Anyone have advice on how to treat buckets that may have had infected beer?

[msa8967]

Sorting through many beers I bottled two weeks ago I noticed that two batches have a white film or floaties on the top of the beer. To me this indicates that there must have been an infection either in the fermenting buckets or in the bottling process.

At this point I am not sure of which of the buckets may have had the infected beer and I want to clean all of my buckets to prevent future possible infections. Anyone have any advice on what I can do now to the fermenting buckets prior to brewing again? I have thought about cleaning each buckets with a soft sponge and oxyclean and then using really hot water and some bleach to soak each of the buckets over night and then rinse the heck out of each one.

Very frustrated losing 3 out of 10 cases of beer that I bottled in the last month.

 

[david_42]

This is one case where chlorine bleach IS the answer. A quarter cup of bleach, fill the bucket, let it sit for 15 minutes. You can reuse the solution in all three buckets. And don't forget the lids.

 

[Bensiff]

Did you try the beers and taste signs of infection or are you assuming based off the film? If it is an infection are you sure it isn't the bottles or the tubing you used to transfer and bottle? If it is an infection and you can reasonably identify it (ie brett, lacto) then I'd turn all that equipment into funk beer equipment. If it tastes horrible and something is really off I would toss all the plastic, you may get away with sanitizing, but there's a chance that you won't so better to get rid of it so as to not to destroy a future batch.

 

[msa8967]

It may have been the bottles, my bottling bucket or my bottling wand. I hand cleaned all of the bottles 2 months ago but I cannot recall giving them a hot water rinse prior to soaking in Starsan for 15 minutes. That may be the source of the problem. I don't need to reuse these bottles right away so I might just let this go for another 2 weeks to carb up prior to tasting in order to better identify signs of an infection. In the mean time I am going to giving every plastic piece a good cleaning. I don't have a local HBS near me to buy new equipment from so I will try access everything that needs replaced prior ordering.

I also have a keg of beer from the same batch that is being forced carbed right now. It may be usefull for a comparison.

Thanks foir the replies.

 

[arturo7]

I would toss the bucket.

 

[Lost]

I've used moldy buckets and all sorts of nastiness, I believe the "persistent bucket infection" to be a myth probably stemming from improper cleaning and sanitizing of the bucket - probably the o ring in the lid.

disassemble it fully (i.e. the lid) and soak everything with a strong bleach solution. I've done this with some fairly gross buckets over the years and have never had an infection.

 

[OneHoppyGuy]

Are you kidding? Just get new buckets. Use the old buckets for storing stuff. I always thought one of the reasons for using buckets was that they're disposable. For troubleshooting, that would be a way of eliminating one possibility.

 

[Bensiff]

Just don't toss anything until you try to beer...I figure it is not an infection at all, just some hop oils, starsan residue, or proteins.

 

[Lost]

Are you kidding? Just get new buckets. Use the old buckets for storing stuff. I always thought one of the reasons for using buckets was that they're disposable. For troubleshooting, that would be a way of eliminating one possibility.

I'm not the paranoid type and my personal experience has given me no reason to change. Buckets, at least those big enough for 5 gal batches, aren't free and I don't care to throw money away personally.

 

[Lost]

Just don't toss anything until you try to beer...I figure it is not an infection at all, just some hop oils, starsan residue, or proteins.

Good point, if the beer tastes fine and is not moldy then don't worry about it. RDWAHAHB!

 

[wailingguitar]

bleach is your friend, david 42 is correct...

 

[eastoak]

I would toss the bucket.

why? a bacterial infection is not insurmountable, they are bacteria, not evil spirits.

 

[maffewl]

I've had a couple fermentations that produced the "white film" on top, the beer always turned out just fine. I talked with one of my semi-professional brewer friends and we came to the conclusion that it was probably from the Star-San foam that we shall not fear. However, if it is a contamination... I would probably go the bleach route mentioned earlier first, then maybe try a starter in one of the buckets. If it's still present, then I would toss. That's my $.02.

