i crush 10-15feet away, and i use blowoff tubes so i dont see how that could cause it though.

im almost positive these are infections, just not yeast colonies or something normal.

 

[JuanMoore]

If you're sure it's infections you need to replace anything plastic or rubber that contacts the wort post boil. This means plastic fermenters, transfer tubing, plastic racking canes, bottling wand, autosiphon, etc. Then you need to dissasemble and throughly clean and sanitize all other equipment that comes in contact post boil.

 

[dfess1]

what do you use to chill your wort?

 

[bill42]

copper immersion chiller that i place in the boil for the last 10minutes

 

[bruin_ale]

you haven't mentioned anything other than white bubbles.. is there an off smell or taste?

Aside from that, yes - you absolutely should not ferment in the same spot that you crush your grain. The dust from the grain will stay in the air for awhile and could fall into your fermentor when you open it.