Bottle conditioning infected beer?

[Viperiser]

I've brewed a few beers from kits, and they've all been great. I use minimal equipment - just a fermenting bucket with a tap - and I bottle condition. Anyway, my last batch (an IPA) got an infection, so I threw it out. Now this batch (a stout) is also infected - same thing, big gloopy pellicle with bubbles and white tentacles - so I think I'm looking at burning everything to the ground and starting with new gear.

But I'm also willing to give anything a go, and the consensus here seems to be that if it tastes okay, and you don't mind weird flavours (personally I love lambics and other sour beers), you should hang onto it and see if it turns out interesting. I've smelt and tasted it, and it seems fine - slightly astringent but definitely not unpleasant.

My question is: at what point is the 'taste test' relevant? If it's going to end up tasting disgusting, might that develop in the bottle, or is it likely to be okay if it tastes fine going in? And should I bottle condition it in exactly the same way I would if it wasn't infected?

Many thanks in advance!

 

[tgolanos]

I once had a beer that started fermenting with wild house yeast or something. I bottle-conditioned that one. It tasted good for about half the batch, but then started tasting putrid, so I dumped the rest. My point is, you never know until you try.

I'd treat it like any other brew, but take one precaution - store them in a plastic tub in case they become bottle-bombs. Infections can chew down the residual sugars that your yeast can't. That's something you don't need.

You might not need to dump your all your plastics, either. Give the fermenter a good bleach soak for 24 hours. I've used 2 tablespoons per liter with great results. Any other plastics, like bottling wands or tubes could be soaked in the bleach as well.

 

[Viperiser]

Great! I'll give that a go then. Thanks for the tip-off about a plastic tub - I'll store them in our spare bath.

 

[ApolloSimcoe]

+1 on everything above. Also many of the plastics used are not heat tolerable, sorry cant think of the correct word. If the temp of the H2O is to hot it may cause small fissure cracks in bottling wands, racking canes, auto siphons etc. Those cracks make great homes for bacteria. I learned that the hard way. The hoses tend to get a little beat up where they connect to spigots, wands, canes etc. Every few batches I nip about 1'2" off of each end of my hoses. Also, have you tried disassembling the spigot on your fermenter? The actual spigot pulls out of the housing. I ran into that issue as well. Good luck!

 

[Viperiser]

Thanks. Your theory sounds plausible, as it's a very basic bucket. I give the disassembled spigot a good scrub between batches, but there are bits in it that are impossible to reach properly. To be honest I'm thinking of upgrading to a stainless steel fermenter, and this was going to be my last batch before autumn anyway due to the ambient temperature.

 

[ApolloSimcoe]

I used to have that issue with bits of crud i couldn't reach until i realized that I wasn't fully taking it apart. Now mine is spotless. Is this what you are working with?
https://www.morebeer.com/products/plastic-spigot-bucket.html

 

[Miraculix]

The first answer in the thread basically sums it up perfectly.

What I would like to add is, that in my experience stout and dark beers are the worst candidates for tasting good with a wild infection. I had an infected stout and it turned from ok to undrinkable in a few weeks, so hurry up with drinking it! I think the roasted malts develop weird astringent flavors when infected.

 

[VirginiaHops1]

I used to have that issue with bits of crud i couldn't reach until i realized that I wasn't fully taking it apart. Now mine is spotless. Is this what you are working with?
https://www.morebeer.com/products/plastic-spigot-bucket.html

This is what I was going to add. Hopefully you're taking apart the spigot to clean after every brew, but if not that could be in issue. I use a bucket without spigot for fermenting, and use the bucket w/ spigot for bottling. I still break down the spigot into individual pieces and soak in sanitizer every time. With fermenting it would get every dirtier.

 

[kh54s10]

Also, don't SCRUB plastic. Use a soft cloth to gently remove debris. If you use anything abrasive you will scratch the plastic. These scratches might be almost invisible, but enough to harbor bacteria.