 

[msa8967]

I've had a couple fermentations that produced the "white film" on top, the beer always turned out just fine. I talked with one of my semi-professional brewer friends and we came to the conclusion that it was probably from the Star-San foam that we shall not fear. However, if it is a contamination... I would probably go the bleach route mentioned earlier first, then maybe try a starter in one of the buckets. If it's still present, then I would toss. That's my $.02.

Thanks for mentioning this about the Starsan foam. My current bottling method is soak my bottles in a bucket with a Starsan mixture of 1 oz per 5 gallons of water. Pull a bottle out and dump the Starsan back into the sanitizer bucket and then add beer to the wet bottle instead of letting it air dry. I have read that Starsan works best when the surface is wet. Thus, there is some foam in each other these bottles and I might be seeing the presence of this more because of bottling a stout or porter compared to a lighter color beer.

 

[msa8967]

I would toss the bucket.

"At this point I am not sure of which of the buckets may have had the infected beer and I want to clean all of my buckets to prevent future possible infections."

The problem with this idea is that I do not know which one of my buckets had this possible infected batch as mentioned in my original post. What I did not mention at the start is that I have five 5 gallon bucket fermentors and six allon bucket fermentors. Trying to replace all of them would costs some significant money. I need to make better notes and label each of the buckets with a number/letter system to prevent screwing up again.

The reason I have some many buckets is that there are very few days I get open to brew so I try to have several brew sessions going in tandam that day with three LP burners. I give away over half of what I brew to friends and family and thus multiple buckets fermenting at one time works best for me.

 

[SpottedDogBrewing]

How much bleach to water ratio for a 15 gallon fermenter?

 

[Lost]

How much bleach to water ratio for a 15 gallon fermenter?

If it is a keg don't bleach it because bleach will damage stainless. If it is glass or plastic then just dump a bunch in, maybe a couple cups worth, you can't over do it. Mixing ratio for bleach is only important if you are using it as a no-rinse sanitizer.

 

[SpottedDogBrewing]

If it is a keg don't bleach it because bleach will damage stainless. If it is glass or plastic then just dump a bunch in, maybe a couple cups worth, you can't over do it. Mixing ratio for bleach is only important if you are using it as a no-rinse sanitizer.

Thanks

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[beeber]

+1 for bleach bombing. I would bleach bomb the disassembled spigot separately, if using one.

 

[bad67z]

As stated many times in previous posts a bleach water solution is certain to kill your infection. I would first suggest that you check the internal surfaces of your buckets for any scratches/gouges if you find any my recommendation would be to use the bucket in question for storage. These imperfections are just a like a petri dish for bio materials.

Now with that done I would focus on the "nooks and crannies", the lid's sealing surface's, grommets and their bores. The spigot it's mounting hardware and the bottling wand would be suspect in my mind. I would try to disassemble the as much as possible and soak them in the solution. Oh and don't forget your hoses.

Although costly both in time and money, I tried to make a positive out of the instance I had my first infected brew. I made it a learning experience and I believe it made me a better brewer. Good luck.

 

[SpottedDogBrewing]

Hot or Cold water with the bleach?

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[Lost]

Hot or Cold water with the bleach?

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Cold. I believe both heat and light will break down bleach.

 

[rexbanner]

As stated many times in previous posts a bleach water solution is certain to kill your infection.

There seems to be a fair amount of advice being tossed around, so here's my take.

First, bleach and water isn't certain to kill it. For starters, just bleach and water is not a 100% reliable sanitizer. Charlie Talley from Five Star (folks who make star-san) had a good interview where he addressed this. The PH of bleach at the supermarket is not always the right amount. I'm too lazy to look it up, but it's worth checking out, the guy is really smart.

Also, bacteria and especially brett can take hold and be very difficult to get rid of. I've never experienced this personally, but I've read enough accounts of people having bugs stick around for several batches after the first infection, and Wild Brews talks about how devilish brett b can be.