help cleaning up a infected primary

[jigtwins]

Ok, Here it is. I brewed a ale 4 weeks ago. Life happened, when I went to keg the beer there was a few rafts of white film bubbly looking stuff floating on the top. Was not yeast or air bubbles. Definitely the start of infection. The air lock went dry sometime, and I saw a few fruit flies around the fermenter. The beer tasted fine.It is a 30 liter speidel fermentor so it's not just a cheap bucket. Really want to save this thing.I washed it with pbw, and have sanitized it. Is there a good way to make sure the infection is gone? I've heard pro brewers sometimes use alcohol like isopropal to kill off unwanted bugs. Will this work? will it damage the plastic? Any help will be appreciated.

 

[Bensiff]

With plastic there is no guarantees you will kill all the bad things using a sanitizer. Alcohol will have the same problems as a sanitizer, it won't get into all the nooks and crannies. Me, I'd look into how high of heat it can handle and then try to pasteurize it and go from there.

 

[KeyWestBrewing]

See if you can find some of this stuff at a chemical supply its like $20 a 1/2gal....

http://www.buckeyeinternational.com/products/food-service/sani-q2

Ive been using it for a few years now along with starsan. Probably a more qualified product than anything normally sold for homebrewers. If they use it in meat/poultry/beverage plants it'll take care of whatever got in your fermenter. 1oz = 4gal sanitizer, 1oz per gal = disinfectant.

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

I did my first ever bleach bomb today for older 5 gallon buckets.Didnt measure bleach just dumped in maybe 3/4 to a cup in 5 gallons.Threw all my plastic stuff in there too.Gave a good rinse and racked beer.Im confident I zapped everthing

 

[NatureOfTheYeast]

I've had 2 separate infections in one of my buckets, with over a year in between. After I drain the beer, I simply clean the bucket as usual. Long soak in hot OxiClean Free followed by a good thorough cleaning with a soft sponge, rinse, drip dry. No issues with the following beers, and I've got months old beers aging with no signs of contamination.

Just be sure you disassemble everything that can be taken apart and soak and clean it. For small parts and places where your hand won't fit, a baby bottle brush and a bottle nipple brush work wonders:

Also, replace any siphon tubing you used to transfer this beer, and any plastic that touched it. Stuff's cheaper than a batch of beer.

 

[sfrisby]

I'd suggest soaking in 180* water.

 

[Rockn_M]

Once you've cleaned it, stick it in the sun for the day and that will help sterilize it and helps get rid of the beer smell.

 

[Aristotelian]

Just sanitize thoroughly and keep an eye on the airlock. Maybe do a half batch next time just to be sure it's clean.

 

[Gnomebrewer]

Caustic soda.

But only if you're comfortable using dangerous chemicals.

 

[jigtwins]

A lot of good suggestions. suggestions. Thanks for the help. I know people say just throw it away. But I'm from the school of fix it if you can. I hate throwing something away that can be salvaged.

 

[KZack]

I'm in the same boat. I have an old better bottle I haven't used in years, I'm worried about using it. I'll clean it up with these suggestions.

*fingers crossed*

 

[kh54s10]

I'm in the same boat. I have an old better bottle I haven't used in years, I'm worried about using it. I'll clean it up with these suggestions.

*fingers crossed*

If you never had an infection in that Better Bottle, just clean, sanitize and use as you normally would.

 

[Bensiff]

A lot of good suggestions. suggestions. Thanks for the help. I know people say just throw it away. But I'm from the school of fix it if you can. I hate throwing something away that can be salvaged.

Depending on the infection, that logic might mean next "fix" is your next batch becoming a questionable wild ale

 

[killian]

You have a bunch of good recommendations here, if this were me after trying to clean super thoroughly and sanitize properly I'd probably make either

A - a heavily hopped IPA and hope the high IBUs would inhibit the lactic acid bacteria (I'm assuming that's your issue) or

B - brew a saison and steer into the curve, if you end up having some lactic character pitch some Brett

 

[microbusbrewery]

My two cents, I don't believe wild yeast and bacteria are the bogeyman that a lot of people make them out to be. Wild yeast and bacteria are all around us, on us, in our homes, on our countertops on, on our brewing equipment (unless it's fresh out of the sanitizing solution). I think the words of warnings about not mixing"infected" equipment with clean beers came about because you have to account for the lowest common denominator...the brewer that does a lousy job of cleaning and sanitizing.

I brew both clean and wild beers using a lot of the same equipment and have yet to experience cross contamination in a clean beer. The only time I can think of where I had an unintended infection (as opposed to an intentional sour) was from some poorly sanitized peaches and apricots I used in a fruit beer. That said, you have to use common sense. For example, I can't take a bottling wand apart, so I use separate ones for clean and sour beers. Same with auto-siphons, I can't take them apart (and they have a tendency to form small cracks after time) so I have separate ones for clean and wild. I also clean and sanitize all my cold side equipment before and after use. If I put a sour beer in a keg, I totally disassemble the keg after it kicks and I'll usually steam the parts (posts and dip tubes) in a stream basket before reassembling.

My advice, heat is your best bet if the fermenter will tolerate pasteurizing temps. If it will, fill it with hot water at the proper temp for the prescribed amount of time. This link can help with determining proper temp and time http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/pasteurization-methods-temperatures-d_1642.html.

If it can't tolerate pasteurizing temps, I'd hit it with a multiple sanitizers mixed at greater than no-rinse concentrations. The idea here is you may come across something that is more resistant to one type of sanitizer than another, by hitting it with multiple sanitizers (one at a time) helps ensure you kill off as much as possible. For example, clean well then hit it with a bleach solution. Rinse well, then hit it with a concentrated Iodophor solution. Rinse well then hit it with a concentrated Star San solution. If it were me, is probably let it sit on each solution for minimum 20 minutes. Ok, I'll get off my infected soapbox now.

 

[JimRausch]

PBW or Oxyclean soak/wash, making sure you get all scratches/nooks well. Then Bleach bomb as Jonny suggested above. Rinse well and set out in the sun to help get rid of the bleach smell. It'll work, guaranteed.

 

[DurtyChemist]

So what did you end up doing and how did it work out? I have an infection and I tried to kill it with a Star San soak and my most recent batch of wort (never pitched yeast) is already bubbling away.

 

[jigtwins]

Just a update. I cleaned with oxy a couple times and scrubbed well with a rag, and a soft nylon brush for the tight spots. Making sure to hit all the nooks and crannies. I then boiled some water and carefully poured it down the sides of the fermenter. After that I used a bit of isopropal alcohol and swished it around for a couple minutes. Dumped out the excess, and let it air dry. after it dried, sanitized with starsan. Have put 2 batches thru it so far without any signs of infection. Dont know what reallty did it, but it seems to have worked.