How Common is an Infection ?

[mongoose33]

That's the conventional wisdom, but it is seldom borne out in reality. Where could bacteria hide where a good cleaner and sanitizer couldn't get to them?

I'm certainly no expert on bacteria and what their preferences are regarding places to hide, but I do know that despite my using PBW in the recommended amounts in my boil kettle, I still must use a bit of elbow grease to really get things clean.

The same goes for when I clean my plastic fermenter. I run it through a Mark II carboy cleaner with PBW and while that does a nice job of getting things mostly clean, completely clean it does not do. A little bit of extra help washing it by hand (takes about 60 seconds) and I'm comfortable that it's clean.

Now, maybe PBW sterilizes the remaining soil, but I've never read that it does. And since the carboy cleaner does not remove 100 percent of krausen, old hops, whatever, it stands to reason for me that it's not necessarily going to remove bacterially-laden soil that is in a scratch.

So, A) I try very hard not to scratch my fermenters, using only a soft cloth or wet paper towel on them, and B) I take pains to clean using PBW but not relying on it solely to clean.

BTW, love the All-Stars book.

 

[Dog House Brew]

I've brewed over 500 batches in 20 years. I think I've had maybe 4-5 infected batches.

You really should start to enjoy and get into this hobby Denny. Now that is home brewing. I've had 1 in almost 100. When I didn't know about hard water and Starsan.
Not one since I started mixing with Distilled water.

 

[MidAtlanticBrew]

This resinates with me, Before I got married, I didn't throw out batches because I had an infection, I had an infection because I threw out batches.

Its sort of like syphilis and hepatitis C, If you throw caution to the wind you'll eventually get it...From that point forward you'll do everything you can not to get it again

 

[Denny]

I'm certainly no expert on bacteria and what their preferences are regarding places to hide, but I do know that despite my using PBW in the recommended amounts in my boil kettle, I still must use a bit of elbow grease to really get things clean.

The same goes for when I clean my plastic fermenter. I run it through a Mark II carboy cleaner with PBW and while that does a nice job of getting things mostly clean, completely clean it does not do. A little bit of extra help washing it by hand (takes about 60 seconds) and I'm comfortable that it's clean.

Now, maybe PBW sterilizes the remaining soil, but I've never read that it does. And since the carboy cleaner does not remove 100 percent of krausen, old hops, whatever, it stands to reason for me that it's not necessarily going to remove bacterially-laden soil that is in a scratch.

So, A) I try very hard not to scratch my fermenters, using only a soft cloth or wet paper towel on them, and B) I take pains to clean using PBW but not relying on it solely to clean.

BTW, love the All-Stars book.

One nice thing about the bucket form factor is that it's much easier to clean than a carboy shape. That's one reason I stick with buckets. FWIW, all of my infections have come when I was using glass or SS. I'm sure that's a coincidence, not an indictment, but it does show that using plastic buckets as fermenters will not in and of itself cause a problem.

Glad ya like the book!

 

[griffi]

Long story short....I moved from Minnesota to Florida about a year ago. While in MN I fell in love with a craft brown ale called Bitteschlappe and after moving to Florida I couldn't find anything even close to it. So, I thought I'll brew my own brown ale. Well, my home brewed Caribou Slobber is even better than Bittesclappe.

And yes, I've tried many varieties of beer and don't care for lagers, IPA's, or stouts. Why mess with perfection? JMO

If something works for you, I guess you keep on truckin'!