help solving my infection issue

[scinerd3000]

Hmmm.... I truly feel like this batch is bad already. It's bubbling away at 69 degrees and the smell coming outta the airlock just isn't right. It smells sour vineger like. It's not overwhelming sour vineger at this point, but I think it's more than just my paranoia now. But, I really hope not! I pitched the yeast 26 hours ago now.

I realize I am probably jumping the gun, but I think this one is infected too. But I still am holding out hope based on a few things. 1.) The support of this board. You all are keeping me sane and helping me think I am not in this by myself. 2.) The fact that this is different than my previous batches in that in the previous batches the smell didn't start to the 3rd or 4th day of fermentation. For this batch I think I smell it on day 1, so hopefully it's just in my head! 3.) People in this thread mentioning that an infection really can't take hold within 24 hrs unless I pitched a big infected starter.... which I did not, I pitched dry yeast straight from the package.

I'm sure many are reading this thinking I am worrying too much and it's too early to tell, but if you smelled my airlock fumes I think you would see what I am talking about (smelling). FYI, there is cheap vodka in the airlock.

Keep your fingers crossed for me. If not I wouldn't mind finding some people in the bay area who can taste my fermented wort next week and help figure out what type of infection I am getting. Maybe that can help me back into the cause. Hope it doesn't come to that, but knowing I have a plan of attack makes me feel better.

you cant really tell smell when its being filtered through vodka....wait and hope for the best. While its going, would you mind posting some pictures of your setup...im curious.

 

[mendlodc]

you cant really tell smell when its being filtered through vodka....wait and hope for the best. While its going, would you mind posting some pictures of your setup...im curious.

hmmm.... I for sure think you can smell fermenting wort aroma coming thru a vodka filled airlock. And damn it - this now smells completely funky, musty, sour. I am fairly certain now this batch has a problem too. I am gonna take a sample of it to the local homebrew shop and see what they think.

As for the pictures, can't do that right now, but can for sure sometime tomorrow. What would you like to see? I have a pretty standard setup. 10 gal polarware kettle, 10 gal igloo MLT, 6 gallon glass carboy.

One thing I am thinking about is how quickly this turned "bad" and people mentioning in this thread that infections can't set in that quickly - so maybe it's something else? Not sure what else it could be?

 

[TeleTwanger]

sounds like you got infectionitis. I had this after 2 or 3 beers went bad. It seemed like every batch smelled bad for a while even though they weren't...The mind is a terrible thing.

 

[mendlodc]

sounds like you got infectionitis. I had this after 2 or 3 beers went bad. It seemed like every batch smelled bad for a while even though they weren't...The mind is a terrible thing.

really hope you are right! but, I just gave it a swirl and it smells terrible. i mean TERRIBLE.

 

[Joe Camel]

it could be your ball valve, tubing or carboy, anything downstream of the boil that's causing the trouble. Small amounts of caked goo can contain tons of bacteria.

Even things that are visibly clean can still have a biofilm on it that will harbor and protect bacteria from your sanitiser. A carboy can look clean but still be infected, plus biofilms can protect against chlorine, which is why many water companies are going toward chloramine. Try cleaning with something a bit harsher like PBW to strip any biofilms off. Did you clean all the threads on the ball valve too. they tend to resist cleaning and store bacteria

It could also be falling in to your wort while it's cooling, are you doing your chilling where there is a lot of moving air? I think this is less likely if the infection is taking off as quickly as you say it is. Can you cover your pot with a lid or a cover while it cools?

One experiment you can do is to sanitise a few bottles or mason jars for the next batch, after cooling, take some wort into one jar from the top of the pot, fill one straight from the ball valve, one from the tubing connected to the ball valve, then maybe one from the carboy after it's filled. Set these aside and watch for funkiness. The first infected sample in order will be just downstream from the source of the infection.

 

[mendlodc]

So, I have tried to ignore the carboy and hope I am just paranoid.

I am gonna check it out tomorrow and if it still seems bad to me, rack some into bottles and take the unfermented wort to the local homebrew shop for "analysis."