Can carboy’s go bad?

[ScottD13]

Ok, here’s a real off the wall question. Can carboys go bad? I’m using the same carboys today that I started with when I was brewing back in 1995. The last batch I brewed at the time was about 1997-1998 and I recall that it became infected. I just popped the cap on my Scottish Ale that I brewed a month ago and it appears to have that same smell infected.

When I dug up my carboys I washed them, rinsed, washed them again, scrubbed them with a carboy brush, rinsed them again and then sanitized them with One-Step. All my tubes, racking cane, bottle filler, etc are new.

So what’s the deal? I brewed successfully for 2-3 years with these carboys before I had my first infection and now I’ve got it again? Could something have taken up residents in my boys? The infections all started after I brewed a Lambic using Brettanomyces, but come on that was 10 years ago!

The beer tastes ok, a bit watery, but smells terrible. Sort of a sweet malty, solventy, cooked vegetable smell, no cardboard but hints of vegetables and autolysis. Once the head dies the bulk of the smell it gone but boy is it rough. I smelled it after primary and it seemed to dissipate after secondary but is really pronounced after some time in bottles.

Considering that this is the same smell that I got in my last batch back in the day could it be the carobys? I cleaned the hell out of ‘em….anything I can do to save them?


Cheers,
Scott

 

[runhard]

Many bacillus bacteria produce endospores that are very resistant to heat and chaotropes such as salts and detergents. In fact, in the lab where I work we use an ampule with a partcular bacillus to test whether our autoclave is actually hitting the 121°C and 15-18 p.s.i. That is very harsh conditions and the manufacturers of the test ampule chose bacillus for a reason.

Could the spores be viable after 10 years? Maybe
Bleach that carboy along with everything that isn't plastic and you might consider replacing your tubing that you might have used for your lambic.

 

[ScottD13]

Could the spores be viable after 10 years? Maybe
Bleach that carboy along with everything that isn't plastic and you might consider replacing your tubing that you might have used for your lambic.

All my tubing was new so I think it had to come from the carboys....I'll bleach the hell out of 'em.

 

[homebrewer_99]

I don't do it, but one of me fellow brews does...he stores his (empty) carboys filled with bleach water.

Doesn't rinse them until he uses them.

Not a bad practice since he autosyphons the bleach water to another carboy to reduce wasting water.

 

[rohanski]

I just went through all of this and had about 12 bad batches. I discovered the problem was there was a light film on the inside of the bottles. I know you said you scrubbed but you really need to spend a bunch of time on it when you get this problem. Way more than usual. Pour a couple of cups of bleach in each carboy and fill to the top with water. Let them soak for a couple of hours. homebrewer 99 said he kne someone that kept the bleach solution in the carboy until he used it but in my experience it will leave a deposit on the bottom if left more than a few hours.

Next before you pour out the bleach solution give another good scrubbing then pour it out and rinse a few times. Last use a solution of starsan to finish it off. I even went as far as baking the carboys in the oven at 220 for about 30 minutes.

I know this is all a pain but when you get a persistent infection it requires drastic measures. Take it from an expert.

Good luck and let us know how it goes.