Destroying my bucket fermenter's infection

[arringtonbp]

I got some kind of infection in my plastic fermenters. How can I destroy it and salvage my equipment?

 

[H-ost]

There is a thread started today, it is only a few lines down from yours https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/an...at-buckets-may-have-had-infected-beer-283669/

but you might need to toss your bucket.

 

[insubordinateK]

Clean with PBW or oxyclean, then santize with your favorite sanitizer. Let it sit.

It will be perfectly fine.

 

[arringtonbp]

Also, what kind of infection is this? (see thread. Never got an answer in that thread). With my beer (second infection), it doesn't smell weird, but when I brewed cider in this fermenter (the first infection) it smelled horribly sour.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/possible-infection-my-beer-283677/

 

[insubordinateK]

Looks like yeast, CO2 bubbles, and trub haze. I'm not even convinced it is "infected" with anything other than yeast. And a lot of bad information on the first page.

 

[arringtonbp]

Well, I bottled and primed it as if it was good, so we will see how it turns out. The cider before the beer had the same look to it and it is horribly horribly sour and disgusting tasting. Also, afterwards, the beer smelled like that cider. :-\ Weird considering how well I sanitized it.

 

[insubordinateK]

Sounds like a bacteria infection which will give a sourness from lactic and acetic acid. It's possible the infection can be introduced after sanitation. That sounds very suspect to me. How did the beer taste at bottling? Did it taste sour or just smell like cider?

 

[arringtonbp]

The beer tasted fine at bottling. It was a little bitter, but the sample I had had some hop pellet content in it (I didn't know about whirlpooling). The fermenter that the beer sat in smelled like the cider. It still smells like the cider lol. Even after I put a dishwasher tablet in there to get the gunk out. The fermenter was almost brand new, with no scratches in it (I haven't had anything that could scratch it inside of the fermenter).

 

[GNBrews]

Another thing to think about is that even good cider is going to be sour when young. The yeast are eating all the sugar, and leaving only a bit of the original apple flavor. Add to that, some apple juice and ciders also have added vitamin C (ascorbic acid), which will be left-behind in your beverage without any sugar to offset the acidity.

As insubotdinateK said, clean with a brewery-friendly cleaning solution to remove any "crud", and sanitize the *clean* plastic surface with a good sanitizer. 1 Cup of household bleach added to a gallon of water is a good sanitizer for killing 99.999% of anything remaining. Use a spray bottle to apply...you don't need to fill the bucket, just spray everything until wet. You will need to rinse heavily to remove the bleach residue, but it will do the trick.

 

[insubordinateK]

Yeah I feel like from what you have said, the bottled beer should be fine although it may have picked up some cidery aroma. It is a good thing it is not sour.

I would just soak in cleaner for a long time (all surfaces) and try to eliminate the odor. I think you should be able to get rid of most of it.

 

[arringtonbp]

Another thing to think about is that even good cider is going to be sour when young. The yeast are eating all the sugar, and leaving only a bit of the original apple flavor. Add to that, some apple juice and ciders also have added vitamin C (ascorbic acid), which will be left-behind in your beverage without any sugar to offset the acidity.

As insubotdinateK said, clean with a brewery-friendly cleaning solution to remove any "crud", and sanitize the *clean* plastic surface with a good sanitizer. 1 Cup of household bleach added to a gallon of water is a good sanitizer for killing 99.999% of anything remaining. Use a spray bottle to apply...you don't need to fill the bucket, just spray everything until wet. You will need to rinse heavily to remove the bleach residue, but it will do the trick.

I understand that cider could be sour when young. However, this cider was considerably more sour than a sour lemonade. It doesn't taste or smell like vinegar. It is also getting more sour as time passes.

 

[el_kirk]

I don't get it. You're resisting spending how much to replace a bucket so you can risk wasting how much on a ruined batch?

 

[GNBrews]

If a LHBS isn't truly "local", 6.5-gal buckets are a PITA to replace. I went to glass carboys after my first ruined batch...glass is much easier to clean.

His plastic bucket can be salvaged though.

 

[rico567]

I'm afraid if I were in that situation (I ferment in nothing but plastic buckets) I would simply toss the offending bucket, relegating it to utility use, and buy new. If one insists on keeping the old bucket, PBW soak followed by Star San should do it, or nothing will.

 

[Lost]

I don't know why there is such paranoia about bucket infections. There are two active threads on this topic right now. I think mythbusters should do a show on the myth of the "persistent bucket infection"

It's simple, take the oring out of the lid, clean everything thoroughly with pbw, oxyclean, or unscented dish soap. Next bleach the h$ll out of it. When you sanitize make sure you sanitize the crevices and oring in the lid.

I've salvaged some very nasty buckets over the years and have never had an infection.

 

[arringtonbp]

The reason I want to salvage the bucket is because I have only used it twice, and I have taken great care of it (aside from the infection). It's very unlikely that there's any scratches. I literally just started home brewing. If the bucket had been used a lot I wouldn't feel bad about replacing it.

 

[BargainFittings]

My personal experience is tubing, racking canes and any part that cannot be reached to be physically cleaned will be what is infecting subsequent batches of beer / cider / wine.

I've had infected batches with a film over it and found that my raking cane and tubing were not as clean as I thought.
Flushing them with pbw, oxyclean or other cleaners seemed to work fine but for those batches that got infected I found I needed to do more to remove any residues or films out of the tubing and raking cane.

Another culprit is the plastic bottling bucket valves when the infection shows up only in bottles.

Use a piece of fishing line and pull a small piece of cotton ball or rag through your "clean" tubing might surprise you how dirty they are.

 

[beeber]

Bleach bomb the bucket. Add about 4 oz of bleach, fill the bucket up completely, immerse the lid, and let it sit for several days to a week. Rinse completely when done. I would remove the spigot (if using one) and bleach bomb this also. I have brewed lambics and was able to return the bucket to non-lambic use with no apparent effects.

 

[arringtonbp]

Just as an update, I tasted this beer and it tastes pretty nice currently. It's only been conditioning for a few days, so it's not ready. When I poured it it had a 2 finger head and was pretty clear (not crystal clear but almost). Other than a slight bitterness and a flat taste, there were no off-tastes to this beer.